An almost perfect start to the season saw us miss out on a treble coming up trumps by just a single goal on Saturday as Huddersfield failed to find the net against Forest for the first time in 13 meetings!
Fear not though, as a full Carling Cup 1st round fixture list tomorrow night gives us an instant chance of reprieve!
Here’s my pick of the round one action:
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Leyton Orient vs Coventry City
Top hosts bottom in this Cup clash at Brisbane Road. Notoriously slow-starters Orient put old habits firmly to bed with a crushing 5-1 win away at Carlisle at the weekend and will be looking to progress here against a much-maligned Coventry City who have had all the headlines for the wrong reasons in the past week. Despite their financial woes, the Sky Blues refused to roll over at Crawley despite a woeful start, eventually losing by the odd goal in a 5-goal thriller. With goals flying in for both sides and the added element of experimentation in this cup fixture, both teams will be confident of finding the net.
Exeter vs QPR
Harry Redknapp’s QPR travel to a far less familiar St James’ Park than they’ve been used to in recent years tomorrow night. The Championship side will naturally start as firm favourites against League 2 Exeter but the underdogs may prey on the Hoops’ infamous complacency and it wouldn’t surprise me to see them take a shock lead in front of the home crowd. ‘Arry and co will be confident that their superior quality will tell in the long run though in what should be a very entertaining match up.
Brighton vs Newport
Justin Edinburgh may have been hoping to face fellow ex-Spurs legend Gus Poyet in this first League Cup game for his Welsh side since their financial woes saw them expelled from the Football League more than 2 decades ago.
The home side, under the new guidance of Oscar Garcia cruelly missed out on a well-earned point at Leeds on Saturday thanks to an injury time winner but fans were pleased with the free-flowing style of the new-look Seagulls. Newport County will be chomping at the bit to get to the Amex Stadium after a fantastic 4-1 victory in their opener last weekend, and Edinburgh will be hoping for another big performance from the resurgent Conference champions.
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