Fulham needed penalties to avoid a shock defeat by League One Wycombe and progress to the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup.
Defender Issa Diop scored the decisive spot-kick in sudden death to give his side a 5-4 shootout win after goalkeeper Benjamin Lecomte saved three Wycombe penalties.
Josh King’s smart finish shortly after half-time cancelled out an early opener from former Fulham man Cauley Woodrow, but neither side could find a winner and the match finished 1-1.
Woodrow – who left Fulham in 2019 after eight years at the club – rifled in a low strike from 20 yards with less than four minutes on the clock.
The Premier League side grew into the game after that early shock and equalised in the 48th minute when King scored his first senior goal with a near-post flick from a corner.
King and £34.6m summer signing Kevin looked bright in the second half, but Fulham’s five shots on target did not seriously test Wycombe goalkeeper Will Norris.
The Cottagers scored their first four penalties before Ryan Sessegnon and Jonah Kusi-Asare had their efforts saved by Norris.
Fortunately for them, Lecomte followed up his shootout-opening save from Ewan Henderson by denying Fred Onyedinma and Donnell McNeilly to give Diop the opportunity to win it.
“We know surprises happen in this competition if your approach is not serious enough,” Marco Silva told Sky Sports.
“We were serious, but when you come off some bad results, you have to be positive and confident, but you feel something around and the first minutes of the game showed that.
“It was their only shot on target they had, and it was a goal we should’ve defended better.
“We didn’t play with the intensity we should have in the first half but we did after that, and we created seven or eight clear chances. I told the players, in these types of moments, we are the first ones who have to be positive.
“We know the future is going to be better when we have players back, but we have to fight for this moment altogether.”
The result ends Fulham’s four-game losing streak and keeps alive their bid for a first major trophy in their 146-year history.