2005–06_Football_League_Cup
2005–06 Football League Cup
Football tournament season
The 2005–06 Football League Cup (known as the Carling Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 46th staging of the Football League Cup, a knock-out competition for the top 92 football clubs played in English football league system. The competition name reflects a sponsorship deal with lager brand Carling.
| Carling Cup, League Cup | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Country |  England Wales |
| Teams | 92 |
| Defending champions | Chelsea |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Manchester United (2nd title) |
| Runner-up | Wigan Athletic |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Top goal scorer(s) | Louis Saha (6 goals) |
The competition began on 22 August 2005, and ended with the final on 26 February 2006 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff while reconstruction work was still ongoing at Wembley Stadium.
The tournament was won by Manchester United, who beat surprise finalists Wigan Athletic 4–0 in the final, thanks to two goals from Wayne Rooney and one each from Cristiano Ronaldo and Louis Saha. Wigan had only been promoted to the Premier League at the beginning of the season.
The 72 Football League clubs compete from the first round. Each section is divided equally into a pot of seeded clubs and a pot of unseeded clubs. Clubs' rankings depend upon their finishing position in the 2004–05 season. Therefore, the clubs relegated from the Premier League in 2005, Norwich City, Crystal Palace and Southampton, were the top seeds, and the clubs newly promoted to the Football League, Barnet and Carlisle United, were bottom seeds.
- On 28 June 2005 seeded clubs and unseeded clubs were paired off to create the first-round draw.[1]
- Matches occurred on 22, 23 and 24 August 2005.
- Extra time played when the scores were level after 90 minutes.
- A penalty shoot-out took place if the scores were level after extra time.
The 36 winners from the first round joined the 12 Premier League clubs not participating in European competition in round two. The draw was made on 27 August.[2] The matches occurred on 20 and 21 September.
| Tie no | Home team | Score1 | Away team | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blackburn Rovers | 3–1 | Huddersfield Town | 21 September 2005 |
| 2 | Doncaster Rovers | 1–1 | Manchester City | 21 September 2005 |
| 1–1 after extra time — Doncaster Rovers win 3 – 0 on penalties | ||||
| 3 | Fulham | 5–4 | Lincoln City | 21 September 2005 |
| 4 | Barnet | 2–1 | Plymouth Argyle | 20 September 2005 |
| 5 | Burnley | 3–0 | Barnsley | 20 September 2005 |
| 6 | Crystal Palace | 1–0 | Coventry City | 20 September 2005 |
| 7 | Cardiff City | 2–1 | Macclesfield Town | 20 September 2005 |
| 8 | Charlton Athletic | 3–1 | Hartlepool United | 20 September 2005 |
| 9 | Gillingham | 3–2 | Portsmouth | 20 September 2005 |
| 10 | Grimsby Town | 1–0 | Tottenham Hotspur | 20 September 2005 |
| 11 | Leicester City | 2–1 | Blackpool | 20 September 2005 |
| 12 | Mansfield Town | 1–0 | Southampton | 20 September 2005 |
| 13 | Norwich City | 2–0 | Northampton Town | 20 September 2005 |
| 14 | Reading | 1–0 | Luton Town | 20 September 2005 |
| 15 | Rotherham United | 0–2 | Leeds United | 20 September 2005 |
| 16 | Scunthorpe United | 0–2 | Birmingham City | 20 September 2005 |
| 17 | Sheffield Wednesday | 2–4 | West Ham United | 20 September 2005 |
| 18 | Shrewsbury Town | 0–0 | Sheffield United | 20 September 2005 |
| 0–0 after extra time — Sheffield United win 4 – 3 on penalties | ||||
| 19 | Sunderland | 1–0 | Cheltenham Town | 20 September 2005 |
| 20 | Watford | 2–1 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 20 September 2005 |
| 21 | West Bromwich Albion | 4–1 | Bradford City | 20 September 2005 |
| 22 | Wigan Athletic | 1–0 | AFC Bournemouth | 20 September 2005 |
| 23 | Wycombe Wanderers | 3–8 | Aston Villa | 20 September 2005 |
| 24 | Yeovil Town | 1–2 | Millwall | 20 September 2005 |
The 24 winners from the second round joined the eight Premier League clubs participating in European competition in round three. The draw was made on 24 September.[3] Matches were played on 25 and 26 October.
