The draw for the opening stage of the competition, renamed as the Capital One Cup after the end of Carling's sponsorship, took place this morning with a seeded Carlisle United side being drawn at home to an unseeded Accrington Stanley outfit. The Reds finished in 14th place in League Two last season and that therefore makes them, on paper alone obviously, the 27th easiest draw that the Cumbrians could have got from the 32 possible permutations.
United didn't find life easy against their Lancashire counterparts last season however when they, as holders of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, went down 3-2 at the Crown Ground at the first hurdle of their defence. Carlisle 1-0 behind when Craig Lindfield netted in the 35th minute, only for the Blues to move 2-1 ahead with two goals in seven second-half minutes from Jon-Paul McGovern and Francois Zoko.
By that 68th minute Zoko header though United were already ten men down following Peter Murphy's first-half sending-off for picking up two red cards, and then they were down to nine on 74 minutes when James Berrett left the field after also going into referee Peter Quinn's notebook twice. The Blues then unable to stem the home tide as Accrington won the game 3-2 with two late goals from Padraig Amond on 84 minutes and then, agonisingly, Andrew Proctor in stoppage time.
It's another Stanley home game meanwhile which looks likely to scupper any possibility there may have been of moving the game at Brunton Park this season to a more crowd-pulling, and 2012-13 campaign opening of course, Saturday 11th August from (probably) Tuesday 14th, with Accrington at the moment being scheduled to play Bolton Wanderers at home in a pre-season friendly on the 11th.
Whichever day the first round game does take place at Brunton Park though a home draw is good news for United season ticket holders as it means they will get in for the game free of charge on the back of Carlisle's season ticket offer, which also applies to any potential first round home tie in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. Those season tickets being posted out this year by the way.
Elsewhere in the draw this morning meanwhile, which is only regionalised at the first round stage, aside from Tykes manager Keith Hill going back to his old side Rochdale with Barnsley and Morecambe being away to Blackpool, league newcomers Fleetwood Town against Nottingham Forest looks like the standout television possibility in the northern section, but down south it's a bit harder to pick out the best game. West Midlands, and Championship rivals Birmingham City and Wolverhampton Wanderers being at home to two League Two sides in Barnet and Aldershot Town respectively arguably the most likely ties to be televised.
*Footnote (14th June) - The Paolo Di Canio effect seemingly takes over as rather surprisingly Swindon Town v Brighton & Hove Albion has been chosen to be televised on SKY Sports on Tuesday 14th August. Meanwhile, presumably as the northern section tie with Swindon chosen as the southern one, Oldham Athletic v Sheffield Wednesday will be televised by SKY Sports on Monday 13th August.
Northern Section
Derby County v Scunthorpe United
Rochdale v Barnsley
Port Vale v Burnley
Notts County v Bradford City
Hull City v Rotherham United
Fleetwood Town v Nottingham Forest
Carlisle United v Accrington Stanley
Doncaster Rovers v York City
Crewe Alexandra v Hartlepool United
Bury v Middlesbrough
Chesterfield v Tranmere Rovers
Sheffield United v Burton Albion
Blackpool v Morecambe
Leeds United v Shrewsbury Town
Preston North End v Huddersfield Town
Oldham Athletic v Sheffield Wednesday
Southern Section
Cheltenham Town v Milton Keynes Dons
Ipswich Town v Bristol Rovers
Stevenage v AFC Wimbledon
Exeter City v Crystal Palace
Yeovil Town v Colchester United
Birmingham City v Barnet
Bristol City v Gillingham
Northampton Town v Cardiff City
Plymouth Argyle v Portsmouth
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Aldershot Town
Walsall v Brentford
Millwall v Crawley Town
Torquay United v Leicester City
Dagenham & Redbridge v Coventry City
Peterborough United v Southend United
Swindon Town v Brighton & Hove Albion
Watford v Wycombe Wanderers
Charlton Athletic v Leyton Orient
Oxford United v AFC Bournemouth
*Ties will be played during the week commencing 13th August 2012. However, if mutually agreed, The Football League will consider requests to play on Saturday 11th or Sunday 12th August 2012.