By Stephen Giles
- Oxford United stun Brentford
- Blackburn lose to Shrewsbury
- Walsall beat Nottingham Forest 4-3
- Seven Championship sides knocked out
TUESDAY’S Capital One Cup first round action saw seven Championship clubs fall to lower league opposition in an eventful night of football.
The biggest shock of the night occurred at The City Ground as four-time winners Nottingham Forest fell to a last gasp 95th minute penalty by Walsall – eventually losing 4-3 – with hat-trick hero Tom Bradshaw scoring the deciding goal for the visitors.
Bradshaw scored two first-half goals before Forest halved the deficit to make it 2-1 at the break. Romaine Sawyers made it 3-1 as he slotted home confidently with 11 minutes remaining.
However, Forest weren’t finished, substitute Michail Antonio’s fine double made it 3-3 as the game looked destined for extra-time – his first a magnificent 25 yarder with 9 minutes to go and then an exquisite back-heel in the 90th minute – but Bradshaw had other ideas as he was felled in the fifth minute of injury-time and then netted under pressure to dump the Championship side out of the Cup.
At Griffin Park, Brentford – who gave debuts to eight players – were embarrassed as they were comprehensively blown away by League Two side Oxford United, who had cruised to a 3-0 half-time lead to win comfortably.
A moderately strong Blackburn Rovers side would have anticipated a comfortable passage into the next round, however things didn’t go as planned as they were beaten 2-1 by League One Shrewsbury Town.
10-men Notts County claimed an impressive battling 2-1 victory away at Championship side Huddersfield Town, with Liam Noble scoring a contender for Goal of the Round with an outstanding 35-yard lob to seal a well-earned win for the League One side.
Burnley, relegated last season from the Barclays Premier League contested a low-key game at Port Vale in a game of few clear-cut chances. Despite fielding an extremely strong team, Burnley never troubled the home goalkeeper and later succumbed to an 82nd minute Byron Moore strike eight minutes from time to send Vale into the second round.
Ex-Chelsea striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s growing managerial career continued, as his League One Burton Albion stunned Bolton Wanderers with a deflected 87th minute winner from Matthew Palmer. Bolton managed twenty shots on goal, but lacked the required quality in the final third.
Other results:
Accrington 2 Hull 2 (Hull win 4-3 on penalties)
Carlisle 3 Chesterfield 1
Charlton 4 Dagenham 1
Colchester 0 Reading 1
Bristol Rovers 1 Birmingham 2
Cardiff 1 AFC Wimbledon 0
Fleetwood 0 Hartlepool 1
Ipswich 2 Stevenage 1
Millwall 1 Barnet 2
MK Dons 2 Leyton Orient 1
Morecambe 0 Sheffield United 1
Northampton 3 Blackpool 0
Peterborough 2 Crawley 0
Plymouth 1 Gillingham 2
Rochdale 1 Coventry 1 (Rochdale win 5-3 on penalties)
Rotherham 1 Cambridge 0
Scunthorpe 1 Barnsley 1 (Barnsley win 7-6 on penalties)
Sheffield Wednesday 4 Mansfield 1
Southend 0 Brighton 1
Swindon 1 Exeter 2
Wigan 1 Bury 2
Wolves 2 Newport 1
Yeovil 0 Queens Park Rangers 3
Wycombe 0 Fulham 1
York 2 Bradford 2 (York City win 4-2 on penalties)