1965–66 Football League Cup

The 1965–66 Football League Cup was the sixth season of the Football League Cup, a knockout competition for England's top 92 football clubs; only 83 of them competed.^[a] The competition ended with the two-legged final on 9 and 23 March 1966.

Match dates and results were initially drawn from Soccerbase,^[1] and they were later checked against Rothmans Football Yearbook 1970–71.^[2]

1965–66 Football League Cup

Tournament details
Country	England Wales
Teams	83
Defending champions	Chelsea (did not defend their title)
Final positions
Champions	West Bromwich Albion
Runners-up	West Ham United
← 1964–65 1966–67 →

Calendar

Of the 83 teams, 45 received a bye to the second round and the other 38 played in the first round; these were the teams ranked 55th–92nd in the 1964–65 Football League. Semi-finals and final were two-legged.

Round	Main date	Fixtures		Clubs	New entries this round
		Original	Replays
First Round	1 September 1965	19	9	83 → 64	38 (teams ranked 11th–24th in Third Division; all Fourth Division)
Second Round	22 September 1965	32	4	64 → 32	45 (all First and Second Division, except those teams that did not enter; teams ranked 1st–10th in Third Division)
Third Round	13 October 1965	16	4	32 → 16	none
Fourth Round	3 November 1965	8	3	16 → 8	none
Fifth Round	17 November 1965	4	1	8 → 4	none
Semi-finals	December 1965 – February 1966	4	0	4 → 2	none
Final	9 & 23 March 1966	2	0	2 → 1	none

First round

Ties

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Barrow	1–1	Rochdale	1 September 1965
Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	0–0	Aldershot	1 September 1965
Bradford Park Avenue	1–0	Halifax Town	1 September 1965
Colchester United	2–1	Exeter City	1 September 1965
Crewe Alexandra	2–0	Southport	1 September 1965
Doncaster Rovers	2–2	Barnsley	1 September 1965
Hartlepools United	1–0	Bradford City	1 September 1965
Luton Town	1–1	Brighton & Hove Albion	1 September 1965
Lincoln City	2–2	York City	1 September 1965
Newport County	2–2	Southend United	1 September 1965
Notts County	0–0	Chesterfield	1 September 1965
Oldham Athletic	3–2	Tranmere Rovers	1 September 1965
Oxford United	0–1	Millwall	1 September 1965
Port Vale	2–2	Reading	1 September 1965
Queens Park Rangers	1–1	Walsall	1 September 1965
Scunthorpe United	0–2	Darlington	1 September 1965
Shrewsbury Town	3–0	Torquay United	1 September 1965
Stockport County	2–3	Workington	1 September 1965
Wrexham	5–2	Chester	1 September 1965

Replays

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Aldershot	2–1	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	8 September 1965
Barnsley	1–2	Doncaster Rovers	7 September 1965
Brighton & Hove Albion	2–0	Luton Town	7 September 1965
Chesterfield	2–1	Notts County	8 September 1965
Reading	1–0[3]	Port Vale	8 September 1965
Rochdale	3–1	Barrow	8 September 1965
Southend United	3–1	Newport County	6 September 1965
Walsall	3–2	Queens Park Rangers	7 September 1965
York City	4–2	Lincoln City	7 September 1965

Second round

Ties

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Blackburn Rovers	0–1	Northampton Town	21 September 1965
Blackpool	5–2	Gillingham	22 September 1965
Bolton Wanderers	3–0	Aldershot	22 September 1965
Brighton & Hove Albion	1–2	Ipswich Town	21 September 1965
Bristol Rovers	3–3	West Ham United	21 September 1965
Bury	0–2	Huddersfield Town	21 September 1965
Charlton Athletic	4–1	Carlisle United	21 September 1965
Chesterfield	3–0	Bradford Park Avenue	22 September 1965
Colchester United	2–4	Middlesbrough	22 September 1965
Crewe Alexandra	1–1	Cardiff City	22 September 1965
Crystal Palace	0–1	Grimsby Town	22 September 1965
Darlington	2–1	Swindon Town	22 September 1965
Doncaster Rovers	0–4	Burnley	22 September 1965
Hull City	2–2	Derby County	22 September 1965
Leeds United	4–2	Hartlepool United	22 September 1965
Leyton Orient	0–3	Coventry City	22 September 1965
Manchester City	3–1	Leicester City	22 September 1965
Mansfield Town	2–1	Birmingham City	22 September 1965
Millwall	4–1	York City	22 September 1965
Newcastle United	3–4	Peterborough United	22 September 1965
Oldham Athletic	1–2	Portsmouth	22 September 1965
Preston North End	1–0	Plymouth Argyle	22 September 1965
Reading	5–1	Southend United	22 September 1965
Rotherham United	2–0	Watford	22 September 1965
Shrewsbury Town	1–0	Bristol City	22 September 1965
Southampton	3–0	Rochdale	22 September 1965
Stoke City	2–1	Norwich City	22 September 1965
Sunderland	2–1	Sheffield United	22 September 1965
Swansea Town	2–3	Aston Villa	21 September 1965
West Bromwich Albion	3–1	Walsall	22 September 1965
Workington	0–0	Brentford	22 September 1965
Wrexham	1–2	Fulham	22 September 1965

