Ipswich Town will discover their Carabao Cup first round opponents on Friday morning. Stuart Watson brings you everything you need to know.
WHEN/WHERE
To say these didn’t go well last season, under the new Thai energy drink sponsors, would be an understatement. Charlton appeared to be drawn twice in the first round draw, the third round draw took place in Beijing at 4.15am UK time, while live online streams proved unreliable.
So they’ve gone back to basics this time, right? Wrong. Friday’s first round draw will take place in Vietnam (obviously) – ‘in order to promote the competition internationally’ – at 10.45am UK time.
It will be conducted by EFL Cup winners Steve McManaman, Louis Saha and Dennis Wise. Ipswich are ball number 16.
WHO CAN TOWN GET?
Teams are still split into north and south sections for the first round, but seedings – which were previously in place for rounds one and two – have been scraped.
It means that the Blues could be drawn against Norwich... Mind you, they could also end up travelling to the likes Plymouth, Exeter or Newport.
South section: AFC Wimbledon, Aston Villa, Birmingham, Brentford, Bristol City, Bristol Rovers, Cambridge Utd, Charlton, Cheltenham, Colchester, Coventry, Crawley, Exeter, Forest Green Rovers, Gillingham, Luton, Millwall, MK Dons, Newport County, Northampton, Norwich, Oxford, Peterborough, Plymouth, Portsmouth, QPR, Reading, Southend, Stevenage, Swindon, West Brom, Wycombe, Yeovil.
WHEN ARE THE GAMES?
It’s not quite as early as usual. Teams actually kick-started the season with a League Cup match back in 2012. Since then it’s been just three days after the Championship opener.
This time around, first round ties are scheduled for the week beginning Monday, August 13. That means Town will have played at least two league games by then as the Championship campaign gets underway on Sat, August 4.
NEW RULES
Extra-time has been removed, with all matches which are level after 90 minutes going straight to penalties. And those shoot-outs will return to the traditional method of each team taking turns following last season’s trial with the ABBA system.
Town last participated in a penalty shootout when beating Shrewsbury in the League Cup first round in 2009/10.
VAR (video assistant referees) will be available to match officials at all ties that are hosted at Premier League stadiums.
TOWN IN THE EFL CUP
Town have reached the semi-finals of the League Cup on four occasions, eventually losing to Liverpool (81/82), Norwich (84/85), Birmingham (00/01) and Arsenal (10/11).
When the Blues lost to the Gunners almost eight years ago, Roy Keane had just been sacked. Caretaker boss Ian McParland oversaw a memorable 1-0 first leg win at Portman Road, courtesy of Tamas Priskin’s goal, before a 3-0 loss at The Emirates Stadium followed under new manager Paul Jewell.
Since then, Town have exited the competition to lower league opposition in five of the last seven seasons.
The first exception was a 3-0 third round defeat at Manchester United in 2015. Mick McCarthy controversially changed his entire team for that money-spinning match as the likes of Piotr Malarczyk, Josh Yorwerth, Giles Coke and Tommy Oar lined up against Wayne Rooney, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Juan Mata and David de Gea.
Last year, the youngest Town side in history – average outfield age 19 – put in gallant performance at Crystal Palace, losing 2-1 in the second round, following an entertaining first round win at Luton.
11/12: 1R, L 2-1 Northampton (h)
12/13: 2R, L 2-1 aet Carlisle (a)
13/14: 1R, L 2-0 Stevenage (a)
14/15: 1R, L 1-0 Crawley (a)
15/16: 3R, L 3-0 Man Utd (a)
16/17: 1R, L 1-0 Stevenage (a)
17/18: 2R, L 2-1 Crystal Palace (a)
HURST’S CUP RECORD
Town fans are gagging for the fun of a cup run when you also consider that they haven’t seen their side muster an FA Cup win in 13 attempts stretching back to 2010.
Could new boss Paul Hurst be the man to deliver that? His League One Shrewsbury side lost in the first round of the Carabao Cup to Nottingham Forest last season, took West Ham to an FA Cup third round replay and went all the way to the Checkatrade Trophy Final at Wembley.
His National League Grimsby side reached the third round of the FA Cup once, losing to Huddersfield in 2014, and twice made the FA Trophy Final.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here