The EFL Trophy began with the opening group matches played this week, all but one taking place on Tuesday.
Premier League and Championship sides made their bow with U23 sides involved for the first time.
Not that all these ‘U23 sides’ actually involved had players entirely falling into that age bracket with the aims of ‘young English talent’ being involved in them not exactly the case with all either…
Here’s a round up of the EFL Trophy results.
Results
Tues 30th August 2016 – Checkatrade Trophy
Bolton 0-2 Everton U23 19:00
Bury 4-1 Morecambe 19:00
Gillingham 1-2 Luton 19:30
Peterborough 1-6 Norwich City U23 19:30
Accrington 0-3 Crewe 19:45
Wimbledon 3-0 Swansea City U23 19:45
Blackpool 2-1 Cheltenham 19:45
Bradford 1-0 Stoke City U23 19:45
Bristol Rovers 2-3 Reading U23 19:45
Charlton 0-0 Southampton U23 19:45
(Charlton won 5-4 on penalties)
Chesterfield 2-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers U23 19:45
Coventry 4-2 West Ham United U23 19:45
Crawley 1-0 Colchester 19:45
Fleetwood 1-0 Blackburn Rovers U23 19:45
Leyton Orient 3-1 Stevenage 19:45
Mansfield 0-2 Doncaster 19:45
Millwall 2-0 West Bromwich Albion U23 19:45
MK Dons 2-2 Barnet 19:45
(MK Dons won 5-3 on penalties)
Northampton 0-3 Wycombe 19:45
Oldham 4-5 Carlisle 19:45
Oxford Utd 4-2 Exeter 19:45
Plymouth 4-1 Newport 19:45
Port Vale 1-0 Derby County U23 19:45
Scunthorpe 2-1 Middlesbrough U23 19:45
Sheff Utd 0-0 Leicester City U23 19:45
(Leicester won 5-4 on penalties)
Shrewsbury 0-1 Cambridge 19:45
Southend 2-0 Brighton and Hove Albion U23 19:45
Walsall 5-2 Grimsby 19:45
Yeovil 4-3 Portsmouth 19:45
Wed 31st August 2016 – Checkatrade Trophy
Notts County 2-1 Hartlepool 19:45
Plenty of goals were flying around with some high scoring matches seen, with the majority of those high scoring matches won by the odd-goal in seven or in one case nine with a few of them needing to be resolved via penalties shootouts.
Shootouts aren’t new to this competition as they resolved matches last season but that wasn’t with the opening matches played as a group – these shootouts ensure a result on the night.
Charlton beat Southampton U23 on penalties but Leicester’s U23 beating Sheffield United, both after goalless draws. The other with MK Dons beating Barnet in a shootout after a two-two draw
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EFL Trophy – 30th/31st August Group Matches
