EFL Trophy Wednesday night round-up: Shrewsbury, Shrimpers and Gasheads progress

The EFL Trophy Second Round took place for a 2nd consecutive night with three ties taking place of which one game featured an Under -21 side in the form of Swansea City who had survived the group stages. Here is what happened last night:

Shewsbury 2 : 1 Walsall

In the Northern Section, it Shrewsbury Town saw off Walsall in the all-League 1 affair by 2-1 at New Meadow in what was Sam Ricketts’ first game in charge following his move from National League side Wrexham. It took 24 minutes for the hosts to open the scoring with Alex Gilliead firing into the bottom right of the goal.

The hosts then doubled their lead in the 72nd minute with a strike from Doug Loft from about 30 yards out which took a deflection and into the top left of the goal before Walsall managed to get one back through Keiron Morris four minutes later. There wasn’t enough for Walsall to get another goal to secure a penalty shootout.

Rochdale P : P Oldham

Rochdale’s clash with Oldham Athletic was called off due to a waterlogged pitch at the Spotland Stadium with a new date yet to be confirmed.

Southend 1 : 1 Luton (Southend win 4-2 on penalties)

In the Southern Section, Chris Powell’s Southend United avenged their 2-0 defeat to Barnsley with a victory over Luton Town at Kenilworth Road on penalties 4-2 after finishing the game 1-1.

The Shrimpers made four changes from Saturday’s game with Issac Hutchinson, Charlie Kelman and Rob Howard all making the bench. It was goalless for 81 minutes until Luton scored via a Arthur Read goal before Stephen McLaughlin equalised with 2 minutes to go for the Shrimpers. Southend goalkeeper Mark Oxley saved the day with 2 saves in the penalty shootout.

Swansea U-21 1 : 2 Bristol Rovers

Bristol Rovers made the trip to the Liberty Stadium to take on Swansea City Under 21’s. The visitors went 1-0 down with a Jordan Garrick goal coming in the 2nd half before goals from Tony Craig and Alex Jakubiak won it for the League 1 strugglers.

The draw for the 3rd round will take place on Saturday at 12.20pm as part of the Gillette Soccer Saturday coverage which starts 12pm with Matt Le Tisser and Alan McInally drawing the teams.

The ball numbers for the remaining teams are as follows:

Northern Section:
1/ Accrington Stanley – Sky Bet League 1
2/ Bury – Sky Bet League 2
3/ Manchester City Under 21’s – Premier League 2
4/ Newcastle United Under 21’s – Premier League 2
5/ Port Vale – Sky Bet League 2
6/ Shrewsbury Town – Sky Bet League 1
7/ Sunderland – Sky Bet League 1
8/ Rochdale/ Oldham Athletic – Sky Bet League 1/League 2

Southern Section:
1/ Bristol Rovers – Sky Bet League 1
2/ Chelsea Under 21’s – Premier League 2
3/ Cheltenham Town – Sky Bet League 2
4/ Northampton Town – Sky Bet League 2
5/ Peterborough United – Sky Bet League 1
6/ Portsmouth – Sky Bet League 1
7/ Southend United – Sky Bet League 1
8/ Oxford United/ Tottenham Hotspur Under 21’s – Sky Bet League 1/ Premier League 2