Bolton Wanderers 1 Leeds United 2: Cook not for sale, insists Evans

United led 2-0 at the break thanks to strikes from Souleymane Doukara, his fourth in his past six matches and Toumani Diagouraga’s first strike since March 2013.

The visitors, backed by a huge travelling support of 6,630 fans, were dominant for the opening eighty minutes, only for a strike from home captain Darren Pratley to give the hosts a lifeline and inspire hopes of securing a replay.

But Leeds held out to book their place in the hat for the next round in a performance in which Cook was outstanding.

Evans said: “I stand here immensely proud of that performance on the pitch and immensely proud of the performance off the pitch of the fans. The atmosphere from before kick off to the end was simply stunning.

“For eighty one or eighty two minutes on the pitch, we were sensational on the pitch and then you think the magic of the cup may come back and bite you. We were so far in front and we just needed the third goal. If that had come, it would have been many more.

“But we just wanted to be in the draw.

“When people talk to me how much Lewis Cook is worth, people got an example today. It is why when six or seven in the Premier League are offering multi-million pounds offers and they are here today. I tell you what I am doing if I am the chief scout of a Premier League club, I am phoning my chairman and saying ‘buy him.’

“But he is not for sale and we are not going to sell him. We want to be building with gifted young players on the park like him. “