- Crewe through to the second round of FA Cup
- Sambou’s first of season seals it in injury-time
- Bell’s first match in charge ends in victory
Bassala Sambou’s injury-time strike sent Crewe Alexandra into the second round of the FA Cup with victory over Leyton Orient.
The forward bagged his first of the season after super work from Kelvin Mellor, with only seconds left on the clock.
Orient had been reduced to 10 men in the final few minutes when Craig Clay saw red for a lunge on Sambou.
It meant Lee Bell’s first game in interim charge ended in a first win in 10 outings for The Railwaymen.
Now they will be in the hat for the draw on Monday evening.
Bell’s first line-up as boss was led in attack by Dan Agyei, as Courtney Baker-Richardson was only deemed fit enough to be amongst the subs.
Orient’s Charlie Kelman had the ball in the net on five minutes, but the goal was ruled out for a foul on Arthur Okonkwo.
The big keeper was busy early on, making good stops from Kelman and Stephen Duke-McKenna before the quarter-hour mark.
Orient keeper Lawrence Vigouroux made a reflex stop from an Agyei header following a corner, while George Moncur blazed over at the other end after good work by Ruel Sotiriou.
On 33 minutes Moncur tricked his way past Lachlan Brook and crashed a shot off the underside of the bar from an acute angle, as the hosts continued to live dangerously.
As half-time approached, Duke-McKenna saw a shot well blocked by Conor Thomas, while Brook fired over for Crewe.
The game reached the hour-mark with little incident, as the game became more even.
Billy Sass-Davies glanced a headed from a free-kick wide, and sub Theo Archibald brought a routine save from Okonkwo.
On 82 minutes sub Paul Smyth was played in behind the Crewe defence and looked certain to score until a recovering Mellor superbly blocked the ball on the line.
Orient were reduced to 10 men in the final stages when Clay got his marching orders for a reckless lunge on Sambou.
And The Railwaymen nicked it in the dying seconds, when Mellor sped down the right and crossed for Sambou to rifle home from close range.
Bell and Alex Morris embraced in the technical area as the final whistle sounded, at the end of an emotional few days.
Crewe (4-2-3-1): Okonkwo; Adebisi, Sass-Davies, Offord, Mellor; Thomas, Uwakwe; Brook, Tabiner (Colkett 71), Agyei; Sambou.
Subs not used: Richards, King, Billington, Baker-Richardson, Griffiths, O Finney, Leshabela, C Finney.
Booked: Thomas.
Orient (4-2-3-1): Vigouroux; James, Ogie, Beckles, Hunt; Clay, Moncur (El-Mizouni 68); Sotiriou (Archibald 57), Duke-McKenna (Smyth 57), Brown; Kelman (Drinan 68).
Subs not used: Sargeant, Happe, Wareham, Pratley, Sweeney.
Booked: Ogie.
Sent off: Clay.
Referee: S Purkiss.
Attendance: 2,104 (309).