The first round of the League Cup often brings a few shocks. The D3D4 team give you their thoughts and reports on the evenings events…

MATCH REPORT: Port Vale 0-4 Lincoln City

Vale fans went into this cup-tie against League 2 winners-elect Lincoln with a mixture of apprehension and intrigue. A barnstorming opening day win over Cambridge was soured by an abject away day in Essex as Colchester made light work of new look Vale side. Tuesday night’s game against the Imps would provide a good early indicator of how Neil Aspin’s Valiants measured up against  a team many were predicting to be playing League 1 football next season.

Vale made 3 changes, Lincoln 7. As I approached the game, I was concerned that Lincoln, just like Colchester on Saturday, were playing a 352 system. Aspin hadn’t changed his system on Saturday, and my fear was that Vale’s Brexit 442 would be exposed once more, and this time by a far more talented team. Aspo had elected to put Connell Rawlinson, a big centre half, at right back, presumably to lend support to Leon Legge and Nathan Smith as they contended with Vale fans favourite local son Matt Rhead. Tom Pope’s absence was dealt with the introduction of Louis Dodds, who played off of Ricky Miller.

It was clear that Vale were going to struggle within minutes of kick off. Unable to get near the ball, the Valiants conceded five minutes in from some lax defending from a corner, turned in by Jason ‘Is he still going?’ Shackell. Vale didn’t improve for another 20 minutes, Lincoln’s organisation and system posing too many problems for a Vale side seemingly lost without the focal point of Tom Pope. The Lincoln front 3 of McCarten, Green, and Rhead were combining well to pull the Vale back line apart, and Miller and Dodds were swatted away like irritating flies by the well-marshalled Imps backline. Vale’s insistence on going long to the diminutive forwards didn’t help matters.

Eventually, Vale realised that passing the ball and utilising the brains of Dodds and Miller may yield better results. Vale finished the first half decently, with Manny Oyeleke beginning to control the midfield with a display of composure and strength. Miller had a good chance as the half time whistle went, and there was a feeling Vale would see themselves back in the game.

A penalty early doors in the second half ended that notion. Slotted home by Green, the game felt over; with Lincoln’s back line looking fairly resolute and Vale lacking creativity, there seemed little chance Vale would bag one, let alone two.

Aspin’s refusal to switch his system was made more galling, to this fan’s eyes, by Lincoln making two subs before Vale managed make one, when it was apparent the personnel and system were not working. John Akinde and Bruno Andrade entered the fray. To call on players of their talent from the bench, when 2-0 up, speaks highly of Lincoln’s depth and why so many are tipping them for success once more this season.

Vale did create a couple of chances; a superb save from Lincoln’s young keeper (who otherwise didn’t convince on crosses) denied Hannant, but the battle was largely being won by Lincoln’s backline, despite the introduction (eventually) of Quigley and Kanu by the Vale.

Former Vale midfielder Michael O’ Connor was Lincoln’s final sub, and the Vale backline made the wise decision to back off and allow the Ulster man the time to blast a peach into the top corner, a sight familiar to the Vale faithful. I trudged out shortly after, my exit complimented by the gleeful celebrations of the Imps fans as Akinde scored a fourth.

Several things are concerning to Vale fans. Lincoln, although the favourites, are a League 2 team, who made 7 changes. They didn’t break sweat all night. Vale showed a lack of pace, width, and creativity from the first minute, and bar the impressive Oyeleke, were inferior in every aspect of play. Without Pope, there was seemingly no focal point to the attack, and despite industrious efforts from Worrall and Hannant on the flanks, they are not players to provide attacking flair to a side that is largely workmanlike.

Lincoln fans, on the other hand, have reason to be confident. 3 wins in succession and the easy nature in which their reserve team put away the Valiants tonight suggest this is a team with top quality, and the depth to match. Their system made light work of Vale and the quality they could call from the bench gives the impression that Sincil Bank will be the home of League 1 football in the 19/20 season.

Its early days. Vale looked very impressive on the opening day, but two dire performances since have exposed a few weaknesses, notably a reliance on Pope (still), and a lack of flair. If the opportunity to bring a skilful, pacey winger arrives before the loan deadline, then Aspin must seize it. If a player in that mould doesn’t arrive, and Aspin continues his reluctance to deviate from a 442 (or change the system mid-game), then the optimism felt by Valiants on the opening day will dissipate quickly.

words Joe Baker, D3D4 Port Vale writer….give Joe a follow on twitter @joebaker97

MATCH REPORT: Carlisle United 1-5 Blackburn Rovers

The gulf in class between Legaue Two and the Championship was on show at Brunton Park tonight, with a margin of four goals between two winless sides so far in the league indicative of it.

