… and with that, our work here is done. John Brewin was at the London Stadium, and his report on West Ham’s comeback victory over Portsmouth is here. There’s also a round-up of the other matches for your edification. Thanks for reading this Clockwatch!
The results
AFC Wimbledon 1-1 Newport (AFC Wimbledon win 5-4 on pens)
Barnsley 1-1 Wigan (Barnsley win 6-5 on pens)
Bradford 2-0 Rochdale
Bristol Rovers 0-1 Peterborough
Bromley 1-1 Reading (Reading win 5-4 on pens)
Burnley 1-1 Notts County (Burnley win 4-3 on pens)
Burton 1-2 Blackburn
Cambridge 2-1 Barnet
Cardiff 3-2 Swindon
Crewe 2-1 Accrington
Derby 1-2 Lincoln
Fleetwood 1-0 Chesterfield
Gillingham 0-3 Luton
Grimsby 1-3 Blackpool
Leicester 1-0 Northampton
Leyton Orient 2-0 Oxford
Norwich 4-1 MK Dons
Preston 1-1 Huddersfield (Preston win 4-3 on pens)
QPR 1-1 Millwall (Millwall win 2-0 on pens)
Salford 1-1 Shrewsbury (Shrewsbury win 4-3 on pens)
Sheff Wed 1-0 Bolton
Stockport 1-1 Doncaster (Doncaster win 5-4 on pens)
Stoke 2-0 Oldham
Swansea 0-1 Birmingham
Watford 1-0 Crawley
West Ham 3-1 Portsmouth
The final shootout ends. Shrewsbury beat Salford 4-3, the end of a football odyssey that compares favourably to that of their celebrity fan Derek Smalls.
Reading beat Bromley 5-4 on pens. Nine successful attempts, then Ethon Archer sends a pea-roller straight at Joel Pereira, who had been fooling around like Joe Hart, albeit with greater success.
AFC Wimbledon, so close to going out, beat Newport 5-4 on pens. Nobody’s pining for extra time, are they?
Preston best Huddersfield in their shootout 4-3. Meanwhile Doncaster beat Stockport 5-4 in theirs.
Updated
Burnley win their penalty shoot-out against Notts County 4-3. Kyle Walker, four times a winner of this competition with Manchester City, and once a runner-up with Spurs, smashes the deciding spot-kick home.
Updated
A few penalty shoot-outs to come then. Barnsley are the first to book their place in the second round with a 6-5 win over Wigan.
The full-times
AFC Wimbledon 1-1 Newport (pens to come)
Barnsley 1-1 Wigan (pens to come)
Bradford 2-0 Rochdale
Bristol Rovers 0-1 Peterborough
Bromley 1-1 Reading (pens to come)
Burnley 1-1 Notts County (pens to come)
Burton 1-2 Blackburn
Cambridge 2-1 Barnet
Cardiff 3-2 Swindon
Crewe 2-1 Accrington
Derby 1-2 Lincoln
Fleetwood 1-0 Chesterfield
Gillingham 0-3 Luton
Grimsby 1-3 Blackpool
Leicester 1-0 Northampton
Leyton Orient 2-0 Oxford
Norwich 4-1 MK Dons
Preston 1-1 Huddersfield (pens to come)
QPR 1-1 Millwall (Millwall win 2-0 on pens)
Salford 1-1 Shrewsbury (pens to come)
Sheff Wed 1-0 Bolton
Stockport 1-1 Doncaster (pens to come)
Stoke 2-0 Oldham
Swansea 0-1 Birmingham
Watford 1-0 Crawley
West Ham 3-1 Portsmouth
GOAL! Watford 1-0 Crawley (Bola 90+9). Marc Bola with a 25-yard volley. Bang a gong!
Updated
GOAL! AFC Wimbledon 1-1 Newport (Maycock 90+7). The Dons keep themselves alive in the nick of time!
GOAL! Preston 1-1 Huddersfield (Erabi 90+3). The ten men of Preston equalise at the death, Jusef Erabi squeezing a shot into the bottom left. It’ll be penalties surely at Goodison … and not Deepdale, where a new pitch is being laid.
GOAL! Burton 1-1 Blackburn (Gudjohnsen 81)
GOAL! Burton 1-2 Blackburn (Fevrier 88)
A late turnaround for Tony Mowbray’s men.
GOAL! Leyton Orient 2-0 Oxford United (El Mizouni 88). More London buses action, but this time in actual London, as Idris El Mizouni seals the deal for Orient.
