Today was the second round of the Carling Cup, the first stage of the tournament where Premiership teams enter the draw. There’s usually at least one shock upset in the early rounds, but nothing too fun today. Last year at this stage, Tottenham lost to Grimsby, Manchester City lost on penalties to Doncaster, and Gillingham beat Portsmouth.
This year, the only real surprise is Crewe Alexandria winning two-nil over Wigan, last year’s runners up. Which really isn’t that much of a surprise. Last season, Wigan’s excellent campaign was highlighted by their excellent run in the league cup. This year, you had to expect a sophomore slump, both in the league and the tournaments.
Two of the newly-promoted teams had interesting games as well against League Two sides. Watford held on to beat Accrington Stanley on penalties, and Reading had to come back just to get to penalties against Darlington. Birmingham’s game against Wrexham also went to extra time, where the Brummies proceeded to put 3 goals past Wrexham in 15 or so minutes. It was also nice to see the Posh give Everton a run for their money, but of course that shadow boxing imbecile Tim Cahill had to pop up with a late winner.
The Premiership teams playing in Europe will go into the draw for the third round.
Carling Cup 2nd Round results in full:
Hull City 0 - 0 Hartlepool (aet; Hull win on penalties)
Port Vale 3 - 2 QPR
Birmingham 4 - 1 Wrexham (aet)
Walsall 1 - 3 Bolton
Sheffield Utd 1 - 0 Bury
Crewe 2 - 0 Wigan
Southend 3 - 2 Brighton
Peterborough 1 - 2 Everton
Leeds 3 - 1 Barnet
Watford 0 - 0 Accrington Stanley (aet; Watford win on penalties)
Brentford 0 - 3 Luton
Barnsley 1 - 2 MK Dons FC
West Brom 3 - 1 Cheltenham
Rotherham 2 - 4 Norwich
Mansfield 1 - 2 Portsmouth
Millwall 0 - 4 Southampton
Hereford 1 - 3 Leicester
Charlton 1 - 0 Carlisle
Reading 3 - 3 Darlington (aet; Reading win on penalties)
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