Conceding two goals in the opening six minutes, the Cumbrians displayed just how poor they would be in this one. Quality was rife in a surprisingly strong Rovers line up but there was little excuse for some catastrophic errors at the back for United throughout; with star man Bradley Dack astoundingly not being marked at all for the majority of the one-sided tie but making his chances count with brilliant play.

Some bright attacking play from Carlisle was encouraging and when Hallam Hope slammed in a screamer from almost 25 yards to reduce the deficit to one, things looked promising.

However, a trio of goals put the game to bed prior to the hour mark as Dack orchestrated almost every goal – grabbing two goals and two assists. The visitors were excellent but surely every fan inside the ground knew that the display from the hosts was alarming.

Ultimately, the Brunton Park rout showed how good Tony Mowbray’s team can be when on form (as their quality was simply too much to handle for the home side) and just how lacklustre and downright shocking defence-wise John Sheridan’s men were.

Attendance: 3156 (645)

Referee: Ross Joyce

Man of the Match: Bradley Dack

words Nathan Ridley, D3D4 Carlisle United correspondent

MATCH REPORT: Preston North End 3-1 Morecambe

Morecambe Seen Off by Barker at Deepdale.

Eleven Years ago to the day, Morecambe faced Preston North End in the League Cup at Deepdale. Then, the Captain of Sammy McIlroy’s Shrimps – Jim Bentley – scored the first goal to contribute towards a shock 1-2 result which the team would emulate with another away win against Wolves at Molyneux in the next round. Happy Days.

Tonight, the fixture was replayed with very few hopes that the feat could be repeated. Morecambe have had a disastrous start to their League Two campaign, having lost both games played so and having shipped eight goals and scored none in response. Their performance at Crewe in the opening match was not worthy of an EFL club and although they improved against Exeter City last Saturday on the Lancashire coast, they never looked like overcoming the visitors from Devon and lost again.

Preston – with former Morecambe star Tom Barkhuizen not even in the squad tonight – have enjoyed a better start to their own season. They beat Queens Park Rangers at home in their opening fixture but lost by the only goal of the game at Swansea last Saturday. As a Championship club, however, they should be able to beat any League Two team at any time. So all the eggs were all in the Lilywhites’ basket as the match kicked-off this evening even though Manager Alex Neill named eleven completely different players from the team which faced Swansea a few days ago.

With Manchester City loanee Brandon Barker causing problems down the Preston left wing right from the off, the home team looked the more assured in the opening stages of the contest. PNE came close to going ahead after nine minutes when Daniel Johnson pulled the ball back for Paul Gallagher to curl a shot just past the Shrimps’ post with Barry Roche struggling to get anywhere near it. The big goalkeeper was possibly at fault just five minutes later when Barker looked up and took his chances from all of 25 yards and hit a shot which you would normally expect the Irish stopper to save; instead, his speculative strike put the home team one goal up. It continued to be one-way traffic as North End’s Second Team outplayed the team in red.  Ryan Ledson found a deflected ball at his feet after eighteen minutes and Big Baz redeemed himself by keeping his sharp shot out with his feet.

With a quarter of the game played, Chris Maxwell in the home goal had been a spectator and the match had been played almost exclusively in the visitors’ half. With just over a half an hour played and Preston seemingly happy to knock the ball around as if this was a practice match, Luke Conlan attempted to play the ball back, Louis Moult intercepted it, played a one-two with Graham Burke and doubled Preston’s lead far too easily by slotting the ball home into the bottom corner of the net. From Morecambe’s point of view, this was another appalling goal to concede and even with only a third of the game played, you started to wonder exactly how many goals North End were going to score tonight. It was almost forty minutes before the visitors even managed to penetrate the Preston half but good work by Aaron Wildig came to nothing. When the Shrimps won a free kick level with the PNE penalty area with a couple of minutes scheduled to play, Liam Mandeville put the ball straight into the stand. But, as the goal drought for the visitors reached ten and three-quarter hours, Mandeville redeemed himself with his first goal for the club with a tremendous strike from within the area to totally change the complexion of the game in the second minute of added-on time.

Buoyed by the goal and with two men instead of one up front – with A-Jay Leitch-Smith coming on for Alex Kenyon at the beginning of the second half – Morecambe dominated play for the first quarter of an hour of the second period. Having said that, although they looked far more threatening than they had done at any time in the first half, they didn’t create any clear chances. They were caught with a sucker-punch after 58 minutes when Johnson fed Moult with a clever through-ball, Moult took it on and squared it for Burke to slot it home from close range from what looked like a suspiciously off-side position. A couple of minutes later, Gallagher shot just over the bar when fed from a free-kick by Gallagher. With seventy-five minutes on the clock, Roche again earned his corn with another good stop with his feet from Burke and Preston had at least one more half-chance before the end of the game. At the other end, despite a flurry of activity from the Shrimps early on in the second period. Maxwell was never seriously troubled in the home goal.

