That’s the end of a dramatic evening of League Cup football. Four goals for Brentford’s Marcus Forss. Four for Burnley’s Jay Rodriguez. Everton and Watford bite the dust against lower-league opposition, while Leeds narrowly survive at Fulham. Meanwhile Manchester City and Liverpool keep on rattling them in. A very entertaining set of fixtures, all told. Hope you’ll join Barry Glendenning for tomorrow’s Carabao Cup Clocko. Thanks for reading this one. Nighty night!
Nick Ames was at Carrow Road, where Liverpool won 3-0 for the second time this season. Here’s his verdict.
Jamie Jackson was at the Etihad to see the holders stick six past a Wycombe side that had the temerity to take the lead. His report has landed. Here it is!
The full times
- Brentford 7-0 Oldham Athletic
- Burnley 4-1 Rochdale
- Fulham 0-0 Leeds United (Leeds win 6-5 on pens)
- Manchester City 6-1 Wycombe Wanderers
- Norwich City 0-3 Liverpool
- Preston North End 4-1 Cheltenham Town
- Queens Park Rangers 2-2 Everton (QPR win 8-7 on pens)
- Sheffield United 2-2 Southampton (Saints win 4-2 on pens)
- Watford 1-3 Stoke City
- Wigan Athletic 0-2 Sunderland
PENALTIES: Leeds beat Fulham 6-5. Joe Gelhardt and Bobby Decordova-Reid score with obscene confidence. Stuart McKinstry keeps up the pressure on the home team by then rolling into the bottom left. And it’s too much for Rodrigo Muniz, who aims bottom right only to be denied by Illan Meslier. Leeds are through!
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PENALTIES: Fulham v Leeds. Junior Firpo makes it 4-3 to Leeds by absolutely leathering a kick into the top left. Alfie Mawson, looking extremely nervous, is then forced to re-spot before taking. He holds it together to whack into the right-hand side of the net. It’s 4-4!
PENALTIES: Fulham v Leeds. It’s 3-3 and going to sudden death. Leeds had this on a plate, but Stuart Dallas and Adam Forshaw blasted their last two penalties over the bar and halfway to Hammersmith!
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PENALTIES: Southampton beat Sheffield United 4-2. Oriol Romeu wins the day for Saints, rolling the decisive spot kick into the bottom right, sending the keeper the wrong way.
PENALTIES: QPR beat Everton 8-7! Tom Davies aims for the bottom right ... but Seny Dieng turns the ball onto the post! Jimmy Dunne steps up and blooters a no-nonsense effort home, and QPR are through! Everton’s long wait for a first League Cup goes on!
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PENALTIES: QPR v Everton. Godfrey slips, but still manages to hook his penalty into the top left. Everton breathe again, and now all the pressure is on Luke Amos who ... slots into the top right! What serenity!
PENALTIES: QPR v Everton. A couple more successful kicks; it’s 6-6. Then it’s Ben Godfrey ... and the Everton defender sees his penalty saved by Seny Dieng! But the keeper is inches off his line, and it’s a second chance for Godfrey.
PENALTIES: QPR v Everton. It’s 4-4 after the first eight penalties. No misses. Young Anthony Gordon shows composure to whip into the top-right corner. Albert Adomah has to score ... and does so after walloping the right-hand post. It’s sudden death now!
FULL TIME: Fulham 0-0 Leeds. The only goalless match of the evening goes to penalty kicks.
FULL TIME: Preston 4-1 Cheltenham. ... with pretty much the last kick of the match.
GOAL! Preston 4-1 Cheltenham (Jakobsen 90+3). Emil Jakobsen ices this particular cake.
FULL TIME: Sheffield United 2-2 Southampton. Penalties it is, then!
FULL TIME: Watford 1-3 Stoke. The 1972 winners knock out Premier League opposition.
FULL TIME: Brentford 7-0 Oldham. The Latics were hoping to hear this whistle 60 minutes ago, but here we are. Four for Marcus Forss and a couple for the equally sensational Yoane Wissa.
