Birmingham boss John Eustace hailed Juninho Bacuna as a potential Premier League player after his brace secured a 2-0 win at Cheltenham in the Carabao Cup’s first round.

The Curacao international’s first goal was a heavily deflected shot in the 24th minute which flew past goalkeeper Luke Southwood off defender Liam Smith after efforts from Keshi Anderson and Koji Miyoshi were blocked.

Miyoshi was tripped by former Birmingham defender Curtis Davies on the edge of the box seven minutes later, earning the experienced debutant a yellow card.

And Bacuna curled the resulting free-kick into the top left corner for his second of the night.

“Bacca’s a talented player who can play anywhere on the football pitch,” Eustace said. “He’s got the quality to play in the Premier League if he continues to work hard.

“I was really pleased for him. His performance was outstanding. He was disappointed not to start at the weekend, but it’s a squad game.

“It’s about using the squad and it’s a competitive one even though we’re short in one or two areas.

“We still need to bring in some quality, but it’s about making sure everyone feels wanted.”

It was nearly 3-0 before half-time, with Miyoshi threading a ball through for Lukas Jutkiewicz, but Southwood advanced to save well.

Jordan James played Anderson through on goal in the 61st minute, but Southwood was equal to it.

Southwood denied Anderson again in the 74th minute with another one-on-one block.

The overworked goalkeeper beat away James’ powerful drive five minutes later, but the Sky Bet Championship side had done enough and League One outfit Cheltenham failed to trouble visiting keeper Neil Etheridge throughout the 90 minutes.

Robins boss Wade Elliott said: “We competed really well, but ultimately they had too much for us in terms of quality and in the end a little bit of physicality.”

Sutton boss Matt Gray was delighted to make it third time lucky in the EFL Cup after beating Cambridge 6-5 on penalties.

The south-west London club had failed in their two previous attempts to win a match in the competition.

And they came from behind twice to force penalties as goals from Harry Smith and Harry Beautyman cancelled out Fejiri Okenabirhie’s brace at Gander Green Lane.

“It’s nice to be in the hat for the second round after the last couple of years,” admitted Gray.

“It’s the first time we’ve won a League Cup game. The Premier League boys come in now so it would be great to get one.

“It’s nice to get another win on penalties and make sure we got through to the next round.

“I was pleased with a hell of a lot from the game.

“I’ve really noticed the team spirit ever since our pre-season trip. We showed great character to come from behind twice and I’m really pleased with the spirit in the group.

“We don’t practice the specific penalties. Everyone knows to pick their spot and commit to the penalty.”

Cambridge’s George Thomas and Sutton’s Ben Goodliffe both missed to take the shoot-out to sudden death, where Jack Rose – a half-time substitute for Sutton’s starting keeper Steve Arnold – made the decisive save from Harrison Dunk.

Deflated Cambridge boss Mark Bonner said: “It’s disappointing to go out on penalties.

“When you get the upper hand in penalties you hope you’ll see that home, but it wasn’t to be.

“That Wembley dream’s over this year, but we’ll get ourselves ready for a big week ahead.

“It’s a successful night for us with all the changes we made. We managed to get some good minutes into players who didn’t get to play on Saturday.

“We got a few more minutes into some than we would have liked because the game went on for three hours.”

Peterborough manager Darren Ferguson hailed the quality of his side’s penalties but felt the performance could have been better as they saw off Swindon to reach the Carabao Cup second round.

Joel Randall’s first Peterborough goal since his move from Exeter in the summer of 2021 was cancelled out by Rushian Hepburn-Murphy as the game ended 1-1 after 90 minutes.

Frazer Blake-Tracy and Jake Young missed in the penalty shoot-out for Swindon while Jonson Clarke-Harris, Ronnie Edwards, Joseph Tomlinson and Harrison Burrows all scored to send Peterborough through.

Ferguson said: “I’m delighted to be through. It’s a cup tie and your main focus is to get through to the next round and we’ve done that.

“Very, very good penalties to get us there, four really good pens, Nick (Bilokapic)’s obviously saved one so yeah, pleased to get through.