So that’s three games played, three lost for the Shrimps so far this season. There were periods when Jim Bentley’s side looked like they could make a match of it tonight – and other periods when they looked completely out of their depth against a second string Championship side. The Jury’s out on whether this was a better performance overall  than that against Exeter last Saturday. The game at Stevenage next Saturday will probably produce a few more answers but at least the Shrimps managed to get the ball in the net literally for once tonight.

Preston North End:  22 Chris Maxwell; 3 Josh Earl; 9 Louis Moult; 11 Daniel Johnson (45 Lucas Mnecha 84 mins); 12 Paul Gallagher; 14 Jordan Storey; 15 Calum Woods (2 Darnell Fisher (Y) 39 mins); 18 Ryan Ledson; 19 Graham Burke; 21 Brandon Barker (10 Josh Harrop 62 mins); 23 Huntington (C).

Subs not used: 1 Declan Rudd; 6 Ben Davies; 32 Adam O’Reilly; 7 Callum Robinson.

Morecambe : 1 Barry Roche  (C); 3 Luke Conlan;  4 Alex Kenyon; 5 Steven Old;  22 James Sinclair; 8 Andy Fleming; 18 Rhys Oates; 12 Jason Oswell;  14 Josef Yarney; 15 Aaron Wildig (19 Carlos Mendes-Gomes 65 mins); 17 Liam Mandeville (11 Kevin Ellison 65 mins).

Subs not used : 21 Mark Halstead; 20 Lamine Jagne; 9 Vadaine Oliver;  28 A-Jay Leitch-Smith; 27 Jordan Cranston.

Ref: Tom Nield.

Att: 6077 (622 from Morecambe)

words Roger Fitton, D3D4 Morecambe correspondent

MATCH REPORT: Yeovil Town 0-1 Aston Villa

A disappointing loss for The Glovers, with lots of positives to take!

Yeovil came into the game making 4 changes, while Villa made 9. Losing Francois Zoko to injury could have been devastating 9 months ago, however since then a real attacking core has been added including Diallang Jaiyesimi, what an eventful night for him! As for AVFC, star men Jack Grealish and Mile Jedinak were dropped with the later not being included on the teamsheet.

As a Yeovil fan, we’ve not seen the best of football at Huish Park recently, so the chance to see Steve Bruce bring his Claret & Blue Army down to Somerset would be quite appealing to many, with a much increased attendance than the draw to Mansfield at the weekend.

Town dominated the first half of football, as previously stated DJ (Jaiyesimi) had a very eventful night, he was outstanding on the ball as well as Yoann Arquin and Wes McDonald, with the latter seeming like a direct replacement for Otis Khan based on play style. The winger turned striker was lightning quick up against Axel Tuanzebe. Jaiyesimi had two chances to break the deadlock on around 40 minutes, the first being 1-on-1 with new Villa keeper Andre Moreira, the chance was created by a defence splitting through ball from early substitute Alex Pattison, with the Portuguese shot stopper putting the ball out for a corner. The resulting corner lead to the second chance, DJ was waiting at the back post, a bit like Mr. Kane in Russia this summer, before netting a few moments later, only for the goal to be disallowed for a foul in the build-up. I have to admit, I celebrated a bit too much after that! 0-0 was an acceptable scoreline at halftime, bit disappointing not to be leading though.

After the eventful first half, I was expecting much of the same and that was exactly what was given. It wasn’t long before we had another controversial moment; Omar Sowunmi was brought down in the penalty area by Tommy Elphick, the ref made no hesitation in awarding the penalty. Striker Alex Fisher was the man to take the spot kick, unfortunately The Fish didn’t put enough power on the strike as the ‘keeper saved down to his left, meaning the scores stayed level.

Sadly, the parity didn’t last much longer, Jack Grealish came off the bench and strolled about the pitch, creating a few chances, including hitting the bar with a dipping drive from distance. The deadlock was finally broken when Conor Hourihane tapped in from close range to seal the deal for Villa.

After the goal, YTFC threw men forward with Omar Sowunmi coming close but not close enough.

So all in all, like I said there were lots of positives to take, we played some of the best football at HP in a while, as well as giving youngster Gabby Rodgers a debut.

I stick by my mid-table prediction for The Glovers!
words Sam Moores, D3D4 Yeovil Town correspondent

One response to “D3D4 Match Report – League Cup 1st Round”

1. Brendan Clarke says:

   August 16, 2018 at 1:11 pm

   I thought were ok going forward and were unlucky not to score at least once but we desperately missed Pope as we insist on playing long balls to our forwards who were dwarfed by the Lincoln back line. We are looking woeful at the back. Nathan Smith is not playing well and in another team would get a spell on the bench but I don’t think we have anyone better than him to come in. And Aspin’s decision to play Rawlinson at right back was Brown-esque. Worrell hasn’t found the form of last season and maybe it’s time to give Kanu a game. Hope to despair in ten days. It’s Vale all over.

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