As City fans who went to Tuesday night’s game are still wringing their drenched kecks out, they can take solace in a pretty interesting fact; City are in the third round draw without playing a game. There are other teams who actually have to play matches to get into the hat so here is a round-up of the second round games.
Northern Section
Crewe 2-3 Wigan
Crewe fans have had a pretty torrid time of it recently, competitions such as this can be a great relief for a side struggling in the league – an opportunity to find form and to give some of their fringe players some game time. In a frenetic opening ten minutes, there was a penalty save, an attempt rattling the crossbar and on six minutes the opening goal. Wigan’s Sanmi Odelusi won and took the penalty in the second minute of the game, but it was a weak effort gobbled up by Ben Garratt. Four minutes later Crewe punished the penalty miss when Marcus Haber fired the Railwaymen in front. The mad opening ten minutes was rounded off by the first of Jordy Hiwula’s first of two goals. Yanic Wildshutheaded across to Hiwula who hooked the ball home to level the scores. City target Jussi Jaaskelainensaved Wigan from going behind again when he saved a George Cooper effort, he was unable to stop Crewe taking the lead again after some ropey defence from the Latics; Ryan Colclough seized on said defending and finished under the Fin. Crewe let their lead slip again when Hiwula scored his seconded of the game, turning in a cross to square the game again. The second equaliser seemed no knock the wind from Crewe and after Hiwula’s second there was only one way the game was going to go. A brilliant individual goal from Wildshut won the game for Wigan who go through to round three, or the Northern Quarter final, which is a bit more glamorous.
Sheffield United 5-1 Notts County
A hat-trick of penalties went some way to sending the Blades into the third round against Notts County. Jose Baxter scored the first goal with the first of the three penalties, scoring after Jamal Campbell-Rycewas brought down. Matt Done scored the second with a neat lob. Baxter found himself with another opportunity from 12 yards after Che Adams went down under Haydn Hollis’ challenge. Former Bantam Jon Stead came off the bench to bring the scores to 3-1 but the resistance was short lived as Stefan Scougall furthered the hosts’ lead five minutes later. The third penalty of the game came at a higher cost for County as Hollis, who had conceded the previous penalty received a red card for his challenge on the same player, Che Adams. Adams dusted himself off and made it 5-1 for the Blades.
Fleetwood 2-1 Shrewsbury
Both of these sides could do with some of the ‘feel-good factor’ which a good cup run can provide. Both sides are struggling in League One and both sides could have done with a win to help them boost their league form. There’s not many better feelings in football than winning a game in the last minute in front of your home fans after being a goal down. The Cod Army treated their fans to this on Tuesday night. The Shrews took the lead in the 25th minute when Junior Brown smashed an 18 yard shot passed Fleetwood ‘keeper Chris Maxwell. Fleetwood have a new manager in Steven Pressley, who City fans will remember specifically from an altercation with PP during the 3-3 draw with Coventry. Luckily for him, he now only has to face Big Phil once in the league, I reckon that was probably part of the reason he took the job. He will have been impressed with the way his team responded in the second half. They equalised in the 69th minute through Ash Hunter who finished low to level the scores. Fleetwood had the best of the rest in terms of chances and finally made one of them pay in the first minute of injury time when Bobby Grant scored the winner.
Port Vale 1-2 Blackpool
In all competitions, Blackpool have now won three on the bounce. It was a tight affair with all three goals happening within a 12-minute window. Blackpool took the lead when Jarett Rivers scored with a precise finish. The goal came after a nasty clash which resulted in Vale defender Remi Streeteneeding ten minutes of treatment on the field of play before the game could restart. Blackpool were pegged back eight minutes later when Clark Robertson was adjudged to have fouled Enoch Andoh in the box. Anthony Grant despatched the resulting spot kick sending Colin Doyle the wrong way. Two minutes later Robertson’s team-mates and Seasider’s fans had forgotten his mistake when he rose highest to power Blackpool back in front with a header from a Jose Miguel Cubero free-kick.
Rochdale 2-1 Chesterfield
Chestefield, former winners of this competition, probably named after some other weird product back when they did, found themselves down in the 18thminute to a Scott Tanser strike. His powerful shot was deflected high into the Spireites goal to give ‘Dale the lead. Vincente, who recently has been in fine form had a handful of chances in the first half but couldn’t add to the home side’s lead. Chesterfield made a double substitution at half time bringing Jay O’Shea and Sylvian Ebanks-Blake on, they had to ride out a few more Rochdale chances before their substitutions could make an impact. In the 65thminute Ebanks-Blake but a near post cross in which ‘Dale defender Ashley Eastham could only bundle into his own goal, Chesterfield drew level. Rochdale, however didn’t waste any time in getting back in front as Lewis Alessandra restored the host’s lead within a minute.
Bury 0-1 Morecambe
The biggest upset, if you can call it that, came at Gigg Lane as Morecambe ended the Shaker’s run of seven straight wins in all competitions with a 0-1 victory. The game was like every JPT game I can remember going to, lashing down with rain, not much happening for most of the game, and ultimately losing it in the last ten minutes. Shaun Miller came off the bench and scored in the 81st minute to send the Shrimps through.
York 2-0 Doncaster
Another upset occurred at Bootham Cresent where York beat struggling Donny by two goals. Scott Flinders had to be on his best early in the game for York as James Coppinger went close for the visitors. In a hectic opening five minutes he also saved a Danny N’Guessan shot which allowed the Minstermen to go up the other end and start the scoring. Vadaine Oliver scored his first of two goals with a finish from 10 yards. Five minutes after the restart Oliver was at it again, this time he dispossessed Donny defender Aaron Taylor-Sinclair and punished the on rushing keeper with a deft lob. Flinders made another good save for York at the other end and the two goals proved to be enough to see York through to the third round. Let’s just hope we don’t get them, eh?