“I’ll have to look back at the performance and pick the bones out of it, but it’s easier to do that when you get through.

“We just weren’t there tonight in terms of the basics of the game, certainly the tackling and second balls and things like that we weren’t good enough tonight.”

Swindon manager Michael Flynn said: “I’ll take a whole lot from that. I thought we were the better team over the duration of the game.

“We had 23 shots away from home against a very good League One team who only made a couple of changes from Saturday and I was very, very proud of them.

“We did everything well apart from the first goal. I thought we went one-for-one, picked up second balls, we pressed them with the right parts, they had to change formation later on, we created good chances and I just wish we’d took a few more of the situations we created.

“But on the whole I couldn’t be happier really.”

Rotherham boss Matt Taylor was pleased to see his side shake off their weekend hammering at Stoke with a 4-2 Carabao Cup penalty shootout victory over Morecambe.

The Millers were thumped 4-1 in their Championship opener and boss Taylor said his side were “shell-shocked” in an opening 25 minutes against the League Two side where they fell behind to Michael Mellon’s clinical finish.

But Josh Kayode levelled before the break and then debutant goalkeeper Dillon Phillips saved two penalties to earn a place in the second round.

Taylor said: “It was a pleasing building performance, it wasn’t a great opening 25 minutes, we looked shell-shocked from the weekend and that showed.

“We started to build platforms on the pitch and got up the pitch. It was important we scored before half-time.

“It was one-way traffic in the second half and we could have won it, we had enough chances.

“That is maybe where people aren’t feeling great about themselves.”

On Phillips, who was a summer signing from Cardiff, Taylor added: “The biggest reward is that there is another game and that is important for him.

“Dillon needs games, he hasn’t played many games over the last couple of years but we know how good a goalkeeper he is.

“He is providing good competition.”

Derek Adams, whose side won in this competition at the New York Stadium 12 months ago, was proud of his League Two men.

“It was a pleasing performance, especially for a League Two club coming to the Championship,” he said.

“We could have gone ahead before and the goal we scored was an excellent goal.

“It was nothing more than we deserved because we dominated large spells in that first half.

“To come here and do that was very pleasing.”

Wycombe manager Matt Bloomfield praised the impact of his substitutes after they helped see off MK Dons in the first round of the Carabao Cup.

Brandon Hanlan struck the opener for the League One Chairboys deep into the second half before setting up the second for Chris Forino after the visitors had to endure an uncomfortable first 45 minutes at Stadium MK.

Bloomfield said: “We had to abandon all good plans because we had a couple of knocks and had to make another couple of changes.

“We’re still maybe slightly behind in our fitness with some of the boys but I was really pleased in terms of how the finishers came on and really impacted the game tonight.

“I thought Brandon was fantastic, and Tjay (De Barr) and Luke (Leahy).

“I thought the finishers came on and really helped us get over the line, which was a good impact to see.”

Wycombe goalkeeper Max Stryjek made good saves to deny Warren O’Hora and Alex Gilbey in the first half, which was shaded by the League Two Dons.

The Chairboys broke through after 73 minutes when Hanlan pounced after Craig MacGillivray pushed out Freddie Potts’ cross before Forino nodded in to make the tie safe with eight minutes remaining.

Dons boss Graham Alexander said: “I thought we certainly played our part in the game and I thought it was about both boxes in the end.

“They were a little bit more clinical than us because we certainly had the opportunities to score.

“I was disappointed to concede at that stage of the game because I thought we were doing reasonably well.

“There was still time for us to get back into the game, but we conceded a second, although even after that we still had opportunities to get one.”

John Mousinho says Kusini Yengi is quickly becoming a “fan favourite” as he netted a brace as Portsmouth progressed 3-1 in the Carabao Cup first round.

His double alongside a Zak Swanson strike saw Pompey overcome Sky Bet League Two opponents Forest Green at The Bolt New Lawn.

“He’s quickly becoming a fan favourite and overall I’m really pleased with Kasini, especially his physical presence up front,” said the Pompey boss.

“He probably had four or five good chances, one in the first half which I think he’ll be upset he hasn’t put away, and a brilliant save from his header.

