It may not carry the glamour of the other domestic cup competition but I`ve always viewed the Carling Cup as a competition whereby there always seems to be a better chance of reaching Wembley.
The glamour sides, those in European competition, do not enter until round three and several sides treat the competition with an element of disdain by fielding weakened sides.
Last year little old Burnley, then in the Championship, reached the semi0-finals and were minutes away from reaching the final. Only a dramatic late comeback from Spurs, in the dying minutes, thwarted the Lancashire side.
This year, I had ambitions that maybe another side that plays in claret and blue, our side, could do a Burnley, that we might be able to scoot along in this competition and arrive at the stage where a final appearance might be on the horizon.
Fat chance!
We were rumbled, in extra time, by a Bolton side that normally wouldn`t be fit to lace our boots and it`s no wonder that our England keeper, Rob Green has issued some words that may cause a few ructions in the camp.
Green has told it as it is by remarking, to those journalists willing to jot down a few notes,
“Against Bolton on Tuesday, we didn`t defend well and we didn`t take our chances.”
“We were sloppy at both ends. With five minutes to go you have to defend properly – we didn`t and it cost us. We didn`t play well enough before or after our goal to kill the game off.”
No we didn`t Rob! We were lax, we were unprofessional and the result is we`ve exited a competition that I, for one, had eyes on us winning. I know it`s only the Carling Cup, I know the Premier League is the bread and butter of our football diet but just once, just once I`d like to see a little silver trophy being waved around come the end of the season!
Wouldn`t you?
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