The EFL Trophy continued with the latest group matches played this week.
Premier League and Championship U23 sides were involved once again.
Not that all these ‘U23 sides’ actually involved had players entirely falling into that age bracket once again with the aims of ‘young English talent’ being involved in them not exactly the case with all either…
Anyway, here’s a round up of the EFL Trophy results.
Results
Tue 8 Nov 2016 – EFL Trophy
Everton U21 1-1 Blackpool 19:30
(Blackpool won 5-4 on penalties)
Cheltenham 1-0 Bolton 19:45
Portsmouth 1-0 Bristol Rovers 19:45
Newport 2-0 Wimbledon 19:45
Swansea City U21 2-0 Plymouth 19:45
Crewe 0-2 Chesterfield 19:30
Wolverhampton Wanderers U21 4-0 Accrington 19:45
Chelsea U21 1-1 Oxford Utd 19:30
(Chelsea won 13-12 on penalties)
Exeter 1-1 Swindon 19:45
(Swindon won 4-2 on penalties)
Stoke City U21 1-1 Bury 19:45
(Stoke won 4-3 on penalties)
Northampton 1-1 West Ham United U21 19:45
(West Ham won 3-2 on penalties)
Blackburn Rovers U21 2-2 Oldham 19:30
(Oldham won 5-4 on penalties)
Colchester 1-1 Charlton 19:45
(Colchester won 4-3 on penalties)
Derby County U21 2-3 Mansfield 19:45
Doncaster 0-0 Port Vale 19:45
(Port Vale won 4-3 on penalties)
Norwich City U21 4-1 MK Dons 19:00
Barnet 1-2 Peterborough 20:00
Brighton and Hove Albion U21 1-0 Leyton Orient 19:45
Stevenage 4-0 Southend 19:45
Cambridge 0-2 Scunthorpe 19:45
Middlesbrough U21 0-3 Shrewsbury 19:45
Luton 1-3 Millwall 19:30
West Bromwich Albion U21 0-2 Gillingham 19:45
Leicester City U21 0-1 Walsall 19:45
Wed 9 Nov 2016
Reading U21 0-2 Yeovil 19:30
Morecambe 3-2 Bradford 19:45
Wycombe 2-4 Coventry 19:45
Carlisle 4-2 Fleetwood 19:45
Southampton U21 4-0 Crawley 19:45
Hartlepool 1-2 Rochdale 19:30
Sunderland U21 2-1 Notts County 19:30
Grimsby 2-4 Sheff Utd 19:45
Again some of the more ‘favoured’ sides, if you will, lost out this week!
Tuesday saw Everton beaten on penalties by Blackpool, following a one-one draw at Goodison Park with League promotion challenging Bolton beaten by League 2 side Cheltenham,
Another League 2 beating League 1 match was Portsmouth’s one-nil win over Bristol Rovers, although that Fratton Park win perhaps wasn’t that surprising really as the side were in the same league last season and Pompey had home advantage.
Newport will hope to take confidence from the two-nil win over Wimbledon into the League 2 season but a fellow League 2 side took nothing from a four-nil mauling at Molineux against Wolves.
It needed penalties, after a one-all draw, but Chelsea saw off Oxford 13-12 in the end with Stoke also needing penalties, after another one-one draw, to beat Bury four-three on spot kicks. West Ham had the same scoreline too against Northampton, seeing out a three-two penalty shootout win at Sixfields.
Tuesday was a night full of penalties to decide matches. Oldham beating Blackburn five-four at Ewood Park after the match had ended two-two with Charlton losing out four-three at the Weston Homes Community Stadium after a one-one draw with League 2 side Colchester.
No shootout needed in a five-goal thriller at the iPro Stadium though where Mansfield went away with a three-two win.
Brighton did enough to edge out League 2 strugglers Leyton Orient with a one-nil win at the Amex Stadium with Millwall also too strong for Luton, going along well in League 2 but beaten by the Lions three-one at Kenilworth Road.
Middlesbrough were soundly beaten three-nil at the Riverside by Shrewsbury three-nil with West Brom and Leicester losing at the Hawthorns and the King Power Stadium to League 1 sides Gillingham (two-nil) and Walsall (one-nil) respectively.
Not so many games played on the Wednesday….
But when they were Yeovil booked a place in the next round with a two-nil win over Reading at the Madejski Stadium with a popular four-two win on the night seeing Coventry, Carlisle and Sheffield United overcome Wycombe, Fleetwood and Grimsby, respectively.
Bradford are impressing in League 1 but they were edged out by the odd goal in five at Morecambe with the Shrimps running out three-two winners at the Globe Arena.
No problems for Southampton, a four-nil win over Crawley was secured but ‘problems’ at Victoria Park remain for Hartlepool with them again beaten at home when they lost out to Rochdale two-one.
Who was the MotM? That’s what the latest poll is asking so do cast a vote.
Did a starter, or someone from the bench, offer the most?
Select the name you want from the list in the poll to your right, we’re also looking for your thoughts and views too so do share some of those with your comments below.
