2013–14 Under-21 Premier League Cup

The 2013-14 Under-21 Premier League Cup (known as the Barclays Under-21 Premier League Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the first edition of the U21 Premier League Cup.^[1]

2013–14 Barclays Under-21 Premier League Cup

Tournament details
Country	England Wales
Teams	52
Final positions
Champions	Reading (1st Title)
Runners-up	Manchester City
Tournament statistics
Matches played	52
Goals scored	179 (3.44 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Craig Tanner Reading (9 goals)
2014–15 →

Fifty two teams entered the competition – with sixteen Category 3 EPPP teams entered in the 1st Qualifying Round, seventeen Category 2 teams entered in the 2nd Qualifying Round, and the remaining nineteen Category 1 teams entered in the Round of 32. Teams were allowed to field up to four over-age players in matches – three outfield and one goalkeeper.

Participants

Category 1 North South Blackburn Rovers Arsenal Bolton Wanderers Aston Villa Everton Chelsea Leicester City Fulham Manchester City Norwich City Middlesbrough Reading Newcastle United Southampton Stoke City West Ham United Sunderland West Bromwich Albion Wolverhampton Wanderers

Category 2 North South Barnsley Brighton & Hove Albion Birmingham City Bristol City Coventry City Cardiff City Crewe Alexandra Crystal Palace Derby County Millwall Huddersfield Town Queens Park Rangers Leeds United Swansea City Nottingham Forest Sheffield United Sheffield Wednesday

Category 3 North South Burnley AFC Wimbledon Doncaster Rovers Bournemouth Hull City Bristol Rovers Notts County Colchester United Preston North End Exeter City Wigan Athletic Gillingham Peterborough United Plymouth Argyle Torquay United Watford

Matches

First qualifying round

This round commences the week beginning 23 September 2013. Only the sixteen Category 3 rated academies competed in this round.^[2][3]

Northern Section Date Home team Score Away team Attendance 8 Oct Burnley 0–0 Wigan Athletic 581 Burnley advance 7 – 6 on penalties. 23 Sep Preston North End 0–2 Hull City 216 24 Sep Doncaster Rovers 0–3 Notts County

Southern Section Date Home team Score Away team Attendance 24 Sep AFC Bournemouth 1–2 Plymouth Argyle 146 26 Sep Peterborough United 3–2 Colchester United 1 Oct AFC Wimbledon 2–0 Gillingham 3 Oct Watford 1–1 Bristol Rovers 230[4] Watford advance 4 – 3 on penalties. 30 Sep Exeter City 4–1 Torquay United 470

Second qualifying round

This round commenced the week beginning 21 October 2013. The eight First Qualifying Round winners were joined in this round by sixteen of the seventeen Category 2 rated academies – Nottingham Forest drew a bye to the Round of 32.

Northern Section Date Home team Score Away team Attendance 30 Oct Crewe Alexandra 1–2 Burnley 23 Oct Derby County 1–2 Hull City 23 Oct Coventry City 1–2 Notts County 28 Oct Sheffield United 2–3 Birmingham City 29 Oct Barnsley 4–3† Leeds United 30 Oct Huddersfield Town 1–2 Sheffield Wednesday

Southern Section Date Home team Score Away team Attendance 5 Nov Queens Park Rangers 4–3 AFC Wimbledon 30 Oct Plymouth Argyle 0–2 Watford 332[5] 29 Oct Swansea City 1–1 Millwall Swansea City advance 4 – 2 on penalties. 29 Oct Crystal Palace 2–3 Exeter City 273 29 Oct Brighton & Hove Albion 3–4† Cardiff City 14 Nov Bristol City 1–0† Peterborough United

† – After extra time

Round of 32

This round begins the week beginning 18 November 2013. The nineteen Category 1 sides were joined in this round by the twelve Second Qualifying round winners and Nottingham Forest, who drew a bye to this round.^[6] Birmingham City withdrew from the competition after fielding an ineligible player. Newcastle United progressed to the Round of 16 instead.^[7]

Northern Section Date Home team Score Away team Attendance 18 Nov Middlesbrough 2–3 Everton 327 20 Nov Notts County 1–2 Wolverhampton Wanderers 141 19 Nov Blackburn Rovers 3–1 Hull City 136 21 Nov Stoke City 0–2† Manchester City 19 Nov Bolton Wanderers 4–2 Barnsley 18 Nov West Bromwich Albion 2–1† Nottingham Forest 190 26 Nov Burnley 2–1 Sunderland 347 19 Nov Leicester City 4–1 Sheffield Wednesday 26 Nov Birmingham City 1–2 Newcastle United

Southern Section Date Home team Score Away team Attendance 26 Nov Aston Villa 0–3 Fulham 190[8] 26 Nov Reading 3–1 Queens Park Rangers 6 Dec Cardiff City 0–4 Chelsea 882 20 Nov Exeter City 2–0 Southampton 447 26 Nov Swansea City 0–0 Watford Watford advance 4 – 3 on penalties. 2 Dec Bristol City 1–2 West Ham United 19 Nov Norwich City 0–1 Arsenal

† – After extra time.