Updated
GOAL! Leyton Orient 1-0 Oxford United (Mitchell 85). The news isn’t so good for the 1986 winners, though, as Demetri Mitchell puts the Os ahead at Brisbane Road.
GOAL! Stoke 2-0 Oldham (Bozenik 82). Robert Bozenik barrels down the middle and powers the 1972 winners into the second round, surely. Here’s the story of that victory, courtesy of our old friend, the Joy of Six …
Stoke City were 109 years old in 1972. Their trophy cabinet was full, but only of 109 years’ worth of dust. They’d won nowt. And they weren’t expected to win the 1972 League Cup final, either; their opponents, Dave Sexton’s Chelsea, had two recent successes to their name: the 1970 FA Cup against Leeds United and the 1971 Cup Winners’ Cup against Real Madrid. “Experience of what the Americans call ‘the big time’ suggests that Chelsea will have at least one major advantage this afternoon at Wembley,” reasoned the man from the Guardian on the morning of the match. “All Chelsea’s forwards are more skilful ball players than on the opposite side, with the possible exception of the ageless Eastham.”
The ageless George Eastham, 35, had been something of a nearly man. He joined Newcastle United in 1956, a year after the club had won their last domestic trophy to date. He fell out with the club over the slum house they provided him with – Newcastle argued that the crumbling property was good enough, having been “once occupied by the famous Jackie Milburn” – and effectively went on strike, selling cork in Guildford before being transferred against his will to Arsenal. Eastham took Arsenal to court, winning a landmark case that drastically changed the old retain-and-transfer system that had made near-slaves of players – but won no money, the judge ticking him off for refusing to play while flogging his cork. Eastham’s time at Arsenal was personally successful, but coincided with the club’s drift into mediocrity. He left for Stoke in 1966, just after England won the World Cup. Eastham had been in the squad, but didn’t play a single minute of the tournament.
His bread had always fallen jam side down, but now Eastham would have his day. Chelsea started strongly, but Stoke hit on the break and – the more things change, the more they stay the same – set up the opening goal with a long throw. Captain Peter Dobing flung one into the area from the left, Peter Bonetti’s punch fell to Eastham, who sent the ball back into the mixer. After a brief scramble, Terry Conroy steered a header into the net from 12 yards.
Chelsea equalised with the last action of the first half, Peter Osgood chesting down and sweeping home, and enjoyed the bulk of the play in the second period, Charlie Cooke and Alan Hudson in control, Gordon Banks forced to make several crucial saves. But on 73 minutes, Jimmy Greenhoff forced Bonetti to make a diving save, the loose ball being prodded home by Eastham. Stoke held out, and finally – finally – a trophy was theirs.
“The hugging and dancing among officials and players on the field, like the sustained warmth of the reaction to the lap of honour from the thousands waving red-and-white banners on the stands and terraces, gave the impression of a family celebration,” wrote Hugh McIlvanney in the Observer. “It was all the more enjoyable in a family that has known deprivation for so long.”
GOAL! Gillingham 0-3 Luton (Kodua 78). Gideon Kodua puts the 1988 winners into the second round, surely.
GOAL! Cardiff 3-2 Swindon (Moylan 77). Jack Moylan, on for five minutes, puts the Bluebirds back in front. Swindon, hit by a quickfire double, will now be seeing this:
GOAL! Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 Bolton (Lowe 70). Returning hero Barry Bannan releases Jamal Lowe down the inside-left channel. Lowe lifts the ball over the keeper and in.
GOAL! AFC Wimbledon 0-1 Newport (Bamba 71). Yahya Bamba gives Newport the lead against the spiritual 1988 FA Cup winners. It’s not all bad news for the actual Dons, though, as their MK usurpers remain 4-1 down at Norwich.
Updated
More hydration breaks. Ah Gianni, the spiritual heir to Tom Henderson.
Updated
GOAL! Cardiff 2-2 Swindon (Glatzel 62). Paul Glatzel equalises in the HTV derby.
GOAL! Norwich City 4-1 MK Dons (Brooks 59). Andre Brooks is sent clear down the middle, and so much for that MK Dons comeback.
RED CARD: Sheffield Wednesday 0-0 Bolton. Xavier Simons has his shirt tugged by Harry Gray, and responds by punching the Wednesday youngster in the ribs! That loss of noggin sparks a mass brawl, after which Simons is sent packing. Marvellous fun / won’t somebody think of the kids, depending on your point of view.
