CARABAO CUP – FIRST ROUND REVIEW
NINE Championship sides were dumped out of the Carabao Cup by lower league opposition in one night – with Barrow, Stevenage, Bradford and Newport County flying the flag for League Two.
Nearly 1,000 Barrow fans made the short trip to Blackpool to see Pete Wild’s Bluebirds claim a famous victory in a dramatic penalty shootout following a 0-0 stalemate, setting up an encounter with Lincoln City, who beat Doncaster Rovers 3-0 in round one.
Strong
It was Wild’s first taste of EFL Cup action and the new boss, who joined from FC Halifax Town in the summer, praised his team for standing up to the pressure.
“I’m delighted for the lads that they stood strong,” Wild said. “It was a chance for us to express ourselves. I thought we defended well, we had limited chances, but that’s football.”
Bradford City were victorious in a Yorkshire derby against Hull City in a tie that saw the Tiger’s take the lead on 24-minutes.
This came in the way of a Harry Lewis own goal be-fore two quick-fire strikes from Andy Cook gave Mark Hughes’ side their first win of the season in front of over 5,000 fans at Valley Parade. They now host Hughes’ former club Blackburn Rovers in round two.
Danny Rose struck an 89th-minute winer for Steve Evans’ Stevenage as they beat Reading 2-1, while Newport County twice came from behind to knock Luton Town out 3-2 thanks to James Waite’s 76th-minute strike.
Morecambe, who haven’t scored a goal outside of a shootout this season, dumped Stoke City out of the tournament penalties despite a Jensen Weir red card on the hour. Shane McLoughlinslotted homethe decisive penalty for the Shrimps after Ben Fox missed for the Potters.
A London derby between League One Charlton Athletic and Queens Park Rangers also had to be settled on penalties after alate goal- of-the-season contender from Addicks midfield- er Aaron Henry,18, cancelled out another stunner from the Hoops’ new man Tyler Roberts.
Charlton went on to win the shoot-out to boss earn a second round trip to Walsall, who were 2-0 victors over Swindon Town.
Exeter City created their own bit of history with a 7-0 thrashing at League One rivals Cheltenham Town. The score-line was their biggest away win in their history.
Grecians boss Matt Taylor said he was blown away by his sides’ performance, commenting: “It could’ve been worse for the opposition.
“That’s a really big scoreline, we’ve come away to League One opposition and we’ve dominated the game and won convincingly.”
Sam Nombe scored a brace with Archie Collins, Matt Jay, Jack Sparkes, Harry Kite and Josh Coley also on the scoresheet.
Huddersfield Town’s poor start to the season continued as they were comfortably beaten 4-1 at home by an impressive Preston North-End side who will travel to Molineux to face Wolves in round two.
Success
The other all-Championship tie was a much closer affair between Birmingham City and Norwich City, going the distance after a 2-2 score-line after 90-minutes, where Norwich would hold their nerve in the shootout at Carrow Road.
Cardiff City were soundly beaten 3-0 at home by League One Portsmouth, Joe Pigott opened the scoring for Pompey before goals from Ronan Curtis and Colby Bishop wrapped up the win.
Another team enjoying away success to higher-rank opposition were Colchester United, who stunned League One neighbours Ipswich Town at Portman Road.
Luke Hannant’s goal earned the U’s a plum home tie with Brentford.
