Oldham Athletic - Tuesday 11th August 2009

You might not know it, you might not care, but this game tonight is in the 50^th season of the history of the Football League Cup, the competition having started back in 1960/61 and having been sponsored since 1982. That list of sponsors being from 1981/82 to 1985/86 - The Milk Cup, 1986/87 to 1989/90 - The Littlewoods Challenge Cup, 1990/91 & 1991/92 - The Rumbelows League Cup, 1992/93 to 1997/98 - The Coca Cola Cup, 1998/99 to 2002/03 - The Worthington Cup, 2003/04 onwards - The Carling Cup.

The competition was apparently originally proposed by the Football League as part of a plan to reduce the number of clubs playing in each division, and therefore cut down on the number of games played in a season. It would only end up having the opposite effect though as that idea was rejected by the League's member clubs and so the cup was shovelled into a midweek format, much to the chagrin of many, with the ties set to be played under the new phenomenon of floodlights.

Not all clubs had floodlights in the early 1960s though and so some games kicked off at 3pm on midweek afternoons. The fact that the competition was never mandatory to enter until 1971/72 not helping disorganisation in the early days. Entries usually in the low 80s out of 92 clubs before the decision came in 1966/67 to play the final at Wembley and grant the winners a place in the European Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (Europa League in modern day language) boosted participation in the tournament, 1969/70 being the first season of full entry.

Going back to the start again and the first games played under floodlights were on the 26^th of September 1960, the opening season of the competition certainly finding one surprise finalist as Rotherham, 15^th in Division Two, took on First Division Aston Villa. The final, played over two legs, not actually contested until the following campaign due to fixture congestion, the Villains eventually winning out 3-2 after extra-time when both games had ended 2-0 to the home side over 90 minutes.

Our best effort in the competition of course came in 1969/70 as a second division outfit when wins over Huddersfield, Blackburn, Chelsea and Oxford (in a replay) set up a two-legged semi-final clash against a West Bromwich side managed by Alan Ashman and featuring Dennis Martin on the wing. Bob Stokoe meanwhile the Blues boss responsible for guiding United to their first ever final four game in a major domestic trophy, that factor no doubt having a part to play in an attendance of 20,322 at Brunton Park in the first leg.

Nerves for either side didn't help the quality of the game though and it was the visitors who were perhaps on top in the first half. Carlisle goalkeeper Allan Ross doing more work than his opposite number John Osborne, although Bob Hatton did have a header that scraped the top of the Albion crossbar. United however got on top after the break and, but for Osborne, could have scored more goals than the solitary one they did get to take to the Hawthorns through Frank Barton.

In the second leg, in front of 32,791 spectators, the Cumbrians found themselves just 45 minutes away from Wembley on the back of a 0-0 half-time scoreline. Carlisle though, after Bob Hatton had hit the inside of the post shortly after the break, eventually collapsing to a 4-1 defeat. Barton scoring once more for the Cumbrians while Bobby Hope, Tony Brown, Colin Suggett and future United man Martin all found the back of Allan Ross's net to break Carlisle hearts.

Since the glory days of the mid-70s though the League Cup has not been kind to United at all, the Blues failing to reach even the third round since 1975/76, the club in that season eventually losing 2-0 at Everton. Our best effort prior to the semi-final against West Brom being a 2-1 quarter-final defeat away to Queens Park Rangers in 1966/67, a season in which we finished an excellent third in the old Division Two behind Coventry City and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

With the competition seeded of course it makes it even harder to reach the second round these days if you are in the bottom half of the draw. Although, and I say this purely on the figures, we have been given tonight the second "easiest" draw on paper of the 34 combinations possible, that being a home tie against the second weakest seed (finishing position-wise). Funnily enough football isn't played on paper though so I am sure that we will have to be at our best this evening to defeat an Oldham side who have been busy with transfers both in and out of Boundary Park this summer.