2008–09 Football League Cup

The 2008–09 Football League Cup (known as the Carling Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 49th season of the Football League Cup, a knock-out competition for the top 92 football clubs played in English football league system. The winners qualified for the third qualifying round of the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League, if not already qualified for European competitions.

2008–09 Football League Cup

Carling Cup, League Cup
The logo of the League Cup from 2003–04 to 2008–09
Tournament details
Country	England Wales
Teams	92
Defending champions	Tottenham Hotspur
Final positions
Champions	Manchester United (3rd title)
Runners-up	Tottenham Hotspur
Tournament statistics
Matches played	93
Goals scored	290 (3.12 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Nathan Ellington Roman Pavlyuchenko Carlos Tevez (6 goals)
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

Manchester United won the competition by defeating holders Tottenham Hotspur on penalties in the final on 1 March 2009.

First round

The draw for the first round took place on 13 June 2008, with matches being played two months later in the week beginning 11 August 2008.^[1]

The 72 Football League clubs competed from the first round, which was divided into North and South sections. Each section was divided equally into a pot of seeded clubs and a pot of unseeded clubs. Clubs' rankings depend upon their finishing position in the 2007–08 season.

North Tie no Home team Score1 Away team Attendance 1 Preston North End 2–0 Chesterfield 5,150 2 Chester City 2–5 Leeds United 3,644 3 Leicester City 1–0 Stockport County 7,386 4 Sheffield United 3–1 Port Vale 7,694 5 Grimsby Town 2–0 Tranmere Rovers 1,858 6 Crewe Alexandra 2–0 Barnsley 2,492 7 Hartlepool United 3–0 Scunthorpe United 2,076 8 Derby County 1–1 Lincoln City 10,091 Derby County won 3 – 1 after extra time 9 Notts County 0–0 Doncaster Rovers 3,272 Notts County won 1 – 0 after extra time 10 Sheffield Wednesday 1–1 Rotherham United 16,298 2 – 2 after extra time – Rotherham United won 5 – 3 on penalties 11 Shrewsbury Town 0–1 Carlisle United 3,337 12 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1–1 Accrington Stanley 9,424 Wolverhampton Wanderers won 3 – 2 after extra time 13 Bury 0–2 Burnley 4,276 14 Rochdale 0–0 Oldham Athletic 5,786 0 – 0 after extra time – Oldham Athletic won 4 – 1 on penalties 15 Nottingham Forest 4–0 Morecambe 4,030 16 Huddersfield Town 4–0 Bradford City 8,932 17 Macclesfield Town 2–0 Blackpool 1,631 18 Walsall 1–2 Darlington 2,702

South Tie no Home team Score1 Away team Attendance 1 Coventry City 3–1 Aldershot Town 9,293 2 Milton Keynes Dons 1–0 Norwich City 6,261 3 Wycombe Wanderers 0–4 Birmingham City 2,735 4 Brighton & Hove Albion 4–0 Barnet 2,571 5 Gillingham 0–1 Colchester United 2,566 6 Southend United 0–0 Cheltenham Town 2,998 Cheltenham Town won 1 – 0 after extra time 7 Swansea City 2–0 Brentford 5,366 8 Luton Town 2–0 Plymouth Argyle 2,682 9 Exeter City 1–3 Southampton 6,471 10 Watford 1–0 Bristol Rovers 5,574 11 Bournemouth 1–2 Cardiff City 3,399 12 Bristol City 2–1 Peterborough United 5,684 13 Charlton Athletic 0–1 Yeovil Town 6,239 14 Millwall 0–1 Northampton Town 3,525 15 Swindon Town 2–3 Queens Park Rangers 7,230 16 Crystal Palace 2–1 Hereford United 3,094 17 Dagenham & Redbridge 1–2 Reading 2,360 18 Ipswich Town 4–1 Leyton Orient 10,477

¹ Score after 90 minutes

Second round

Twelve Premier League teams – including the eleven that were not involved in European competitions – entered at this stage, along with the winners from the first round. The draw for the second round took place on 13 August 2008, and the matches were played in the week beginning 25 August 2008,^[2] with the exception of Manchester City's game against Brighton & Hove Albion, which was played on 24 September.^[3]

