Today I'm going back ten years to 2012 and York City's first game back in the big time as newly anointed members of the football League which thereby gave them entry into the Football League Cup (or Capital One Cup as it was styled). The prize was a trip to Doncaster Rovers in the League Cup's First Round and the chance to visit the Keepmoat Stadium which had an attendance of 4,397 that day.
The previous season the two clubs had been three divisions apart but a combination of City's promotion and Rovers' relegation meant that the disparity was down to one division with City new members of League 2 and Rovers finding themselves in League 1. York were therefore the underdogs and shocked their hosts by taking the lead thanks to a wonderful shot from distance by Michael Coulson in the 65th minute. Sadly the Minstermen couldn't hold onto their lead as Rovers, who were without a home win since January and didn't look like scoring, equalised nine minutes later from the penalty spot following a foul by Lee Bullock with Chris Brown performing the honours. Penalties were about to cause further heartache for York. With the First Round of the League Cup no longer being played over two legs and with Replays no longer available to settle things, the match went to extra time and, with no further scoring, the game went to a penalty shoot out. York failed to convert two of their spot kicks with Coulson and Matty Blair missing their attempts and Rovers went through 4-2. Blair's miss proved to be ironic as he would go on to sign for Doncaster four years later making 162 appearances and scoring 10 goals for Rovers between 2016-2020.
Rovers reward was a Second Round home tie against Championship side Hull City and they took full advantage to defeat the Tigers by 3-2. Rovers finally exited the competition in the Third Round losing 1-0 against Norwich City at Carrow Road. The League Cup had surprise finalists that season with Swansea City meeting Bradford City of League 2 in the Final at Wembley. Swansea destroyed Bradford City 5-0 in that Final and, in doing so, qualified for Europe and became the first ever non-English side to win the League Cup as well as becoming the first side since Cardiff City won the FA Cup in 1927 to take one of the game's major prizes outside of England.
CRB Match No. 1908
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