Updated
GOAL! Norwich City 3-1 MK Dons (Wintle 56). Ryan Wintle snatches one back for MK Dons at Carrow Road. A shot from a corner, which had been won directly after Nathaniel Méndez-Laing missed a penalty.
GOAL! West Ham 3-1 Portsmouth (Castellanos 50). Taty Castellanos glances Jarrod Bowen’s right-wing cross into the left-hand portion of the net, and West Ham have responded so impressively to falling behind. They’re in control of this tie now, and the London Stadium is bouncing.
Updated
GOAL! Stockport 1-1 Doncaster (Wootton 51). … only for Kyle Wotton to wipe out that lead in the shortest of orders.
GOAL! Stockport 0-1 Doncaster (May 50). Alfie May puts Rovers in front …
GOAL! Burnley 1-1 Notts County (Flemming 47). Zian Flemming is sent clear down the middle and flicks elegantly over the keeper. The hosts level at Turf Moor.
Updated
GOAL! Stoke City 1-0 Oldham (Norburn og 48). Ollie Norburn accidentally flicks a near-post Stoke corner into his own net.
RESULT: QPR 1-1 Millwall (Millwall win 2-0 on pens)
Millwall keeper Lukas Jensen saves all four of QPR’s penalties. Shades of Helmuth Duckadam in the 1986 European Cup final. Very deep shades of that. Take it away, Baz …
Updated
The half-times
AFC Wimbledon 0-0 Newport
Barnsley 0-1 Wigan
Bradford 1-0 Rochdale
Bristol Rovers 0-1 Peterborough
Bromley 1-1 Reading
Burnley 0-1 Notts County
Burton 1-0 Blackburn
Cambridge 2-1 Barnet (FT)
Cardiff 2-1 Swindon
Crewe 1-0 Accrington
Derby 1-2 Lincoln
Fleetwood 1-0 Chesterfield
Gillingham 0-1 Luton
Grimsby 0-1 Blackpool
Leicester 1-0 Northampton
Leyton Orient 0-0 Oxford
Norwich 3-0 MK Dons
Preston 0-1 Huddersfield
QPR 1-1 Millwall (FT; pens to come)
Salford 0-0 Shrewsbury
Sheff Wed 0-0 Bolton
Stockport 0-0 Doncaster
Stoke 0-0 Oldham
Swansea 0-1 Birmingham
Watford 0-0 Crawley
West Ham 2-1 Portsmouth
FULL TIME: QPR 1-1 Millwall. It’s going to pens at Loftus Road.
GOAL! Cardiff City 2-1 Swindon Town (Salech 43). Another Yousef Salech goal belatedly reported. BLAME GIANNI. STOP FOOTBALL.
GOAL! QPR 1-1 Millwall (Sykes og 86). Millwall fail to deal with a corner. A header ricochets off Mark Sykes and dribbles into the net.
GOAL! West Ham 2-1 Portsmouth (Bowen 45). Jarrod Bowen sends a long-range riser into the top right, and a quickfire turnaround is complete! Two fine goals as well.
Updated
GOAL! Norwich 3-0 MK Dons (Chrisene 43). Benjamin Chrisene twists, turns and aims for the top right. In it goes!
GOAL! West Ham 1-1 Portsmouth (Castellanos 43). The Hammers are level at the London Stadium. Taty Castellanos whipping into the top right after good work down the left from Mohamadou Kanté.
Updated
GOAL! Swansea 0-1 Birmingham (Priske 44). August Priske flicks home a low right-wing cross. A lovely touch.
GOAL! Burnley 0-1 Notts County (Roberts 42). Callum Roberts pearls one into the bottom right from distance.
GOAL! Preston North End 0-1 Huddersfield Town (Balker 38). Radinio Balker takes advantage against the ten men, heading a cross from the right into the bottom left. This is a replay of the 1938 FA Cup final, incidentally. Here’s how we described the winner of that match in the Joy of Six.
1. George Mutch (PRESTON 1-0 Huddersfield Town, 1938)
The 1938 FA Cup final between Preston North End and Huddersfield Town was the first to be televised live by the BBC. In the commentary box, describing the first half of this historic and prestigious event, was George Allison, manager of Arsenal, who were busy elsewhere taking on Liverpool as they battled with Wolverhampton Wanderers in the race for the title. (Imagine Sir Alex Ferguson eschewing Manchester United’s game at Blackburn in order to take the mic for ESPN. The past really is a different country.) Arsenal would win the league the following week, but Allison’s luck wasn’t in this particular day: the first half of the final, his showpiece broadcast, was a defensive non-event.