Tie no	Home team	Score1	Away team	Attendance
1	Ipswich Town	2 – 1	Colchester United	17,084
2	Coventry City	2 – 2	Newcastle United	19,249
Newcastle United won 3 – 2 after extra time
3	Hartlepool United	1 – 1	West Bromwich Albion	3,387
Hartlepool United won 3 – 1 after extra time
4	West Ham United	1 – 1	Macclesfield Town	10,055
West Ham United won 4 – 1 after extra time
5	Huddersfield Town	1 – 2	Sheffield United	15,189
6	Cardiff City	2 – 1	Milton Keynes Dons	6,334
7	Swansea City	1 – 1	Hull City	8,622
Swansea City won 2 – 1 after extra time
8	Rotherham United	0 – 0	Wolverhampton Wanderers	5,404
0 – 0 after extra time – Rotherham United won 4 – 3 on penalties
9	Brighton & Hove Albion	1 – 1	Manchester City	8,729
2 – 2 after extra time – Brighton & Hove Albion won 5 – 3 on penalties
10	Reading	5 – 1	Luton Town	7,498
11	Blackburn Rovers	4 – 1	Grimsby Town	8,379
12	Wigan Athletic	4 – 0	Notts County	4,100
13	Leeds United	4 – 0	Crystal Palace	10,765
14	Crewe Alexandra	2 – 1	Bristol City	3,227
15	Middlesbrough	5 – 1	Yeovil Town	15,651
16	Fulham	3 – 2	Leicester City	7,584
17	Queens Park Rangers	4 – 0	Carlisle United	8,021
18	Nottingham Forest	1 – 1	Sunderland	9,198
Sunderland won 2 – 1 after extra time
19	Burnley	3 – 0	Oldham Athletic	5,528
20	Southampton	2 – 0	Birmingham City	11,331
21	Bolton Wanderers	1 – 2	Northampton Town	7,136
22	Watford	1 – 1	Darlington	5,236
Watford won 2 – 1 after extra time
23	Preston North End	0 – 1	Derby County	8,037
24	Cheltenham Town	2 – 3	Stoke City	3,600

¹ Score after 90 minutes

Third round

Eight teams involved in European competition entered at this stage along with the winners from the second round. Since nine English teams qualified for European competition in 2008, it was initially unclear precisely which eight teams would automatically enter the third round. Either Aston Villa, who had entered into European competition via the UEFA Intertoto Cup, or Manchester City, who qualified for the UEFA Cup via the UEFA Fair Play ranking would enter in the third round with the other entering in the second round instead. On 29 July 2008, it was announced that Aston Villa would enter the 2008–09 Carling Cup at the third round stage after reaching the second qualifying round of the UEFA Cup.^[4]

The draw for the third round was held on 30 August 2008,^[5] and the matches were played on Tuesday, 23 September and Wednesday, 24 September 2008, with the exception of the match between Brighton & Hove Albion and Derby County, which was played on 4 November.

Tie no	Home team	Score1	Away team	Attendance
1	Arsenal	6 – 0	Sheffield United	56,632
2	Brighton & Hove Albion	1 – 4	Derby County	6,625
3	Burnley	1 – 0	Fulham	7,119
4	Portsmouth	0 – 4	Chelsea	15,339
5	Blackburn Rovers	1 – 0	Everton	14,366
6	Rotherham United	3 – 1	Southampton	5,147
7	Swansea City	1 – 0	Cardiff City	17,411
8	Ipswich Town	1 – 4	Wigan Athletic	13,803
9	Stoke City	2 – 2	Reading	9,141
2 – 2 after extra time – Stoke City won 4 – 3 on penalties
10	Leeds United	3 – 2	Hartlepool United	14,599
11	Watford	1 – 0	West Ham United	12,914
12	Manchester United	3 – 1	Middlesbrough	53,729
13	Liverpool	2 – 1	Crewe Alexandra	28,591
14	Aston Villa	0 – 1	Queens Park Rangers	21,541
15	Sunderland	2 – 2	Northampton Town	21,082
2 – 2 after extra time – Sunderland won 4 – 3 on penalties
16	Newcastle United	1 – 2	Tottenham Hotspur	20,577

¹ Score after 90 minutes

Fourth round

The fourth round draw took place on Saturday, 27 September,^[6] and the matches were played in the week commencing 10 November 2008.