Replays

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Brentford	1–2	Workington	30 September 1965
Cardiff City	3–0	Crewe Alexandra	29 September 1965
Derby County	4–3	Hull City	29 September 1965
West Ham United	3–2	Bristol Rovers	29 September 1965

Third round

Ties

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Blackpool	1–2	Darlington	13 October 1965
Burnley	3–2	Southampton	13 October 1965
Cardiff City	2–0	Portsmouth	13 October 1965
Chesterfield	2–2	Stoke City	13 October 1965
Derby County	1–1	Reading	13 October 1965
Fulham	5–0	Northampton Town	13 October 1965
Grimsby Town	4–2	Bolton Wanderers	13 October 1965
Huddersfield Town	0–1	Preston North End	13 October 1965
Leeds United	2–4	West Bromwich Albion	13 October 1965
Manchester City	2–3	Coventry City	13 October 1965
Middlesbrough	0–0	Millwall	13 October 1965
Peterborough United	4–3	Charlton Athletic	13 October 1965
Shrewsbury Town	2–5	Rotherham United	13 October 1965
Sunderland	1–2	Aston Villa	13 October 1965
West Ham United	4–0	Mansfield Town	13 October 1965
Workington	1–1	Ipswich Town	13 October 1965

Replays

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Ipswich Town	3–1	Workington	20 October 1965
Millwall	3–1[3]	Middlesbrough	18 October 1965
Reading	2–0	Derby County	20 October 1965
Stoke City	2–1	Chesterfield	20 October 1965

Fourth round

Ties

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Cardiff City	5–1	Reading	3 November 1965
Coventry City	1–1	West Bromwich Albion	3 November 1965
Fulham	1–1	Aston Villa	3 November 1965
Grimsby Town	4–0	Preston North End	3 November 1965
Ipswich Town	2–0	Darlington	3 November 1965
Millwall	1–4	Peterborough United	3 November 1965
Rotherham United	1–2	West Ham United	3 November 1965
Stoke City	0–0	Burnley	3 November 1965

Replays

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Aston Villa	2–0	Fulham	8 November 1965
Burnley	2–1[3]	Stoke City	9 November 1965
West Bromwich Albion	6–1	Coventry City	10 November 1965

Fifth round

Ties

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Cardiff City	2–1	Ipswich Town	17 November 1965
Grimsby Town	2–2	West Ham United	17 November 1965
Peterborough United	4–0	Burnley	17 November 1965
West Bromwich Albion	3–1	Aston Villa	17 November 1965

Replays

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
West Ham United	1–0	Grimsby Town	15 December 1965

Semi-finals

First leg

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
West Bromwich Albion	2–1	Peterborough United	1 December 1965
West Ham United	5–2	Cardiff City	20 December 1965

Second leg

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date	Agg
Cardiff City	1–5	West Ham United	2 February 1966	3–10
Peterborough United	2–4	West Bromwich Albion	15 December 1965	3–6

Final

Main article: 1966 Football League Cup Final

9 March 1966

West Ham United	2 – 1 (0–0)	West Bromwich Albion
Byrne Moore	Summary	Astle

Boleyn Ground, London

Attendance: 28,341

Referee: D. Smith

West Ham United: Standen, Burnett, Burkett, Peters, Brown, Moore, Brabrook, Boyce, Byrne, Hurst, Dear

West Bromwich Albion: Potter, Cram, Fairfax, Fraser, Campbell, Williams, Brown, Astle, Kaye, Lovett, Clark

23 March 1966

West Bromwich Albion	4–1 (0–0)	West Ham United
Brown Clark Kaye Williams	Summary	Peters

The Hawthorns, West Bromwich

Attendance: 31,925

Referee: J Mitchell

West Bromwich Albion: Potter, Cram, Fairfax, Fraser, Campbell, Williams, Brown, Astle, Kaye, Hope, Clark

West Ham United: Standen, Burnett, Peters, Bovington, Brown, Moore, Brabrook, Boyce, Byrne, Hurst, Sissons

West Bromwich Albion win 5–3 on aggregate.