2005–06 Football League Cup
# 2005–06 Football League Cup

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.

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 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.

## First round

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.
* 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.

| Tie no | Home team | $Score^1$ | Away team | Date |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Chesterfield | 2–4 | Huddersfield Town | 24 August 2005 |
| 2 | Colchester United | 0–2 | Cardiff City | 24 August 2005 |
| 3 | Derby County | 0–1 | Grimsby Town | 24 August 2005 |
| 4 | Rushden & Diamonds | 0–3 | Coventry City | 24 August 2005 |
| 5 | Torquay United | 0–0 | AFC Bournemouth | 24 August 2005 |
| 0–0 after extra time — AFC Bournemouth win 4 – 3 on penalties |||||
| 6 | Blackpool | 2–1 | Hull City | 23 August 2005 |
| 7 | Bristol City | 2–4 | Barnet | 23 August 2005 |
| 8 | Burnley | 2–1 | Carlisle United | 23 August 2005 |
| 9 | Bury | 0–3 | Leicester City | 23 August 2005 |
| 10 | Crystal Palace | 3–0 | Walsall | 23 August 2005 |
| 11 | Cheltenham Town | 5–0 | Brentford | 23 August 2005 |
| 12 | Gillingham | 1–0 | Oxford United | 23 August 2005 |
| 13 | Hartlepool United | 3–1 | Darlington | 23 August 2005 |
| 14 | Ipswich Town | 0–2 | Yeovil Town | 23 August 2005 |
| 15 | Leeds United | 2–0 | Oldham Athletic | 23 August 2005 |
| 16 | Leyton Orient | 1–3 | Luton Town | 23 August 2005 |
| 17 | Lincoln City | 5–1 | Crewe Alexandra | 23 August 2005 |
| 18 | MK Dons | 0–1 | Norwich City | 23 August 2005 |
| 19 | Mansfield Town | 1–1 | Stoke City | 23 August 2005 |
| 1–1 after extra time — Mansfield Town win 3 – 0 on penalties |||||
| 20 | Millwall | 2–0 | Bristol Rovers | 23 August 2005 |
| 21 | Northampton Town | 3–0 | Queens Park Rangers | 23 August 2005 |
| 22 | Nottingham Forest | 2–3 | Macclesfield Town | 23 August 2005 |
| 23 | Plymouth Argyle | 2–1 | Peterborough United | 23 August 2005 |
| 24 | Preston North End | 1–1 | Barnsley | 23 August 2005 |
| 2–2 after extra time — Barnsley win 5 – 4 on penalties |||||
| 25 | Reading | 3–1 | Swansea City | 23 August 2005 |
| 26 | Rochdale | 0–5 | Bradford City | 23 August 2005 |
| 27 | Rotherham United | 3–1 | Port Vale | 23 August 2005 |
| 28 | Scunthorpe United | 2–1 | Tranmere Rovers | 23 August 2005 |
| 29 | Sheffield United | 1–0 | Boston United | 23 August 2005 |
| 30 | Shrewsbury Town | 3–2 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 23 August 2005 |
| 31 | Stockport County | 2–4 | Sheffield Wednesday | 23 August 2005 |
| 32 | Swindon Town | 1–3 | Wycombe Wanderers | 23 August 2005 |
| 33 | Watford | 3–1 | Notts County | 23 August 2005 |
| 34 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 5–1 | Chester City | 23 August 2005 |
| 35 | Wrexham | 0–1 | Doncaster Rovers | 23 August 2005 |
| 36 | Southend United | 0–3 | Southampton | 22 August 2005 |

## Second round

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. The matches occurred on 20 and 21 September.

| Tie no | Home team | $Score^1$ | 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 |

## Third round

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. Matches were played on 25 and 26 October.

| Tie no | Home team | $Score^1$ | 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 |

## Fourth round

The draw for the fourth round was made on 29 October 2005 and matches were played on 29 and 30 November. Doncaster caused the shock of the round, beating Aston Villa 3-0.

## Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter finals was made on 3 December 2005 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

## Semi-finals

The semi-final draw was made on 21 December, 2005 after the conclusion of the quarter finals. 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.

### Second leg

Score level at 2-2 on aggregate. Wigan win on away goals rule.

Manchester United win 3–2 on aggregate

## Final

The 2006 Carling 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.

* Match details on Soccerbase