Tie no	Home team	Score1	Away team	Attendance
1	Sunderland	1 – 2	Blackburn Rovers	18,555
2	Arsenal	3 – 0	Wigan Athletic	59,665
3	Chelsea	1 – 1	Burnley	41,369
1 – 1 after extra time – Burnley won 5 – 4 on penalties
4	Swansea City	0 – 1	Watford	9,549
5	Manchester United	1 – 0	Queens Park Rangers	62,539
6	Stoke City	2 – 0	Rotherham United	15,458
7	Derby County	2 – 1	Leeds United	18,540
8	Tottenham Hotspur	4 – 2	Liverpool	33,242

¹ Score after 90 minutes

Fifth round

The fifth round draw took place on Saturday, 15 November^[7] and the matches were played week in the commencing 1 December 2008.

2 December 2008

19:45

Burnley	2–0	Arsenal
McDonald 6', 57'	Report

Turf Moor, Burnley

Attendance: 19,405

Referee: Andre Marriner (Birmingham)

2 December 2008

19:45

Stoke City	0–1	Derby County
	Report	Ellington 90+4' (pen.)

Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent

Attendance: 22,034

Referee: Rob Styles (Hampshire)

3 December 2008

19:45

Watford	1–2	Tottenham Hotspur
Priskin 13'	Report	Pavlyuchenko 45+2' (pen.) Bent 76'

Vicarage Road, Watford

Attendance: 16,501

Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)

3 December 2008

20:00

Manchester United	5–3	Blackburn Rovers
Tevez 35', 50' (pen.), 54', 90+4' Nani 40'	Report	McCarthy 48', 90+2' Derbyshire 84'

Old Trafford, Manchester

Attendance: 53,997

Referee: Alan Wiley (Staffordshire)

Semi-finals

The semi-final draw took place on Saturday, 6 December 2008.^[8] The first leg matches were played on Tuesday, 6 January 2009 and Wednesday, 7 January 2009, while the second legs were played on Tuesday, 20 January 2009 and Wednesday, 21 January 2009.

First leg

6 January 2009

20:00

Tottenham Hotspur	4–1	Burnley
Dawson 46' O'Hara 52' Pavlyuchenko 65' Duff 68' (o.g.)	Report	Paterson 15'

White Hart Lane, London

Attendance: 31,377

Referee: Martin Atkinson (West Yorkshire)

7 January 2009

19:45

Derby County	1–0	Manchester United
Commons 30'	Report

Pride Park, Derby

Attendance: 30,194

Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)

Second leg

20 January 2009

20:00

Manchester United	4–2	Derby County
Nani 16' O'Shea 22' Tevez 34' Ronaldo 87' (pen.)	Report	Barnes 79' (pen.), 90+1'

Old Trafford, Manchester

Attendance: 73,374

Referee: Mike Dean (Cheshire)

Manchester United won 4–3 on aggregate.

21 January 2009

19:45

Burnley	3–2 (a.e.t.)	Tottenham Hotspur
Blake 33' McCann 73' Rodriguez 88'	Report	Pavlyuchenko 118' Defoe 120'

Turf Moor, Burnley

Attendance: 19,533

Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancashire)

Tottenham Hotspur won 6–4 on aggregate.

Final

Main article: 2009 Football League Cup final

The final was played at Wembley Stadium, London, on Sunday, 1 March 2009.

1 March 2009

15:00 GMT

Manchester United	0–0 (a.e.t.)	Tottenham Hotspur
	Report
Penalties
Giggs Tevez Ronaldo Anderson	4–1	O'Hara Ćorluka Bentley

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 88,217

Referee: Chris Foy (Merseyside)^[9]

Top scorers

The top scorers in the 2008–09 Football League Cup are as follows:^[10]

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Nathan Ellington	Derby County	6
	Roman Pavlyuchenko	Tottenham Hotspur	6
	Carlos Tevez	Manchester United	6
4	Martin Paterson	Burnley	5
5	Jermaine Beckford	Leeds United	4
	James Henry	Reading	4
	Carlos Vela	Arsenal	4
	Emmanuel Villa	Derby County	4
9	Henri Camara	Wigan Athletic	3
	Matt Derbyshire	Blackburn Rovers	3
	Robert Earnshaw	Nottingham Forest	3
	Emmanuel Ledesma	Queens Park Rangers	3
	Nani	Manchester United	3
	Joel Porter	Hartlepool United	3