Carling Cup Embarrassments

The Carling Cup provided a great opportunity for some of the bigger teams to give their senior players a rest and test the depth of their squads. They also opted to give many of their youngsters, and reserve players, a game. For three of the ‘bigger’ teams in England, this decision backfired badly. Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City all lost their opening game of the knockout cup, with Liverpool having the arguably the most embarrassing defeat by losing to second division Northampton Town.

Results:


Aston Villa 3 -1 Blackburn Rovers


Chelsea 3 – 4 Newcastle United


Scunthorpe United 2- 5 Manchester United


Wigan Athletic 2 – 1 Preston North End


Liverpool 2 – 2 (2 – 4 pens) Northampton Town


West Bromwich Albion 2 - 1 Manchester City