FULL TIME: Wigan 0-2 Sunderland. The Black Cats win the battle of the League One promotion hopefuls.
FULL TIME: Burnley 4-1 Rochdale. ... and to think Rochdale went one up. Four for Burnley, four for Jay Rodriguez.
FULL TIME: Manchester City 6-1 Wycombe Wanderers. ... and to think Wycombe went one up.
FULL TIME: Norwich 0-3 Liverpool. The eight-time winners make it through to the fourth round.
FULL TIME: QPR 2-2 Everton. Penalties coming up.
GOAL! Brentford 7-0 Oldham (Wissa 87). The icing on the cake, right here, as Yoane Wissa meets a right-wing cross on the penalty spot, and bicycles a stunner into the bottom-right corner!
GOAL! Manchester City 6-1 Wycombe Wanderers (Palmer 88). What a solo goal by 19-year-old Cole Palmer! He drives down the middle, eating up the yards, opens his body, then sidefoots into the left-hand side of the goal. Keeper no chance.
GOAL! Preston 3-1 Cheltenham (Maguire 82). It should be all over at Deepdale, too. Sean Maguire meets a right-wing cross at the corner of the six-yard box, takes a couple of touches, spins, and slots under the keeper.
GOAL! Watford 1-3 Stoke City (Tymon 85). It’s surely all over at Vicarage Road. Josh Tymon crosses from the left. He shanks it, but the ball loops in a wild arc over keeper Rob Elliot and into the top right. A complete fluke, but you take them when they come.
GOAL! Manchester City 5-1 Wycombe Wanderers (Mahrez 83). A second for Riyad Mahrez. Wycombe gave this a fair go, but that Jordan Obita miss for 3-2 absolutely did for them.
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GOAL! Watford 1-2 Stoke (Clucas 80). The second-tier team take the lead against the run of play! Sam Clucas drives low and hard from distance. A deflection sends the ball into the bottom left, and a Premier League scalp could be heading back to the Potteries.
GOAL! Norwich City 0-3 Liverpool (Minamino 80). ... and it’s two for Takumi Minamino, who drags the ball down the inside-right channel past a couple of half-arsed chances, finally whipping into the net.
GOAL! Burnley 4-1 Rochdale (Rodriguez 77). Four for Burnley, four for Jay Rodriguez!
As things stand, four ties will be going to penalties. Can anyone find a late winner in the Fulham-Leeds, QPR-Everton, Sheffield United-Southampton or Watford-Stoke matches?
GOAL! Manchester City 4-1 Wycombe Wanderers (Torres 71). Wycombe should have made it 3-2 at the Etihad. Jordan Obita is sent clear down the middle, but freezes on the edge of the box and sends a weak shot straight at Zack Steffen. A couple of minutes later, City extend their lead, Foden teeing up Torres. The small margins, eh?
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GOAL! Sheffield United 2-2 Southampton (McBurnie 66). Saints over-elaborate while playing out. Ben Osborn snaffles possession and sends a diagonal ball towards Oli McBurnie on the right of the six-yard box. McBurnie bashes home for his first goal in 22.
GOAL! Brentford 6-0 Oldham (Forss 60). A ball is cut back from the right. Forss meets it, and nearly shatters the underside of the crossbar with his first-time shot. In the ball goes, and that’s four for the Finn, who we can unashamedly say is flying.
GOAL! Burnley 3-1 Rochdale (Rodriguez 62). Make that three goals in 12 minutes. What a response to falling behind, what a hat-trick, what a turnaround!
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GOAL! Burnley 2-1 Rochdale (Rodriguez 60). A second goal for Jay Rodriguez, who has turned this match around in the space of ten minutes.
GOAL! Watford 1-1 Stoke (Fletcher 61). Ashley Fletcher latches onto a loose, bobbling ball and backheels into the net from a couple of yards. Shades of offside, and Stoke are less than happy about it.
