The Carling Cup began last night with the first round taking place just days into the season, the surprises in the first round are often numerous, with many Championship clubs falling to lower league clubs after "playing a weakened team".
One of the biggest shocks of the night tonight was seeing current Championship leaders,(admittedly, it is only after one game though!) QPR, humiliated in front of their own fans by Port Vale losing 3-1 after making 5 changes from their impressive league start against Barnsley.
Football league returners, Oxford United, managed to cap off a very easy night for themselves at the Kassam stadium where they managed to put six past Bristol Rovers, who are not strong away from home generally, and will be rightfully embaressed by this performance away to a lower league side. The other side promoted from the conference, Stevenage, hosted Portsmouth in the Monday night game on TV. They put up a good fight against the recently relegated Premiership club before the extra quality from Pompey shone through and they advanced to the second round 2-1.Another shock occured at Shrewsbury, where they defeated Charlton 4-3 in an enthralling game coming from 3-0 down after half an hour of play to win it in 90 minutes. Nottingham Forest also have been dumped out of the Carling Cup early this season by a lower league side with Bradford putting them out in extra time, despite Forest playing a reasonably strong team and going 1-0 up.
Other results include Southend beating Steve Coppell's new team, Bristol City 3-2 AET, Preston putting 5 past Lancashire rivals Stockport at Edgeley Park, and Crewe putting Derby out by 1 goal to nil.
There is three games to be played tomorrow in the Carling Cup. Torquay host Reading, Hartlepool face Sheffield United, and Cardiff are playing at home to Burton Albion. Of course, with this being the first round of the cup, and no replays being played, the teams for the next round will be known by tomorrow night.
The draw for the second round will take place tomorrow night following the end of the games taking place.
No comments:
Post a Comment