League Cup wrap: Forest knock out rivals, but others upset

Nottingham Forest edged local rivals Notts County on penalties in the League Cup’s first round, while there were upsets aplenty elsewhere.

Goals to Lewis McGugan and Robbie Findley saw Forest lead 2-1 with 15 minutes to play, but Craig Westcarr’s late strike ensured the match would go to extra-time.

Striker Lee Hughes struck a brilliant goal eight minutes into the additional 30 minutes to give County the lead and – with less than a minute to play – they looked like securing a famous win at the City Ground.

But a sublime Wes Morgan effort from the edge of the penalty area forced the game to penalties, although misses from Jonathan Greening and George Boateng from the spot gave County another chance to win the match.

Hughes had the chance to be a local hero but blazed his spot-kick over and County captain Neal Bishop repeated the dose, as Steve McClaren’s Forest somehow escaped with a 4-3 shoot-out victory.

In another local derby, Leeds United came from behind to defeat Bradford City 3-2 in an entertaining encounter at Elland Road.

Goals to Jack Compton and Michael Flynn had Bradford leading 2-1 with 20 minutes to play, but late strikes to attackers Ross McCormack and Ramon Nunez – who scored twice – helped Leeds to victory.

The first round was not so kind to several other Championship sides, however, with Hull City, Portsmouth, Derby County, Ipswich Town, Coventry City and Barnsley all finishing as losers.

Surprisingly, five of those six were at home, with Macclesfield Town winning 2-0 at Hull while Portsmouth were stunned 1-0 by Barnet and Derby could not bridge a three-goal gap in their 3-2 loss to Shrewsbury Town.

Ipswich Town lost 2-1 to Northampton Town – the side responsible for knocking Liverpool out of the same competition in 2010 – while Morecambe won 2-0 at Barnsley and Coventry’s trip to League Two club Bury also ended in a 3-1 defeat.

The likes of Leicester City and Burnley enjoyed more success, with the former winning 4-1 at Rotherham United and the latter beating Burton Albion 6-3 after extra-time, with Jay Rodriguez scoring four goals for the winners.

Other results saw Southampton beat Torquay United 4-1, Millwall win at Plymouth Argyle 1-0, Brighton and Hove Albion scrape past Gillingham 1-0 and Peterborough United win 4-3 after extra-time at Stevenage.

Middlesbrough enjoyed a 3-0 win at Walsall and Doncaster won by the same scoreline against Tranmere Rovers, while other sides to progress were Rochdale, Huddersfield Town, Sheffield United, Exeter City, Wycombe, Leyton Orient, Scunthorpe United, Carlisle United, Preston North End, Bournemouth, Milton Keynes Dons and Hereford United.