Carabao Cup: Five times the League Cup delivered in the second round

Manchester City celebrate with the Carabao CupImage source, Getty Images
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It is a long way off yet, but teams in this week's second round will be competing to ultimately succeed Manchester City as Carabao Cup winners

League Cup second-round week is not one many fans rush to etch into their diary in anticipation.

Often snuck in during the opening weeks of the Premier League season, it sees the introduction of many of the big boys into the competition but is not renowned for its high-octane drama.

However, over the years, the tournament has provided plenty of excitement, notable shocks, high-scoring thrillers and gripping narratives.

To illustrate why it may be worth staying across this week's 25 ties, BBC Sport picks out some of the memorable times that the League Cup delivered the goods in its second round.

Feel free to add your own in the comments section.

'You can't win anything with kids' - Man Utd 3-4 York City (1995-96)

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Scott Jordan's goal in the second leg against Manchester United was enough to send York City through 4-3 on aggregate

To start with, we'll go back 26 years to a tie between little York City and the mighty Manchester United.

At the start of the 1995-96 season, Match of the Day pundit Alan Hansen had uttered his famous line "you can't win anything with kids" after United began their league campaign with defeat at Aston Villa, having had the temerity to field a bunch of inexperienced youngsters called Nicky Butt, David Beckham, Paul Scholes and the Neville brothers - Gary and Phil.

Five straight wins had followed, with surely a sixth to come against the third tier's bottom club York City in what was then the Coca-Cola Cup. Nope.

An understrength Red Devils side were beaten 3-0 at Old Trafford in a stunning first leg. Paul Barnes scored twice - the second a penalty that United defender Pat McGibbon was sent off for conceding - and Tony Barras headed a third.

In the second leg at Bootham Crescent, Alex Ferguson brought back the big guns - Peter Schmeichel, Ryan Giggs and Eric Cantona - and they took a 2-0 lead on the night. But then Scott Jordan bundled in a goal for York - with Barnes close to getting the final touch on that too - and even though Scholes scored for United after that, the minnows saw it out to record a famous 4-3 aggregate win.

United had the last laugh, though, going on to win a Premier League and FA Cup Double without losing another home game all season, while York only narrowly avoided relegation to the fourth tier.

The Minstermen would be at it again in the second round the following season, knocking Premier League Everton out 4-3 over two legs.

Nearly 20 years later, United would suffer another famous second-round shock in the competition, with Louis van Gaal's side losing 4-0 at a Will Grigg-inspired MK Dons in 2014.

Blades get their revenge - West Ham 1-1 Sheff Utd (4-5 on pens) (2014-15)

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Sheffield United would eventually get back to the Premier League again in 2019, but are now back in the Championship

Sheffield United's resentment towards West Ham had been bubbling away for seven years prior to their meeting in the League Cup in 2014-15.

The source was the Blades' relegation from the Premier League in 2007, which came about in part as a result of crucial goals from Carlos Tevez that kept the Hammers up instead.

It was later discovered Tevez's signing broke the rules on third-party ownership,, external which resulted in the Premier League fining West Ham £5.5m. After much legal wrangling, an out-of-court settlement, reported to be in excess of £20m, was paid as compensation to the Blades.

In the meantime, Tevez had moved on, West Ham had gone down and back up to the top flight and Sheffield United had dropped to League One.

Played out to a backdrop of constant needle between the two sets of fans, Winston Reid's own goal cancelled out Diafra Sakho's opener for the Hammers and ultimately sent the game to penalties.

Both sides successfully scored their first four spot-kicks but when Enner Valencia's effort was saved by Mark Howard, Blades captain Michael Doyle stepped up to seal some small modicum of revenge.

Back-to-back eight-goal thrillers - Aston Villa 5-3 Notts County & Barnsley 3-5 Everton (2015-16)

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Romelu Lukaku scored 68 Premier League goals across two spells at Everton

A year later, the League Cup second round served up two eight-goal thrillers in successive nights between a Premier League team and lower-league opponents.

At Villa Park, Aston Villa were pushed all the way by League Two Notts County, who led three times in the 90 minutes but each time were pegged back by the home side.

Scott Sinclair would be the eventual hero, completing his hat-trick in extra time before Joe Bennett added the fifth, but the game was also notable for a star turn from a young forward called Jack Grealish, who claimed two assists.

The next day, Everton were put through the wringer at League One Barnsley, who led 2-0 and 3-2 in normal time against a Toffees side with John Stones at the back and Romelu Lukaku in attack.

The tie at a lively Oakwell was settled in extra time courtesy of a Marc Roberts own goal and a Lukaku finish.

And breathe.

We want 10! - West Ham 10-0 Bury (1983-84) & Liverpool 10-0 Fulham (1986-87)

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Tony Cottee scored 146 goals for West Ham in two spells at the club (1983-88 and 1994-96)

Two sides have registered record 10-0 wins in League Cup games, both of them coming in second-round ties.

Both of them came in the 1980s, the first at Upton Park, where West Ham hammered poor fourth-tier Bury in a second-leg game in what was then the Milk Cup., external

There was little warning of what was to come three weeks earlier, with John Lyall's then top-flight leaders sneaking a 2-1 first-leg win at Gigg Lane.

But United went goal-mad on home turf, with a teenage Tony Cottee netting four times, 36-year-old Trevor Brooking bagging two and Alan Devonshire claiming a double of his own.

Three years later, England's then-champions Liverpool matched West Ham's double-figure tally by battering poor third-division Fulham in the first leg of their tie.

Ian Rush scored two of them, but the real star was Steve McMahon, who hit four. It could have been worse for the Cottagers too. McMahon also missed a penalty.

Fulham at least kept it respectable in the second leg, losing 3-2 on home soil.

Remarkably, this was a barren season in what was Liverpool's golden period, with the club failing to pick up a major trophy, finishing second in the league and runners-up in the League Cup.

Marathon shootout - Derby 1-1 Carlisle (14-13 on pens) (2016-17)

When Mike Jones scored five minutes into injury time to snatch a draw for League Two Carlisle at Championship Derby in a second-round tie in 2016, little did the 9,860 in attendance know that this was just a taster of the drama to come.

The subsequent penalty shootout featured 32 spot-kicks, 27 of them successful, with several players taking two.

Derby could have ended it much earlier, but after Jabo Ibehre's effort was saved by Scott Carson at 7-7 in sudden death, Alex Pearce missed for the Rams.

On it went for another 14 penalties, until Carson parried Joe McKee's kick and 18-year-old Slovenian Timi Max Elsnik, making his professional debut, slotted in the winner.

It left the majority in Pride Park happy and the small group of Carlisle fans facing a long, late journey back north.

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