GOAL! Preston 2-1 Cheltenham (Vassell 56). Kyle Vassell comes on and scores with his first touch. Well, his first belt. The ball drops to him on the left-hand edge of the six-yard box, and he absolutely larrups a drive into the roof of the net from a tight angle. What a finish!
GOAL! Sheffield United 1-2 Southampton (Salisu 53). Saints complete the turnaround! They work a short corner out on the right. Yan Valery drives down the byline and flashes towards Mohammed Salisu at the near post. Salisu flippers it in from close range.
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GOAL! Wigan 0-2 Sunderland (O’Nien 54). The Black Cats are back, baby! Luke O’Nien doubles Sunderland’s lead, opening his body to steer a right-wing cross into the bottom left.
GOAL! Burnley 1-1 Rochdale (Rodriguez 50). Sean Dyche will be a little calmer now. New signing Cornet whips in a corner from the right; Jay Rodriguez flashes it into the net at speed with his eyebrows at the near post. Fine set-piece goal.
GOAL! Norwich City 0-2 Liverpool (Origi 50). The 1962 and 1985 winners had been threatening to get back into this game, but the hill looks a bit steeper now. Kostas Tsimikas reaches the byline down the left and loops into the centre, Divock Origi steering a header into the top right.
GOAL! Burnley 0-1 Rochdale (Beesley 47). Rochdale - who deliberately keep their hosts waiting at the start of the second half - eventually emerge from the dressing room and quickly go ahead, Jake Beesley threading into the bottom right from 12 yards. A fair chance Sean Dyche is raging right now.
GOAL! QPR 2-2 Everton (Townsend 47). It didn’t take long for Everton to get back on terms in west London. Andros Townsend drills home from close range after Rangers make a shambolic attempt to clear what initially looked like a non-event of a corner.
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It’s about that time. Second-half action coming right up!
The half times
- Brentford 5-0 Oldham Athletic
- Burnley 0-0 Rochdale
- Fulham 0-0 Leeds United
- Manchester City 3-1 Wycombe Wanderers
- Norwich City 0-1 Liverpool
- Preston North End 2-0 Cheltenham Town
- Queens Park Rangers 2-1 Everton
- Sheffield United 1-1 Southampton
- Watford 0-1 Stoke City
- Wigan Athletic 0-1 Sunderland
A reminder that any draw after 90 minutes will go straight to penalties.
GOAL! Manchester City 3-1 Wycombe Wanderers (Foden 45). Foden nearly rips the net from its moorings with a 25-yard rising screamer. Ow! Poor Wycombe, who had the temerity to tweak the tail of the tiger.
GOAL! Brentford 5-0 Oldham (Forss 44). A hat-trick for Marcus Forss, who was found in acres on the penalty spot. No defenders anywhere! Oldham’s centre backs may already have gone in for their half-time oranges, and who could blame them?
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GOAL! Brentford 4-0 Oldham (Clarke og 43). This is getting ugly now.
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GOAL! Manchester City 2-1 Wycombe Wanderers (Mahrez 43). A shot through a crowded box, and the Wycombe dream was nice while it lasted.
NORWICH MISS PENALTY! A loose ball in the Liverpool box, the result of a weak parry by Kelleher in goal. Giannoulis latches onto it. Bradley, on debut, clanks into the back of him. Penalty ... but it’s scuffed by Tzolis, allowing Kelleher to make amends with the save.
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GOAL! Brentford 3-0 Oldham (Wissa 38). He’s won a penalty and set up another, and now he gets a goal for himself. Yoane Wissa is sent clear down the middle and makes no mistake. The 1990 final seems like an awfully long time ago. Well, it was an awfully long time ago, but you get the general thrust.
GOAL! Preston 2-0 Cheltenham (Rafferty 37). A looping cross comes in from the right. Joe Rafferty meets it as it drops on the edge of the six-yard box, and bundles it into the bottom left. Not the prettiest goal, but they all count.
