A brace from Ryan Lowe saw League 2 side Crewe Alexandra come from behind to knock Sheffield United out of the League Cup at the first hurdle.
Manager Chris Wilder named a strong Blades eleven as they looked to rectify Saturday’s opening day defeat at Bolton Wanderers with victory in Bramall Lane’s first competitive fixture of the new season.
And they got off to the perfect start in front of just over 8,000 supporters when Leon Clarke converted a John Fleck ball in the sixth minute.
It looked as if this early goal would be enough as United controlled the majority of the evening’s contest, but former Sheffield Wednesday man Lowe left the stadium stunned as he found the net in the 89th minute to force extra time.
Lowe then turned the game on it’s head with another goal in the first half of the additional 30 minutes.
United battled to the end but despite them sending two efforts crashing off the crossbar in the dying moments, the Alex clung on to book their place in the second round of the League Cup where they could meet the likes of Chelsea or Liverpool.
Sheffield United (1)
Line-up: Goerge Long, John Brayford, James Wilson, Jack O’Connell, Chris Hussey, Mark Duffy, John Fleck, Chris Basham, Matt Done (Stefan Scougall ’76), Leon Clarke (Dominic Calvert-Lewin ’83), Billy Sharp (Marc McNulty ’70)
Unused Subs: Aaron Ramsdale, Jake Wright, Paul Coutts, Kieron Freeman
Scorers: Leon Clarke ‘6
Crewe Alexandra (2)
Line-up: Ben Garratt, Oliver Turton, George Ray, Ben Nugent, Zoumana Bakayogo, George Cooper, Billy Bingham (Perry Ng ’46), James Jones, Charlie Kirk (Alex Kiwomya ’59), Chris Dagnall, Callum Saunders (Ryan Lowe ’68)
Unused subs: Jon Guthrie, Harry Davis, David Richards, Daniel Udoh
Scorers: Ryan Lowe ’89 ‘100
Date: 9th August 2016
Attendance: 8305
Competition: League Cup First Round
Referee: James Adcock
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