“His work rate, how he held the ball up, and ultimately putting the ball into the back of the net means really good things for him.

Rovers took the lead through Tyrese Omotoye’s first goal for the club but they failed to capitalise on their lead as League One club Pompey replied with three unanswered goals.

Australian forward Yengi bundled home an equaliser following an Anthony Scully corner before the break.

The turnaround was complete as Swanson gave the visitors the lead as he fired past Searle from a tight angle down Pompey’s right side.

Yengi added Pompey’s third from the penalty as Kamara was upended by Rovers full-back Jamie Robson.

Forest Green head coach David Horseman said: “We gave a really strong League One team a good game, we managed to look at some players we haven’t seen in the building yet.

“The goals were really soft, but we’ll pick those up. For 60 minutes, we looked a really good team.

“There’s a lot to work with and hopefully people around the ground notice how much progress we’re making in such a short space of time.

“I’m pleased for Tyrese because he’s put in a lot of work but things aren’t quite going for us at the moment.”

Blackburn boss Jon Dahl Tomasson has targeted a Carabao Cup run after his side edged past Walsall in a 4-3 win.

Rovers, who reached the fourth round last season, went behind twice in the first half through Oisin McEntee and Ross Tierney, but Zak Gilsenan and Niall Ennis equalised.

Second-half goals from Jake Garrett and John Buckley gave Blackburn a two-goal cushion which Ronan Maher halved late on.

Blackburn prevailed and Tomasson outlined his ambitions.

He said: “I’m delighted to win the game. My desire, as you know, is to have another great cup run like we had last season, for those brilliant moments.

“It’s great to see five debuts today. We scored four excellent goals. Sometimes we played brilliant football, sometimes we made a lot of mistakes.

“It was great to see all those mistakes and see entertaining football! Sometimes as a coach it’s not that fun but we know they are learning at the job, those young boys.

“I was not satisfied with the first half. We shouldn’t forget that Walsall did a really good job. Made it difficult. But we played too slow, playing sidewards in the first half. Second half was much better.”

Mat Sadler thought Walsall were denied a “stonewall” penalty, but was proud of his charges.

“It’s difficult to be critical of the lads tonight, first half especially,” He said. “We could have scored at least another couple.

“There was without question a stonewall penalty turned down. I don’t know how. The way we countered on them, broke, the football we played, was extremely encouraging.

“The frustration is when you go in the lead and give it away. Frustrated that we conceded a couple of goals that took it away from us in that second period but I can’t be anything but proud of them for what they’ve put in tonight.”

Stoke boss Alex Neil reserved special praise for 16-year-old debutant Sol Sidibe following their 2-1 win over West Brom in the Carabao Cup.

A first-half own goal from Josh Griffiths and calm finish from Andre Vidigal – either side of Brandon Thomas-Asante’s second-half leveller – saw the Potters progress to round two.

Sidibe, son of club icon Mamady, was deservedly named man of the match for his midfield performance.

Speaking after the match, Neil said: “I can’t speak highly enough of him, he completely justified his place in the team.

“It’s hard to say (how good he can be). The hard work is where it starts, but his talent and temperament are more than good enough.

“At 16, I certainly wasn’t doing the things he’s doing. He got a booking and I didn’t even worry about taking him off.

“I thought we were very good. All the players deserve a massive amount of credit.”

The Baggies started the game brightly and eventually found a route back into the game through substitute Thomas-Asante, who flicked the ball home with 64 minutes on the clock.

The result caps a difficult few days for the visitors, who suffered an opening-day league defeat against Blackburn at the weekend.

Albion manager Carlos Corberan said: “We didn’t achieve the result we wanted today. We didn’t manage the ball well enough in the first half.

“Unfortunately, losing the ball made the game more open and they found a way to make chances.

“In both games (so far this season) we have seen similar things, both positive and negative.

“In football, it’s important to learn from mistakes, and in the last two games it’s true we have lost goals from mistakes.

“It’s important that we talk about this and do our best to fix it.

“The transfer window is still open and we knew we would find the squad towards the end of the market. The team still needs to grow.”