GOAL! QPR 2-1 Everton (Austin 34). A second for Charlie Austin, who leaps miles into the air to meet a left-wing cross, 12 yards out, and eyebrows a lovely header into the bottom right.
GOAL! Preston 1-0 Cheltenham (Hughes 25). Corner. Andrew Hughes rises highest. Bang. Easy as that.
GOAL! QPR 1-1 Everton (Digne 30). A cute pass wedged down the inside-left channel by Andros Townsend. Lucas Digne, ghosting in from the wing, slams home on the half-volley. Nice goal that. Perhaps this is Everton’s year at last?
GOAL! Manchester City 1-1 Wycombe Wanderers (De Bruyne 29). De Bruyne swans in from the left and curls a forensic shot around the keeper and into the bottom left. He doesn’t bother celebrating, but what a finish!
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GOAL! Wigan 0-1 Sunderland (Broadhead 26). The 1985 and 2014 finalists take the lead in the battle of the third-tier promotion hopefuls. Broadhead sashays in from the left and curls a low shot home. Lovely goal.
GOAL! Sheffield United 1-1 Southampton (Diallo 23). A right wing cross is met by Ibrahima Diallo, who cutely steers a header into the bottom left. Iliman Ndiaye should restore United’s lead immediately, but having snaked his way free down the left, he drags his shot across the face of goal with only the keeper to beat.
GOAL! Watford 0-1 Stoke City (Powell 25). Alfie Doughty works hard down the left, squeezes into some space near the byline, and whips a low cross in for Nick Powell, who forces home.
SHOCK GOAL! Manchester City 0-1 Wycombe Wanderers (Hanlan 22). A corner for the third-tier Wanderers leads to a game of pinball in the City box. The ball breaks to Hanlan on the edge of the six-yard box. Not a defender in sight, and no goalie either! Eh? Hanlan rolls into the net and wheels off in disbelief!
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GOAL! Brentford 2-0 Oldham (Forss 16). Wissa and Forss are at it again. The former with his second assist of the evening: he glides in from the left and twangs a shot off the right-hand post, teeing up Forss to slot the rebound.
GOAL! QPR 1-0 Everton (Austin 18). Asmir Begovic flaps at a cross. The ball sits up for Charlie Austin, who can’t miss with his header from six yards. Everton have never won this trophy.
Burnley’s new striker Maxwel Cornet is sent clean through against 1962 finalists Rochdale. But Jay Lynch stands tall to block his attempted chip. Rochdale lost that two-legged final 4-0 on aggregate to Norwich City, by the way.
Rodrigo passes up a great chance to open the scoring for Leeds at Fulham. He’s free on the penalty spot, but scuffs the opportunity. A better effort from a similar opportunity by Everton’s Anthony Gordon but a strong hand from QPR keeper Seny Dieng denies the young striker.
GOAL! Sheffield United 1-0 Southampton (Stevens 8). Enda Stevens gives the Blades an early lead against the Saints, who had started on the front foot. Adlène Guedioura barrels down the right and pulls back for Stevens, who cuts in from the left and threads a shot into the bottom right. Not a bad combo from the debutant and Stevens, who is making his first appearance of the season.
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GOAL! Brentford 1-0 Oldham (Forss 3 pen). Yoane Wissa is upended while trying to fizz a shot towards the bottom right. The referee points to the spot, and Marcus Forss bashes it unceremoniously down the middle. It could be a long evening for poor old Oldham.
GOAL! Norwich City 0-1 Liverpool (Minamino 4). A corner for Liverpool out on the left. It’s swung into the mixer. Origi wins a header, knocking the ball down to the feet of Minamino, on the right-hand edge of the six-yard box. Minamino swivels and lashes a low shot across Gunn and into the bottom left.
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Applause rang out around the country, too. Before every game, a minute was set aside to celebrate the life of Jimmy Greaves. The warmest of ovations for one of the most beloved players in the history of English football.
Peep! Whistles sound around the land, and tonight’s ten third-round matches kick off. Here we go, then.
