Section, Accrington |
Games will no longer go to extra-time either, drawn matches after 90 minutes being decided by a penalty shoot-out. This part of the drive to attract more families and children to matches, the other push in that area being that free tickets will be available to children under the age of 16 if they are accompanied by a paying adult.
Clubs have also been warned by the Football League about playing weakened sides in the early rounds of the competition, as the majority of sides have done in the past. It will now be a requirement that clubs include in their Johnstone's Paint Trophy starting eleven on the night - seven of their eleven players that have appeared most often in their first-team games during the season.
The original North/South format is now even more regionalised in the first round only, with teams divided into North-West, North-East, South West and South-East sections in order to cut down on travelling time and expenses. There will also be money awarded exclusively to the winners of matches in each successive round from an overall pool of £350,000, the prize for the winners being a cool £90,000.
The first round draw in full is as follows :
Northern Section
Hartlepool v Rotherham (East)
Huddersfield v Doncaster (East)
Bradford v Scunthorpe (East)
Lincoln v Grimsby (East)
Accrington Stanley v Carlisle (West)
Wrexham v Rochdale (West)
Macclesfield v Stockport (West)
Bury v Tranmere (West)
Byes to second round - Blackpool, Chester, Chesterfield, Crewe, Darlington, Mansfield, Oldham, Port Vale.
Southern Section
Brighton v Boston (East)
Northampton v Brentford (East)
Notts County v Barnet (East)
Gillingham v Nottingham Forest (East)
Wycombe v Swindon (West)
Walsall v Swansea (West)
Hereford v Shrewsbury (West)
Bristol Rovers v Torquay (West)
Byes to second round - Bournemouth, Bristol City, Cheltenham, Leyton Orient, Millwall, Milton Keynes Dons, Peterborough, Yeovil.
Ties to be played in the week commencing 16th October.