The second half was barely any better, save for a couple of speculative shots from Huddersfield’s Pat Beasley and Preston’s Bill Shankly. The game went into extra time. Describing the action, such as it was, since half-time was Lieutenant-Commander Thomas Woodrooffe, a former naval officer who had become one of BBC radio’s top broadcasters. Woodrooffe was appalled at the dreary nature of events, and with the match entering the 120th minute, he announced to the viewing nation (which, in 1938, totalled about 17 toffs in the Alexandra Palace area of London) that “if there is a goal now, I’ll eat my hat”.
Sure enough, and right on cue, Preston’s inside-right, George Mutch, picked up the ball and went on one last desperate sortie into the Huddersfield area. Alf Young, the Huddersfield captain, went over to cover. He stuck out a boot, with calamitous results. “Flat to earth went Mutch as though sudden death had overtaken him,” reported the Manchester Guardian. “The Huddersfield team stood thunderstruck in all the sad variety of woe, all save the wretched Young, who threw up appealing arms before the referee. Preston put breath back into Mutch and, after some anxious conclave, nominated and unanimously elected him to exact the tribute for the affront that had been done to him.”
Mutch nearly missed the penalty – it would be another exact half-century before that grim fate befell a player in the cup final – but the ball flew between Bob Hesford’s arms, caught the underside of the bar, and rolled along the netting before dropping into the goal. There was just time for Huddersfield to kick off before the final whistle blew. So, not exactly a contender to rival Ricky Villa, Roberto di Matteo or Ray Parlour, but one of the most dramatic finishes to a cup final, and one with a surreal denouement. Woodrooffe – who was already infamous for his majestic drunken Fleet’s Lit Up meanderings at a naval show a year earlier – bravely kept the promise made in the moments before Mutch sprawled over Young’s leg, and tucked into a bowler hat live on BBC television. It was made of cake and marzipan.
GOAL! Cardiff City 1-1 Swindon Town (Salech 29 pen). Belated news of Yousef Salech’s equaliser from the spot. I was searching for that Big Train sketch. To be fair, blame Gianni.
GOAL! West Ham 0-1 Portsmouth (Segecic 33). Adrian Segecic meets a half-cleared corner by chesting down on the edge of the box and threading a low bobbler into the bottom left. Segecic and Pompey benefitting from a wee deflection there.
Updated
GOAL! Bromley 1-1 Reading (Cheek 33). Michael Cheek bumbles his way down the middle, through a couple of challenges, and rolls home.
There are hydration breaks being taken in these matches. If AI could somehow replace the name of Tom Henderson with that of everyone’s favourite Fifa executive, all will be forgiven.
GOAL! Derby County 0-2 Lincoln City (Jefferies 23). Dom Jefferies fizzes a low drive across the keeper and into the bottom-left corner.
GOAL! Bristol Rovers 0-1 Peterborough United (Leonard 19 pen). Harry Leonard breaks the deadlock from 12 yards. Still not sure about that new Posh crest, but full marks for effort.
RED CARD: Preston North End 0-0 Huddersfield Town. Lewis Gibson is sent off for hauling down Ashley Fletcher, who was clean through.
GOAL! Bromley 0-1 Reading (Stokes 14). Josh Stokes whistles home from the inside-right channel. But should that shot have been parried? Another questionable goalkeeping moment.
GOAL! Leicester City 1-0 Northampton Town (Okoli 15). Caleb Okoli makes up for his earlier error by heading home from a corner hit long from the right. The keeper not covering himself in glory.
Updated
GOAL! QPR 0-1 Millwall (Cundle 53). Luke Cundle takes advantage of a mistake by QPR keeper and debutant Pierce Charles. A dropped cross, under no pressure, and the easiest of tap-ins.
Updated
GOAL! Cardiff 0-1 Swindon Town (Osho og 9). Gabriel Osho deflects into his own net.
Leicester City 0-0 Northampton Town. Russell Martin’s reign at Leicester nearly got off to a characteristically slapstick start. With just a few seconds on the clock, Caleb Okoli, attempting to Pep-pass his way out from the back, carelessly rolled the ball into the path of Harvey Saunders, who through on goal simply had to score, but slapped his shot straight at keeper Jakub Stolarczyk. That would have been quite the introduction to the Martin era.