While we wait for kick-off ... here are some old League Cup themed Joy of Six articles, presented for your leisure and pleasure.
A reminder that Manchester City are the reigning champions, having won the last four finals. That equalled a record set by Liverpool between 1981 and 1984, and also matched their overall haul of eight League Cups. The next cabs on the rank, with five wins apiece, are Aston Villa, Chelsea and Manchester United. As ever, the big boys dominate, though this tournament has also been good to the underdog down the years: it’s the only major trophy won by Middlesbrough, Stoke, Luton, Oxford and Swansea; ditto QPR and Swindon, who both won it while in the third tier; and fourth-tier Bradford got to the final as recently as 2013. Nothing’s impossible. Good luck, everyone.
On an evening where many a teamsheet has been given a good old shoogle, there are other firsts to report. Burnley’s new striker Maxwel Cornet makes his first start against Rochdale. Brazilian defender Lyanco makes his debut for Southampton. Algeria midfielder Adlene Guedioura wears the red and white stripes of Sheffield United for the first time. Ozan Tufan, on loan from Fenerbahce, makes his debut for Watford. Wing back Demeaco Duhaney debuts for Stoke. And the no-nonsense Danish defender Mathias Jorgensen makes his first appearance for Brentford. Welcome one, welcome all.
Changes are very much the order of the day. In the televised game, Norwich City and Liverpool have both made nine. Southampton have made nine as well; they’re away to Sheffield United, one of four teams to replenish the entire XI; Brentford, Fulham and Watford all make 11 changes as well.
Kaide Gordon makes his debut for Liverpool at 16, with creaky old Conor Bradley, 18, also pulling on a red shirt for the first time. The holders Manchester City can trump that, and then some, with five players - Conrad Egan-Riley, Finley Burns, Luke Mbete, Josh Wilson-Ebrand and Romeo Lavia - making their debuts against Wycombe.
Tonight's teams
Brentford: Fernandez, Roerslev, Jorgensen, Fosu, Thompson, Onyeka, Goode, Jensen, Ghoddos, Wissa, Forss.
Subs: Raya, Toney, Mbeumo, Ajer, Peart-Harris, Bidstrup, Stevens.
Oldham: Leutwiler, Clarke, Piergianni, Fage, Jameson, Diarra, Whelan, Bowden, Keillor-Dunn, Bahamboula, Dearnley.
Subs: Danielewicz, Da Silva, Couto, Vaughan.
Burnley: Pope, Bardsley, Tarkowski, Collins, Pieters, Lennon, Cork, Westwood, Cornet, Vydra, Rodriguez.
Subs: Lowton, Taylor, Gudmundsson, Wood, Barnes, Norris, Thomas.
Rochdale: Lynch, Taylor, O’Connell, Dorsett, O’Keeffe, Dooley, Morley, Keohane, Cashman, Beesley, Odoh.
Subs: McNulty, Newby, George Broadbent, Done, Andrews, Kelly, Coleman.
Fulham: Rodak, Christie, Hector, Mawson, Bryan, Reed, Onomah, Knockaert, Quina, Kebano, Rodrigo Muniz.
Subs: Reid, Adarabioyo, Ivan Cavaleiro, Ashby-Hammond, Stansfield, O’Neill, Fossey.
Leeds: Meslier, Shackleton, Firpo, Cresswell, Dallas, Klich, Phillips, James, Roberts, Summerville, Rodrigo.
Subs: Forshaw, Klaesson, Gelhardt, Drameh, McKinstry, Greenwood, Hjelde.
Man City: Steffen, Egan-Riley, Burns, Mbete-Tabu, Wilson-Esbrand, De Bruyne, Lavia, Foden, Mahrez, Torres, Sterling.
Subs: Dias, Gabriel Jesus, Bernardo Silva, Joao Cancelo, Carson, Palmer, McAtee.
