Crawley 2 Portsmouth 2 - 6-5 pens - Neil Allen's verdict: More brilliance from Spurs loanee to light up sluggish Blues, although late drama dampens evening

Nonetheless, Dane Scarlett registered for Pompey for the second time in 72 hours as those goals begin to flow.

On this occasion the feat was accomplished from the bench, entering in the 62nd minute in place of Ronan Curtis against Crawley.

At the time, Danny Cowley’s men were trailing 1-0 to their League Two hosts in the Papa John’s Trophy encounter.

Clark Robertson was subsequently responsible for levelling matters, heading home substitute Tom Lowery’s right-wing corner.

Then the stage was set for Scarlett.

With nine minutes remaining, the 18-year-old brilliantly held off a Crawley challenge and crashed a wonderful right-footed shot into the far bottom corner of the net.

At Port Vale, his strike bounced into the net after lunging in on the keeper having been put clean through, signalling a maiden senior goal.

At Crawley it was simply a stunning finish, superior in quality, albeit cruelly deprived of being a match winner at the death.

A soft penalty awarded in favour of James Tilley during time added-on was converted by David Bremang to make it 2-2.

So a point shared, with the fixture heading into a penalty shoot-out to decide the destination of a bonus point.

Alas, Scarlett would miss, placing the first spot-kick wide, as the Blues suffered a 6-5 defeat after Kieron Freeman also missed.

Nonetheless, it was overall another tantalising glimpse of the England under-19 international’s talents in front of the 1,111 travelling faithful.

For the trip to the Broadfield Stadium, Pompey had handed a debut to Josh Oluwayemi, while Denver Hume was back after six months sidelined by a back injury.

With 10 changes in total, Ronan Curtis represented the sole survivor from the team which won 1-0 at Port Vale on Saturday to top League One.

Summer signing Oluwayemi, who previously turned out twice for Spurs’ under-21s in the competition, started in place of the rested Josh Girffiths.

Academy youngster Malachi Osei-Owusu offered back-up to the 21-year-old from the bench, with fellow scholars Harvey Laidlaw and Adam Payce among the substitutes.

Meanwhile, Hume savoured his first outing since a 1-0 defeat at Plymouth in March during an injury-hit start to his Fratton Park career.

Elsewhere, Robertson started after replacing Michael Morrison in the 10th minute at Vale Park, with the veteran suffering from double vision.

There were also recalls for Reeco Hackett, Joe Pigott, Michael Jacobs and Zak Swanson, while Joe Morrell made his first start of the season.

When the match got underway, an early mistake from Robertson saw his pass out of defence intercepted by James Tilley, who surged forward.

He found Dom Telford inside the box, who crashed an angled right-footed shot over the bar, much to the skipper’s relief.

The visitors responded with Curtis running onto the ball and striking a first-time right-footed shot straight at the Crawley keeper, who dealt with it comfortably.

However, the Blues found themselves behind on seven minutes after Pigott was adjudged to have brought down Tilley inside the box.

Up stepped summer signing Telford to send Oluwayemi the wrong way from the penalty spot to give them hosts the lead - and the striker a first goal for the club.

Then clever play just outside the box by Hackett saw the winger switch the ball to his right foot and fire in a shot which keeper David Robson did brilliantly to fingertip around the post.

Crawley were proving worthy of their lead, however, and when left wing-back Mark Marshall launched another promising attack, it took Oluwayemi two attempts to gather his dangerous cross.

Then, on 28 minutes, Tilley whipped in a cross from the left which was met first-time by Telford, who somehow diverted it wide from close range.

The impressive Tilley next managed to hold off Robertson to drive an angled shot from the left agonisingly across the face of goal.

Bremang did his best to turn it home at the back post with a desperate lunge, yet could only succeed in steering a difficult attempt wide.

With half-time approaching and the hosts well worth the scoreline, Marshall swung in a dangerous deep cross from the left which eluded his team-mates and bounced out for a goal-kick.

Losing 1-0, Pompey made two changes at the break, with Tom Lowery and Kieron Freeman introduced for Morrell and Hume.

Considering the two withdrawn players were making their first starts of the season following injury, they represented planned changes rather than a reflection of their displays.

Just three minutes into the second half, Pigott had a great chance to thread the ball through to Curtis on the break, yet his pass frustratingly struck a defender.

It summed up his night to that point, with little going right for the Ipswich man upon his return to the side.

With Pompey still unable to find a breakthrough, Jacobs was issued a yellow card for a perceived dive inside Crawley’s penalty area.

Cowley’s men were short of ideas and on 62 minutes the head coach initiated another double change, with Curtis and Jacobs coming off.

They were replaced by Scarlett, the match-winner against Port Vale, and Owen Dale, as Pompey attempted to ignite their flat display.

The visitors suddenly sparked into life, with firstly Lowery’s strong run into the box thwarted with a great block, then Dale curling a right-footed shot narrowly over the bar.

Then Lowery’s corner from the right was met with a towering Robertson header which flew just wide of the target.

However, moments later, the same pair combined for the Blues’ equaliser.

On 74 minutes, the flag kick was delivered from the right and there was Pompey’s skipper to head home and make it 1-1 right in front of the travelling faithful.

Pompey found themselves in front on 81 minutes through a wonderful goal from Scarlett.

The 18-year-old demonstrated his strength to hold off a defender before crashing a fierce right-footed effort into the far bottom corner of the net to make it 2-1.

The fourth official indicated six minutes of time added on, yet the Blues appeared comfortable with their lead.

That was until Tilley crumpled to the floor to earn a soft penalty, with Bremang finishing high into the net to make it 2-2 - and the final score.

With a bonus point up for grabs, the match entered a penalty shoot-out, with Crawley triumphing 6-5 after Scarlett and Freeman both missed for the Blues.