2007–08 Football League Trophy

The Football League Trophy 2007–08, known as the Johnstone's Paint Trophy 2007–08 for sponsorship reasons, was the 24th staging of the Football League Trophy, a knockout competition for English football clubs in Leagues One and Two. The winners were MK Dons and the runners-up were Grimsby Town F.C., both from League Two.

The competition began on 18 September 2007 and ended with the final on 30 March 2008. The final took place at Wembley Stadium for the first time since 2000.

In the first round, there are four sections: North West, North East, South West and South East. In the second round this narrows to simply a Northern and a Southern section, whereupon each section gradually eliminates teams in knock-out fashion until each has a winning finalist. At this point, the two winning finalists face each other in the combined final for the honour of the trophy.

Doncaster Rovers were the defending champions, but lost to Grimsby on penalties in the Third round.

Milton Keynes Dons won the final, beating Grimsby 2-0.

Contents

First round

16 teams received byes to the second round from each section. The other remaining teams start in a single-legged knockout. Should the scores be level after 90 minutes, the match entered a penalty shootout phase, with no extra-time being played.

Northern Section

Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance
North-West
1 Tranmere Rovers 0 – 1 Morecambe 2,557
2 Chester City 1 – 1 Crewe Alexandra 2,126
Chester City won 4 – 3 on penalties
3 Wrexham 0 – 1 Macclesfield Town 1,503
4 Accrington Stanley 2 – 3 Oldham Athletic 1,465
North-East
5 Chesterfield 1 – 3 Hartlepool United 2,127
6 Mansfield Town 0 – 1 Rotherham United 1,578
7 Doncaster Rovers 5 – 1 Bradford City 4,710
8 Grimsby Town 4 – 1 Huddersfield Town 1,204

Southern Section

Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance
South-West
1 Bournemouth 2 – 0 Walsall 2,206
2 Swansea City 3 – 2 Millwall 5,721
3 Swindon Town 4 – 1 Brentford 3,118
4 Yeovil Town 1 – 0 Shrewsbury Town 1,669
South-East
1 Luton Town 2 – 0 Northampton Town 2,532
2 Nottingham Forest 2 – 3 Peterborough United 3,102
3 Notts County 0 – 1 Leyton Orient 900
4 Southend United 2 – 2 Dagenham & Redbridge 1,204
Dagenham & Redbridge won 7 – 6 on penalties

Second round

In the second round, the sixteen winning teams from the first round were joined by the teams with byes. Again, there were eight one-legged matches in each section (North and South), with a penalty shootout if a draw occurred after 90 minutes.

The teams that received byes in the Northern section were Bury, Carlisle United, Darlington, Leeds United, Lincoln City, Port Vale, Rochdale and Stockport County, while Barnet, Brighton & Hove Albion, Bristol Rovers, Cheltenham Town, Gillingham, Hereford United, Milton Keynes Dons and Wycombe Wanderers received byes in the Southern section.

Northern Section

Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance
1 Macclesfield Town 0 – 1 Stockport County 2,248
2 Carlisle United 4 – 2 Chester City 3,154
3 Morecambe 2 – 2 Port Vale 1,644
Morecambe won 4 – 2 on penalties
4 Rochdale 1 – 3 Bury 2,376
5 Doncaster Rovers 3 – 0 Oldham Athletic 4,608
6 Darlington 0 – 1 Leeds United 7,891
7 Lincoln City 2 – 5 Hartlepool United 936
8 Rotherham United 1 – 1 Grimsby Town 2,362
Grimsby Town won 4 – 2 on penalties

Southern Section

Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance
1 Hereford United 0 – 0 Yeovil Town 1,859
Yeovil Town won 4 – 2 on penalties
2 Bristol Rovers 0 – 1 Bournemouth 3,313
3 Swindon Town 1 – 3 Cheltenham Town 3,765
4 Swansea City 2 – 0 Wycombe Wanderers 5,922
5 Milton Keynes Dons 3 – 1 Peterborough United 5,087
6 Brighton & Hove Albion 2 – 1 Barnet 1,995
7 Leyton Orient 0 – 1 Dagenham & Redbridge 2,397
8 Gillingham 4 – 3 Luton Town 1,417

Area quarter-finals

In the third round, the winning teams from the second round play in eight one-legged matches, four in each section (North and South). Again, a penalty shootout followed if the match was drawn after 90 minutes. Matches were played on 13 November and 14 November 2007.

Northern Section

Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance
1 Carlisle United 0 – 3 Stockport County 3,395
2 Hartlepool United 1 – 1 Morecambe 2,776
Morecambe won 4 – 2 on penalties
3 Leeds United 1 – 2 Bury 18,809
4 Grimsby Town 2 – 2 Doncaster Rovers 4,011
Grimsby Town won 5 – 4 on penalties

Southern Section

Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance
1 Bournemouth 0 – 2 Milton Keynes Dons 3,247
2 Swansea City 1 – 0 Yeovil Town 6,644
3 Gillingham 4 – 0 Dagenham & Redbridge 2,904
4 Brighton & Hove Albion 4 – 1 Cheltenham Town 2,490

Area semi-finals

Matches were played on 8 January 2008.

Northern Section

Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance
1 Morecambe 2 – 0 Bury 2,434
2 Stockport County 1 – 2 Grimsby Town 3,679

Southern Section

Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance
1 Gillingham 1 – 1 Milton Keynes Dons 3,717
Milton Keynes Dons won 5 – 4 on penalties
2 Swansea City 1 – 0 Brighton & Hove Albion 6,066

Area finals

Northern Area final

2008-02-26
19:45
Morecambe 0 – 1 Grimsby Town Christie Park, Morecambe
Attendance: 3,207
Referee: Nigel Miller (County Durham)
Bolland  69'

2008-03-04
19:45
Grimsby Town 0 – 0 Morecambe Blundell Park, Cleethorpes
Attendance: 7,417
Referee: Paul Taylor (Hertfordshire)

Southern Area final

2008-02-19
19:45
Swansea City 0 – 1 Milton Keynes Dons Liberty Stadium, Swansea
Attendance: 10,125
Referee: Tony Bates (Staffordshire)
Johnson  69'

2008-02-25
19:45
Milton Keynes Dons 0 – 1
(5 – 4 pen.)
Swansea City stadium:mk, Milton Keynes
Attendance: 9,757
Referee: Andy D'Urso (Essex)
Scotland  20' (pen.)

Final

2008-03-30
13:15
Grimsby Town 0 – 2 Milton Keynes Dons Wembley Stadium, London
Attendance: 56,618
Referee: Phil Joslin (Nottinghamshire)
(Report) Andrews  74' (pen.)
O'Hanlon  81'

External links