GOAL! Norwich City 2-0 MK Dons (Slimane 7). Anis Slimane doubles Norwich’s lead. Mo Toure turns provider this time, unselfishly crossing low from the right to tee up Slimane, who takes a touch before steering home. Philippe Clement is doing some job for the Canaries.
GOAL! Grimsby Town 0-1 Blackpool (Ennis 3). Niall Ennis opens the scoring for Blackpool, who are not managed by Ruben Amorim.
Updated
GOAL! Derby County 0-1 Lincoln City (Clarke og 3). Matt Clarke channels his inner Sandy Brown, meeting a Lincoln corner with a spectacular diving header into his own net. No idea what he was trying to achieve there.
GOAL! Norwich City 1-0 MK Dons (Toure 1). Mohamed Toure opens the scoring early doors at Carrow Road. He strides down the inside-right channel and absolutely lashes home from the edge of the box. Just 40 seconds that took!
FULL TIME: Cambridge United 2-1 Barnet
Cambridge hold on, and join Wolves, Stevenage and Middlesbrough in the hat for the second round.
Cambridge United 2-1 Barnet. Idris Kanu puts the ball in the Cambridge net, amid a scramble, but there had been a foul in the build-up. There was also a clearance off the line in that build-up, Kabongo Tshimanga’s header stopped by Kelland Watts.
Cambridge United 2-1 Barnet. There will be seven minutes of added time. Barnet are pushing forward in search of the late equaliser that would take this tie to spot kicks, but without carrying much in the way of threat. Cambridge seem happy enough to sit back and soak up what little pressure there is.
HALF TIME: QPR 0-0 Millwall. Halfway to penalties, then.
… but we will be guaranteed action and/or drama at some point, one way or another. If the scores in these League Cup games remain level after the end of 90 minutes, it’s straight to a penalty shoot-out, with no need for extra time.
QPR 0-0 Millwall. There’s not a lot going on at Loftus Road in today’s only 2pm kick-off. Rangers have had most of the ball, Millwall have just had their first (off-target) shot at goal, and that’s it.
Pre-main-flurry-of-matches postbag. “How is there football already?” splutters Kári Tulinius. “Doesn’t it ever stop? Someone should campaign to stop football.” An admirable idea, though if we’re heading down that road, wouldn’t there first need to be a campaign to re-start the Fiver? And nobody’s going to agitate for that, are they.
Updated
GOAL! Cambridge United 2-1 Barnet (Heath 57). These off-piste London buses are becoming a goddamn nuisance. Isaac Heath completes the turnaround for Cambridge at the Abbey, where there’s now been three goals in eight minutes.
Meanwhile, in other time-wasting news, allow us to hang this on-topic retro Joy of Six triptych. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.
GOAL! Cambridge United 1-1 Barnet (Knight 52). Almost immediately, Ben Knight levels things up at the Abbey. What are these London buses doing in Cambridge?
GOAL! Cambridge United 0-1 Barnet (Tshimanga 49). We have our first goal of the afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Kabongo Tshimanga has opened the scoring at the Abbey Stadium.
In lieu of action to report, all of which will surely be coming down the line, here’s a musical interlude. All together now, you showbiz kids: ♬ ♪ ♫ You know they don’t give … ♬ ♪ ♫
… but there were goals in the three matches played last night. Wolverhampton Wanderers beat Port Vale 3-0, Stevenage won 2-1 at Wycombe, and ITV cleared their schedules for this:
There’s already one match underway, and we have to be honest with you, we’re not off to a flyer. It’s goalless between Cambridge United and Barnet at the break.
Preamble
The 2026-27 Football League season hasn’t started yet … but it’s started! The League Cup is already up and running, see, and here’s today’s Super 3pm Saturday Clockwatch Card …
AFC Wimbledon v Newport
Barnsley v Wigan
Bradford v Rochdale
Bristol Rovers v Peterborough
Bromley v Reading
Burnley v Notts County
Burton v Blackburn
Cambridge v Barnet (1pm)
Cardiff v Swindon
Crewe v Accrington
Derby v Lincoln
Fleetwood v Chesterfield
Gillingham v Luton
Grimsby v Blackpool
Leicester v Northampton
Leyton Orient v Oxford
Norwich v MK Dons
Preston v Huddersfield
QPR v Millwall (2pm)
Salford v Shrewsbury
Sheff Wed v Bolton
Stockport v Doncaster
Stoke v Oldham
Swansea v Birmingham
Watford v Crawley
West Ham v Portsmouth
… so there’s no time to waste sitting here yakking. Let’s get going. It’s on!