| Tie no | Home team | Score1 | Away team | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birmingham City | 2–1 | Norwich City | 26 October 2005 |
| 2 | Bolton Wanderers | 1–0 | West Ham United | 26 October 2005 |
| 3 | Cardiff City | 0–1 | Leicester City | 26 October 2005 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 1–1 | Charlton Athletic | 26 October 2005 |
| 1–1 after extra time — Charlton Athletic win 5 – 4 on penalties | ||||
| 5 | Everton | 0–1 | Middlesbrough | 26 October 2005 |
| 6 | Grimsby Town | 0–1 | Newcastle United | 26 October 2005 |
| 7 | Manchester United | 4–1 | Barnet | 26 October 2005 |
| 8 | Aston Villa | 1–0 | Burnley | 25 October 2005 |
| 9 | Blackburn Rovers | 3–0 | Leeds United | 25 October 2005 |
| 10 | Crystal Palace | 2–1 | Liverpool | 25 October 2005 |
| 11 | Doncaster Rovers | 2–0 | Gillingham | 25 October 2005 |
| 12 | Fulham | 2–3 | West Bromwich Albion | 25 October 2005 |
| 13 | Mansfield Town | 2–3 | Millwall | 25 October 2005 |
| 14 | Reading | 2–0 | Sheffield United | 25 October 2005 |
| 15 | Sunderland | 0–3 | Arsenal | 25 October 2005 |
| 16 | Wigan Athletic | 3–0 | Watford | 25 October 2005 |
The draw for the fourth round was made on 29 October 2005[4] and matches were played on 29 and 30 November. Doncaster caused the shock of the round, beating Aston Villa 3-0.
| Bolton Wanderers | 2–1 (a.e.t.) | Leicester City |
|---|---|---|
Borgetti  104'Vaz Tê 106' |
Williams 110' |
| Charlton Athletic | 2–3 | Blackburn Rovers |
|---|---|---|
| Ambrose 37' Murphy 50' |
Kuqi 75' Thompson 81'Bentley 88' |
| Middlesbrough | 2–1 | Crystal Palace |
|---|---|---|
| Viduka 52' Németh 55' |
Queudrue 31' (o.g.) |
| Wigan Athletic | 1–0 | Newcastle United |
|---|---|---|
| Connolly 88' (pen.) |
| Doncaster Rovers | 3–0 | Aston Villa |
|---|---|---|
| McIndoe 20' (pen.) Heffernan 53'Thornton 79' |
The draw for the quarter-finals was made on 3 December 2005[5] and matches were played on 20 and 21 December. The only non-Premier League club, Doncaster Rovers gave Arsenal a scare by drawing 2–2 after extra-time but Arsenal made it through 3–1 on penalties
| Doncaster Rovers | 2–2 (a.e.t.) | Arsenal |
|---|---|---|
| McIndoe 2' Green 104' |
Owusu-Abeyie 63' Gilberto 120' |
|
| Penalties | ||
| 1–3 | ||
| Birmingham City | 1–3 | Manchester United |
|---|---|---|
| Jarošík 75' |
Saha 46', 63' Park 50' |
The semi-final draw was made on 21 December, 2005 after the conclusion of the quarter-finals.[6] Unlike the other rounds, the semi-final ties were played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The ties were played in the weeks beginning 9 January and 23 January 2006.
First leg
| Blackburn Rovers | 1–1 | Manchester United |
|---|---|---|
| Pedersen 35' |
Saha 30' |
Second leg
| Arsenal | 2–1 (a.e.t.) | Wigan Athletic |
|---|---|---|
| Henry 65' Van Persie 108' |
Roberts 119' |
Score level at 2-2 on aggregate. Wigan win on away goals rule.
| Manchester United | 2–1 | Blackburn Rovers |
|---|---|---|
| Van Nistelrooy 8' Saha 51' |
S. Reid 32' |
Manchester United win 3–2 on aggregate
The 2006 League Cup final was played on 26 February 2006 and was contested between Premier League teams Wigan Athletic and Manchester United at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. The favourites Manchester United won the game comfortably 4–0 in normal time.
| Manchester United | 4–0 | Wigan Athletic |
|---|---|---|
| Rooney 33', 61' Saha 55'Ronaldo 59' |
(Report) |
- "Swansea handed difficult cup test". BBC Sport. 28 June 2005. Retrieved 12 September 2008.
- "Tottenham given Grimbsy cup test". BBC Sport. 27 August 2005. Retrieved 12 September 2008.
- "Plum draws for Grimsby and Barnet". BBC Sport. 24 September 2005. Retrieved 12 September 2008.
- "Doncaster face Villa in cup clash". BBC Sport. 29 October 2005. Retrieved 12 September 2008.
- "Doncaster land plum Arsenal draw". BBC Sport. 3 December 2005. Retrieved 12 September 2008.
- "Big guns kept apart in cup semis". BBC Sport. 21 December 2005. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
- Official Carling Cup website
- Carling Cup at bbc.co.uk
- League Cup news, match reports and pictures on Reuters.co.uk