After a Tuesday night full of drama which saw numerous upsets pulled off by lower league clubs, the Carabao Cup First Round returned for its second proper evening of action on Wednesday as 12 more English football league teams looked to put their names in the hat for Round Two.
With four more Championship sides facing lower league opposition, more upsets were on the menu, especially as last night’s match-ups saw all nine second-flight teams who faced lesser opposition go on to lose.
South Yorkshire pair Barnsley and Sheffield Wednesday proved successful in taking the scalp of Championship sides, defeating Middlesbrough and Sunderland respectively, whilst there were big wins elsewhere for Bristol City and Blackburn Rovers.
Sheffield Wednesday get their revenge against Sunderland
Two of the biggest clubs to ever play in England’s third tier, Sheffield Wednesday and Sunderland met last season in the League One play-off semi-finals.
With the two matches seeing just over 75,000 fans in attendance, Sunderland finally found their way out of the third tier as a last minute Patrick Roberts strike in the second leg at Hillsborough took the Mackems to Wembley where they beat Wycombe Wanderers 2-0.
This time around in the Carabao Cup, Wednesday took their revenge after claiming a relatively stress-free 2-0 home win. Dennis Adeniran opened the scoring with one of the goals of round one in the first half with a strike from distance, before Sylla Sow netted in the 56th minute as the Owls marched on to the second round.
Blackburn make it three wins from three this season
Wins against QPR and Swansea City had seen Blackburn Rovers start the 2022/23 Championship season strongly, remaining as the only team to have won both of their matches in the division so far.
It was perhaps no surprise to see that confidence pour over into their Carabao Cup first round match against League Two outfit Hartlepool at Ewood Park then.
Scott Wharton opened the scoring in the first half for the hosts before second half strikes from Bradley Dack, Tyrhys Dolan and Dilan Markanday rounded out their easy progression into Round Two for the sixth time in the past seven seasons.
Coventry beaten by Bristol City.. at Burton Albion’s ground?
One of the main storylines in the buildup to the 2022/23 Carabao Cup Round One fixtures was whether the all-Championship clash between Coventry and Bristol City would actually go ahead this midweek.
The match had been in doubt due to the poor condition of the playing surface at the Coventry Building Society Arena which had led to the Sky Blues’ home Championship match against Rotherham United being called off at the weekend.
Instead of announcing another postponement however, the match was instead played at Burton Albion’s Pirelli Stadium, though for the Coventry fans that made the 85 mile round trip, they’ll have left the ground feeling bitter.
That’s because the visitors raced into a 3-0 half time lead thanks to a brace from Tommy Conway and a strike from Kal Naismith. Coventry did attempt to fight back in the second half but the damage was already done as the Robins flew back to Bristol with a 4-1 victory.
Carabao Cup 1st Round results
| Date | Result |
| August 2 | Cambridge United 1-0 Millwall |
| August 9 | Shrewsbury Town 3-2 Carlisle United |
| August 9 | Blackpool 0-0 Barrow (3-4 on pens) |
| August 9 | Accrington Stanley 2-2 Tranmere Rovers (11-12 on pens) |
| August 9 | AFC Wimbledon 0-2 Gillingham |
| August 9 | Northampton Town 1-2 Wycombe Wanderers |
| August 9 | Oxford United 0-0 Swansea City (5-3 on pens) |
| August 9 | Rochdale 2-0 Burton Albion |
| August 9 | Cheltenham Town 0-7 Exeter City |
| August 9 | Charlton Athletic 1-1 QPR (5-3 on pens) |
| August 9 | Morecambe 0-0 Stoke City (5-3 on pens) |
| August 9 | Mansfield Town 1-2 Derby County |
| August 9 | Bradford City 2-1 Hull City |
| August 9 | Crawley Town 1-0 Bristol Rovers |
| August 9 | Huddersfield Town 1-4 Preston North End |
| August 9 | Ipswich Town 0-1 Colchester United |
| August 9 | Grimsby Town 4-0 Crewe Alexandra |
| August 9 | Bolton Wanderers 5-1 Salford City |
| August 9 | Norwich City 2-2 Birmingham City (4-2 on pens) |
| August 9 | Harrogate Town 0-1 Stockport County |
| August 9 | Doncaster Rovers 0-3 Lincoln City |
| August 9 | Luton Town 2-3 Newport County |
| August 9 | MK Dons 1-0 Sutton United |
| August 9 | Forest Green 2-0 Leyton Orient |
| August 9 | Fleetwood 1-0 Wigan Athletic |
| August 9 | Cardiff City 0-3 Portsmouth |
| August 9 | Walsall 2-0 Swindon Town |
| August 9 | Reading 1-2 Stevenage |
| August 10 | Coventry City 1-4 Bristol City |
| August 10 | Blackburn Rovers 4-0 Hartlepool United |
| August 10 | Plymouth Argyle 0-2 Peterborough United |
| August 10 | Port Vale 1-2 Rotherham United |
| August 10 | Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 Sunderland |
| August 10 | Middlesbrough 0-1 Barnsley |
| August 11 | West Brom v Sheffield United |
Carabao Cup 2nd Round draw in full
| Northern Draw |
| Bolton vs. Aston Villa |
| Derby County vs. West Brom/Sheffield United |
| Wolves vs. Preston |
| Leeds United vs. Barnsley |
| Fleetwood Town vs. Everton |
| Sheffield Wednesday vs. Rochdale |
| Tranmere Rovers vs. Newcastle United |
| Rotherham United vs. Morecambe |
| Barrow vs. Lincoln City |
| Stockport County vs. Leicester City |
| Bradford City vs. Blackburn Rovers |
| Grimsby vs. Nottingham Forest |
| Shrewsbury vs. Burnley |
| Southern Draw |
| Stevenage vs. Peterborough United |
| Norwich City vs. Bournemouth |
| Newport County vs. Portsmouth |
| Oxford United vs. Crystal Palace |
| Watford vs. MK Dons |
| Colchester United vs. Brentford |
| Wycombe Wanderers vs. Bristol City |
| Walsall vs. Charlton Athletic |
| Crawley Town vs. Fulham |
| Cambridge United vs. Southampton |
| Gillingham vs. Enter City |
| Forest Green Rovers vs. Brighton |
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