BANGKOK-UP!
Thai draw ends in chaos
THE first-round draw for the Carabao Cup descended into farce when League One Charlton appeared to be drawn out twice.
There was further confusion when Football League newcomers Forest Green were shown to have the wrong opponents on an on-screen graphic.
Yesterday’s draw took place in Bangkok as part of the EFL’s deal with Thai energy drinks company Carabao, who have taken over sponsorship of the League Cup.
Charlton were drawn at Exeter but appeared a second time on a fixtures graphic with a home tie against Cheltenham.
The graphics also showed AFC Wimbledon playing Swindon, despite both being unseeded, while Forest Green were forced to clarify on their Twitter feed that they would play MK Dons at home, rather than Wolves away as the graphic suggested.
Ex-Arsenal star Emmanuel Petit, Carabao chief Sathien Setthasit and the British ambassador to Thailand, Brian Davidson, made the draw along with EFL chief executive Shaun Harvey, who oversaw proceedings.
Teams were regionalised into north and south groups, then split into two pots for seedings, with a separate draw to determine who would play at home.
The EFL confirmed there were no errors with the draw, but said the accompanying graphic was incorrect.
The games are due to be played in the week commencing August 7 – once everybody knows who they are playing! DRAW: SOUTH SECTION: Birmingham v Crawley, Exeter v Charlton, QPR v Northampton, Southend v Newport, Bristol City v Plymouth, Cardiff v Portsmouth, Millwall v Stevenage, Oxford v Cheltenham, AFC Wimbledon v Brentford, Norwich v Swindon, Bristol Rovers v Cambridge, Peterborough v Barnet, Wycombe v Fulham, Colchester v Aston Villa, Wolves v Yeovil, Reading v Gillingham, Forest Green v MK Dons, Luton v Ipswich. NORTH SECTION: Coventry v Blackburn, Nottinghan Forest v Shrewsbury, Bradford v Doncaster, Mansfield v Rochdale, Grimsby v Derby, Barnsley v Morecambe, Crewe v Bolton, Oldham v Burton, Wigan v Blackpool, Bury v Sunderland, Sheffield Wednesday v Chesterfield, Accrington v Preston, Fleetwood v Carlisle, Sheffield United v Walsall, Scunthorpe v Notts County, Rotherham v Lincoln, Leeds v Port Vale.