Southern Section
Crawley 0-3 Southend
Southend have come second in this competition a massive three times, they played like a team who wanted to put that record straight as they thumped Crawley 0-3 at the stupidly named checkatrade.com stadium. Stupid.
Crawley haven’t won any of their seven home games this season, so fans must be thinking that their manager might want to use their sponsor’s website and become a plumber or something, maybe. The Red Devils found themselves one goal down after 26 minutes when Myles Weston got on the scoresheet after seeing an earlier effort brilliantly saved by ‘keeper Callum Preston. Ben Coker and Joe Pigottteamed up in the 38th minute, Coker played Pigott in who fired a shot which was deflected past Preston in the Crawley goal. Crawley got into the game a little more after the break but failed to trouble Dan Bentley too much, Shrimpers defender Gary Deegan went closest to beating him but luckily saw his cock-up cleared off the line by Coker. Pigott sealed the game with three minutes to go as he smashed a shot into the roof of the net to make it 0-3.
Yeovil 0-0 Coventry
(Yeovil Town win 4-3 on pens.)
It’s just not the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy without a penalty shoot-out in deepest, darkest Somerset on a Tuesday evening is it? Well, that’s what travelling Coventry fans were treated to after their side failed to break down a Glovers’ side who are struggling near the bottom of League Two. The chances in the game for both sides combined could be counted on one hand, the game seemed destined for penalties and Yeovil provided a professional display which saw them win the shoot-out 4-3 sending them through to the next round.
Millwall 2-0 Northampton
After Tuesday’s defeat away to Millwall, Cobblers boss Chris Wilder called for the competition to be scrapped. “I’m not a lover of the competition, I think we play enough football.” He also went on to say “We painted our house last summer, so what’s the point anyway?”
Northampton, who had previously beaten Colchester in a 3-2 thriller, could’ve been 3-0 up in the first half but saw all three chances denied by either the woodwork or Lion’s keeper Jordan Archer. Steve Morison should’ve scored for the visitors but was frustrated by Cobblers’ ‘keeper Ryan Clarke. Millwall broke Northampton’s resistance in the second half with goals from Aidan O’Brien and Lewis Gregory. The goals were enough to see them through to the next round. Chris Wilder can forget about the competition until he loses his next Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tie.
Bristol Rovers 2-0 Wycombe
Early pacesetters in League Two, Wycombe Wanderers, travelled to mid-table Bristol Rovers on Tuesday night on the back of losing to Johnstone’s Paint Trophy fanatic Chris Wilder’s Northampton side. They didn’t really get off to the best start either, the Pirates were two goals to the good after eleven minutes. Matt Taylor began the scoring in the fourth minute with a lovely curling strike past ‘keeper Matt Ingram. Seven minutes later and Jermaine Easter scored the second to put the game beyond Wycombe’s reach. Easter drove home a ball which had been played through by Bill Bodin. Wycombe had their chances but Bristol’s early exposure of their frail defence saw that the game was won after the opening eleven minutes.
Oxford United 2-0 Swindon
Swindon are on a bit of a bad run at the moment, and if a bad run could be encapsulated by one game, this would be the game. Things got pretty bad pretty quickly when Jordan Turnbull kicked out at former City nobody Jake Wright (who is now captain of Oxford, didn’t know that) was shown a straight red card. Oxford are performing well in League Two and didn’t take long to twist the knife into Swindon’s side. Kemar Roofe gave Oxford the lead with a low finish from nine yards. After the break Roofe made his tally for the season eight goals in all competitions when he doubled the lead. He scored from close range after a flick on from Ryan Taylor landed at his feet. Things then got worse for Swindon; Bradley Barry, had filled in for the dismissed Jordan Turnbull, was knocked unconscious from a seemingly tame challenge. He was stretchered off after receiving initial treatment on the field. Roofeshould have had a hat-trick but Robin’s ‘keeper Lawrence Vigouroux saved brilliantly to keep the losing margin to two goals.
Gillingham 2-1 Luton
In theory Gillingham’s victory should have been a lot more straight forward than it was, they are sitting pretty in League One and they have only dropped points on one occasion at home. However, they were staring their first home defeat of the season in the face at half time as Luton took the lead in the 41stminute. Cameron McGeehan scored his fifth goal of the season from a Dan Potts’ cross to give the visitors the advantage. The Gills came out of the tunnel in the second half determined to at least match their mantle of last season’s Southern Section Finalist’s, they were level through defender Max Ehmer in the 65thminute. The German defender fired home from twelve yards after Luton failed to clear their lines. Man of the moment Bradley Dack scored his sixth goal of the season late in the game to ensure that Gillingham kept their unbeaten home record intact and that they had a chance to emulate the dizzy heights of last season’s cup run.
Plymouth 2-0 Exeter
West Country derbies are few and far between for their part of the world, mainly because there isn’t really that many teams down there. However, the Soccer AM team managed to pull this one out of the hat and the League Two leaders kept true to form to knock Exeter out of the competition. Hiram Boatengput Argyle one-up from a Craig Tanner corner, the midfielder, on loan from Crystal Palace has now scored two in as many games. Tanner, also on loan, this time from Reading, doubled the lead for the home side after 49 minutes. A brilliant solo effort ended in him finishing beautifully from just inside the box. Exeter had chances to get back into the game, the best opportunity falling to Jamaican Joel Grant who fired horrifically wide and high from six yards out.
Stevenage vs Dag + Red will be played on Wednesday 7th of October.
The rearranged date of the Barnsley game has yet to be agreed between the two clubs at the time of writing.
The draw for the third round will be shown live on Soccer AM.
