2007–08 Football League Trophy

Football League Trophy 2007–08 EnglandWales 48 MK Dons Grimsby Town 2006–07 2008–09 The 2007–08 Football League Trophy, known as the 2007–08 Johnstone's Paint Trophy for sponsorship reasons, was the 27th 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, 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. MK Dons won the final, beating Grimsby Town 2–0. 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 noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendanceNorth-West1Tranmere Rovers0–1Morecambe2,5572Chester City1–1Crewe Alexandra2,126Chester City won 4 – 3 on penalties3Wrexham0–1Macclesfield Town1,5034Accrington Stanley2–3Oldham Athletic1,465North-East5Chesterfield1–3Hartlepool United2,1276Mansfield Town0–1Rotherham United1,5787Doncaster Rovers5–1Bradford City4,7108Grimsby Town4–1Huddersfield Town1,204 Southern Section Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendanceSouth-West1AFC Bournemouth2–0Walsall2,2062Swansea City3–2Millwall5,7213Swindon Town4–1Brentford3,1184Yeovil Town1–0Shrewsbury Town1,669South-East1Luton Town2–0Northampton Town2,5322Nottingham Forest2–3Peterborough United3,1023Notts County0–1Leyton Orient9004Southend United2–2Dagenham & Redbridge1,204Dagenham & 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 noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendance1Macclesfield Town 0–1 Stockport County2,2482Carlisle United 4–2 Chester City3,1543Morecambe2–2Port Vale1,644Morecambe won 4 – 2 on penalties4Rochdale 1–3 Bury2,3765Doncaster Rovers3–0Oldham Athletic4,6086Darlington0–1Leeds United7,8917Lincoln City 2–5 Hartlepool United9368Rotherham United1–1Grimsby Town2,362Grimsby Town won 4 – 2 on penalties Southern Section Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendance1Hereford United0–0Yeovil Town1,859Yeovil Town won 4 – 2 on penalties2Bristol Rovers 0–1 AFC Bournemouth3,3133Swindon Town 1–3 Cheltenham Town3,7654Swansea City2–0Wycombe Wanderers5,9225Milton Keynes Dons3–1Peterborough United5,0876Brighton & Hove Albion2–1Barnet1,9957Leyton Orient 0–1 Dagenham & Redbridge2,3978Gillingham4–3Luton Town1,417 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 noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendance1Carlisle United0–3Stockport County3,3952Hartlepool United1–1Morecambe2,776Morecambe won 4 – 2 on penalties3Leeds United1–2Bury18,8094Grimsby Town2–2Doncaster Rovers4,011Grimsby Town won 5 – 4 on penalties Southern Section Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendance1AFC Bournemouth0–2Milton Keynes Dons3,2472Swansea City1–0Yeovil Town6,6443Gillingham4–0Dagenham & Redbridge2,9044Brighton & Hove Albion4–1Cheltenham Town2,490 Area semi-finals Matches were played on 8 January 2008. Northern Section Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendance1Morecambe2–0Bury2,4342Stockport County1–2Grimsby Town3,679 Southern Section Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendance1Gillingham1–1Milton Keynes Dons3,717Milton Keynes Dons won 5 – 4 on penalties2Swansea City1–0Brighton & Hove Albion6,066 Area finals Northern Area final 2008-02-26 19:45 Morecambe 0–1 Grimsby Town Bolland 69 Christie Park, Morecambe 3,207 Nigel Miller (County Durham) 2008-03-04 19:45 Grimsby Town 0–0 Morecambe Blundell Park, Cleethorpes 7,417 Paul Taylor (Hertfordshire) Southern Area final 2008-02-19 19:45 Swansea City 0–1 Milton Keynes Dons Johnson 69 Liberty Stadium 10,125 Tony Bates (Staffordshire) 2008-02-25 19:45 Milton Keynes Dons 0–1 5–4 Swansea City Scotland 20 pen. stadium:mk, Milton Keynes 9,757 Andy D'Urso (Essex) Final 2008 Football League Trophy Final 2008-03-30 13:15 Grimsby Town 0–2 (Report) Milton Keynes Dons Andrews 74 pen.O'Hanlon 81 Wembley Stadium, London 56,618 Phil Joslin (Nottinghamshire) External links Official website Category:EFL Trophy seasons League Trophy Trophy Trophy