Round of 16

This round commenced the week beginning 16 December 2013. The sixteen Round of 32 winners entered this round.^[9]

Date Home team Score Away team Attendance 6 Jan Chelsea 2–1 West Ham United 7 Jan Exeter City 2–1 Blackburn Rovers 630 30 Dec Newcastle United 2–1 Leicester City 385 20 Dec Everton 2–3 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Date Home team Score Away team Attendance 31 Jan Reading 6–1 Watford BCD[10] 23 Dec Burnley 3–0 Bolton Wanderers 251 9 Jan Fulham 0–1 Arsenal 351[11] 22 Dec Manchester City 2–0 West Bromwich Albion

Quarter-finals

This round commenced the week beginning 27 January 2014. The eight Round of 16 winners entered this round.^[12]

Date Home team Score Away team Attendance 27 Jan Chelsea 0–1† Arsenal 1,237 20 Feb Wolverhampton Wanderers 1–3 Reading 133

Date Home team Score Away team Attendance 21 Feb Newcastle United 2–3 Manchester City BCD 4 Mar Exeter City 2–3† Burnley 1,207

† – After extra time.

Semi-finals

This round commenced the week beginning 24 February 2014. The four Quarter-final winners entered this round.

Date Home team Score Away team Attendance 15 Mar Arsenal 1–3† Reading

Date Home team Score Away team Attendance 1 Apr Manchester City 3–2 Burnley 424[13]

Final

First leg

10 April 2014

19:00 BST

Manchester City	3–2	Reading
Devante Cole 39', 90' Marcos Lopes 65' (pen.)	Report	Gozie Ugwu 13' Craig Tanner 31'

Etihad Stadium

Attendance: 4,873

Referee: Lee Mason

Manchester City

Reading

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Manchester City No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  IRL Ian Lawlor 2 DF  ENG Adam Drury 3 DF  ENG Greg Leigh  70' 4 DF  ENG Shay Facey 5 DF  BEL Jason Denayer 6 MF  ENG George Glendon  54' 7 MF  AUT Sinan Bytyqi 8 MF  FRA Olivier Ntcham 9 FW  ENG Jordy Hiwula 10 FW  POR Marcos Lopes 11 FW  ENG Devante Cole Sub DF  ENG Ellis Plummer Sub GK  WAL Billy O'Brien Sub DF  BEL Mathias Bossaerts Sub DF  ESP Angeliño  70' Sub MF  FRA Seko Fofana  54'

Reading No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ENG Daniel Lincoln 2 DF  ENG Niall Keown 3 DF  IRL Shane Griffin 4 MF  ENG Aaron Tshibola 5 DF  ENG Jake Cooper  64' 6 DF  IRL Pierce Sweeney 7 MF  ENG Jack Stacey 8 MF  ENG Aaron Kuhl 9 FW  ENG Gozie Ugwu 10 FW  ENG Craig Tanner 11 MF  ENG Tarique Fosu-Henry Sub DF  IRL Sean Long Sub GK  ENG Lewis Ward Sub MF  ZIM Shepherd Murombedzi Sub MF  IRL Liam Kelly Sub FW  SCO Harry Cardwell

---

Second leg

19 April 2014

15:00 BST

Reading	2–0	Manchester City
Fosu 72' Jack Stacey 74'	Report

Madjeski Stadium

Attendance: 3,034

Referee: Kevin Friend

Reading

Manchester City

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Reading No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ENG Daniel Lincoln 2 DF  IRL Sean Long  68' 3 DF  IRL Shane Griffin 4 DF  ENG Niall Keown 5 DF  ENG Jake Cooper 6 DF  IRL Pierce Sweeney 7 MF  ENG Aaron Tshibola 8 MF  ENG Jack Stacey 9 MF  IRL Liam Kelly 10 FW  ENG Craig Tanner 11 FW  ENG Gozie Ugwu Sub GK  ENG Lewis Ward Sub MF  ZIM Shepherd Murombedzi Sub MF  ISL Samúel Friðjónsson Sub FW  SCO Harry Cardwell Sub MF  ENG Tarique Fosu  68'

Manchester City No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  IRL Ian Lawlor 2 DF  ENG Adam Drury  75' 3 DF  ENG Shay Facey 4 DF  BEL Jason Denayer 5 DF  ENG Greg Leigh 6 MF  ENG George Glendon 7 MF  FRA Seko Fofana 8 MF  FRA Olivier Ntcham 9 FW  POR Marcos Lopes 10 FW  ENG Devante Cole 11 FW  ENG Jordy Hiwula Sub MF  AUT Sinan Bytyqi  75' Sub DF  ENG Ellis Plummer Sub GK  WAL Billy O'Brien Sub MF  ENG Kean Bryan Sub