Wycombe: Stockdale, McCarthy, Stewart, Tafazolli, Jacobson, Gape, Wheeler, Obita, KaiKai, Akinfenwa, Hanlan.
Subs: Grimmer, Thompson, Vokes, McCleary, Horgan, Scowen, Przybek.
Norwich: Gunn, Mumba, Hanley, Gibson, Giannoulis, Gilmour, Omobamidele, Rupp, Lees-Melou, Tzolis, Idah.
Subs: Krul, Dowell, Kabak, Rashica, Sorensen, Williams, Pukki.
Liverpool: Kelleher, Bradley, Gomez, Konate, Tsimikas, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jones, Keita, Minamino, Origi, Gordon.
Subs: Adrian, Henderson, Jota, Robertson, Phillips, Morton, Balagizi.
Preston North End: Rudd, Storey, Lindsay, Hughes, Rafferty, McCann, Whiteman, Cunningham, Potts, Wickham, Jakobsen.
Subs: van den Berg, Browne, Iversen, Maguire, O’Reilly, Earl, Rodwell-Grant.
Cheltenham: Evans, Horton, Pollock, Freestone, Blair, Perry, Thomas, Chapman, Barkers, Williams, May.
Subs: Long, Raglan, Vassell, Flinders, Bonds, Armitage.
QPR: Dieng, Dickie, Dunne, Barbet, Adomah, Ball, Dozzell, McCallum, Chair, Austin, Willock.
Subs: Gray, Kakay, Amos, Dykes, Thomas, Walsh, Duke-Mckenna.
Everton: Begovic, Godfrey, Holgate, Kenny, Digne, Townsend, Davies, Andre Gomes, Iwobi, Gordon, Rondon.
Subs: Keane, Allan, Gray, Doucoure, Lonergan, Branthwaite, Simms.
Sheffield United: Foderingham, Bogle, Basham, Robinson, Stevens, Norwood, Guedioura, Burke, Ndiaye, Freeman, McBurnie.
Subs: Fleck, Brewster, Sharp, Verrips, Osborn, Norrington-Davies, Lopata.
Southampton: Forster, Valery, Lyanco, Salisu, Perraud, Tella, Romeu, Diallo, Djenepo, Broja, Redmond.
Subs: Walker-Peters, Long, Ward-Prowse, Adams, Elyounoussi, Bednarek, Lewis.
Watford: Elliot, Ngakia, Sierralta, Kabasele, Masina, Tufan, Gosling, Louza, Hernandez, Fletcher, Sema.
Subs: Foster, Troost-Ekong, Cleverley, Sissoko, Bonaventure, Baah, Morris.
Stoke: Davies, Duhaney, Batth, Chester, Tymon, Brown, Wilmot, Thompson, Doughty, Powell, Surridge.
Subs: Sima, Clucas, Vrancic, Bonham, Ostigard, Ince, Sawyers.
Wigan: Amos, Lloyd, Kerr, Tilt, Pearce, Cousins, Smith, Massey, Jordan Jones, Edwards, Humphrys.
Subs: Lang, Carragher, Long, Mchugh, Tickle, Adeeko, Sze.
Sunderland: Burge, Huggins, Alves, Wright, Cirkin, O’Nien, Evans, Dajaku, Pritchard, O’Brien, Broadhead.
Subs: Flanagan, Doyle, Embleton, Stewart, Taylor, Neill, Hoffmann.
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Preamble
Evening all. It’s the third round of the EFL Cup! Here’s tonight’s card.
- Brentford v Oldham Athletic
- Burnley v Rochdale
- Fulham v Leeds United
- Manchester City v Wycombe Wanderers
- Norwich City v Liverpool
- Preston North End v Cheltenham Town
- Queens Park Rangers v Everton
- Sheffield United v Southampton
- Watford v Stoke City
- Wigan Athletic v Sunderland
All games kick off at 7.45pm BST. Any match that ends in a draw will go straight to penalty kicks. No extra-time tonight. Join us, then, on our journey as 20 become 10. It’s on!
