Yesterday was the draw for the second round of the Capital One Cup.
This is the first round where the Premier League sides who are involved in Europe along with Wigan Athletic who are also in European competition. The un-seeded teams were drawn earlier in the day to decide if they would be home or away. Meaning West Ham could only be drawn against the lesser sides in this round.
West Ham were drawn last out of the proverbial hat. The last team out would face a home tie against Cheltenham Town. Cheltenham Town play in League 2 and managed to get into the play-offs last season but were beaten in the semi-final by Northampton Town. Cheltenham beat League 1 opposition Crawley Town in a thrilling 4-3 match. Cheltenham were 2 goals down at one stage in the game and produced a “magic of the cup” style performance.
This draw should enable West Ham to give the youth and fringe players a chance. The home draw takes away any chance of Cheltenham creating an influential atmosphere. We certainly could have had a harder draw with some decent Championship sides creating some tough away games.
It will be a nice chance to get an early season win and the main thing is a chance for the fringe and youth players to get some minutes under their belts.
Every year we lose to lesser sides so don’t get too excited mate
There seems to be more emphasis on succeeding in the cups this year so I would hope that isn’t the case, even if it means less chance for the lesser players.
Had a lot of trouble understanding that second sentence but the teams in Europe don’t enter at this stage. All Premier League teams except those playing in European competition do.
Yes Gary. For some reason I managed to miss a chunk! It should read;
This is the first round of which the Premier League sides are involved excluding the sides involved in European competition. Also Championship side Wigan are excluded from this round as they are also involved in Europe.
If we were to field a decent side im sure we’d walk it . But we wont, so im not so sure. I wish we would show more respect to the cups, especially when there are european spots up for grabs. I’d love us to be in swanseas’ boots right now! COYI.