Ethan Chislett struck twice as Port Vale came from behind to beat Fleetwood 3-2 and reach the second round of the Carabao Cup.

Cian Hayes had given the visitors an early lead in the fifth minute when he curled home a fine effort off the far post.

South African Chislett, a summer signing on a free transfer after leaving AFC Wimbledon, equalised in style with a stunning strike from the edge of the box in the 17th minute.

Fleetwood goalkeeper Jay Lynch made a double save to deny Josh Thomas and then Ellis Harrison just before half-time.

Vale made a fast start to the second half as Ryan Graydon got up highest at the near post to nod home Junior Quitirna’s corner.

Swansea loanee Thomas scored his first professional goal just before the hour after driving into the box to make it 2-2 just before the hour.

The turnaround was completed with 16 minutes left as substitute Gavin Massey stood up a cross, after beating Lynch to the ball, for Chislett to nod home from close range.

Vale keeper Connor Ripley ensured there were no penalties as he made two fine saves from Fleetwood defender Josh Earl in the last minute.

Newport boss Graham Coughlan hailed a morale-boosting victory for his side as they fought back from a goal down to beat League One Charlton 3-1 in the Carabao Cup first round.

Daniel Kanu put the visitors ahead just before half-time, but second-half strikes from Aaron Wildig, Will Evans and Seb Palmer-Houlden sealed a second-round spot for the Exiles for the seventh successive season.

“I’m really pleased and I’m delighted for the lads,” said Coughlan, whose side were beaten 3-0 at Accrington on the opening day.

“They’ve had a tough couple of weeks. It’s not been easy.

“The fans were unbelievable tonight as well, even when we went 1-0 down, the way they got behind us.

“I’m trying to explain the club, the DNA and its principles to some of the new players, I don’t think I have to explain it after tonight. I think they’ve fully got it, and they know what the fans expect of them.”

Charlton boss Dean Holden questioned his players’ mentality after they allowed their fourth-tier opponents back into the game.

“We got ourselves into a good position with the goal just before half-time and we had them exactly where we wanted them until 60 minutes,” said the Addicks manager.

“We were 1-0 up and in complete control, complete dominance, but we didn’t have enough in the final third to take the game away from them.

“As comfortable as we were, there were too many errors. The goals were really poor. It was too easy for them to score. To end up losing 3-1 is really disappointing.

“There is potentially a mentality issue there. We need to stamp our authority on the game and take it away from them. But we didn’t do it and we got punished.”

Exeter manager Gary Caldwell was delighted with the second-half response from his side as they reached the second round of the Carabao Cup with a 2-1 win over Sky Bet League Two club Crawley.

After falling behind in controversial circumstances – former Plymouth and Torquay striker Klaidi Lolos headed in from a corner when Exeter were down to 10 men and trying to make a substitution – Kyle Taylor and James Scott scored in the last 15 minutes to turn the tie on its head.

It was Taylor’s first goal since returning from a nightmare 18 months out with a serious knee injury, while Scott’s goal was his second in successive matches.

In truth, it was no more than Exeter deserved as they dominated for long spells, but it took a half-time rollicking from the Grecians boss to get the response he wanted.

“It was a really difficult game and I said before the game that we can’t underestimate Crawley and I felt, in the first half, we did a little bit,” Caldwell said.

“We were a little bit flat, our press wasn’t as energetic as it needed to be and in fairness to them, they played a really open style of football and asked a lot of questions of us defensively with how they position players on the park. I thought they played well.

“We could have been better on transition and we could have been better on the press. We conceded the goal, but I thought our response after half-time was sensational and we came out and looked more like the team on Saturday, we played on the front foot, we played aggressive football and in the end, I think we deserved to win the game.

“I said to the players at half-time you can’t win a game without running for the team, but we did that second half and thoroughly deserved to win the game.”

Bradford manager Mark Hughes hopes a good cup run can boost their league form after a 4-1 penalty shoot-out win over Accrington in the Carabao Cup first round.

The Bantams reached the League Two play-offs last season but lost their league opener on Saturday.

Summer signing Alex Pattison got them off their mark in the first minute of first-half stoppage time at the Wham Stadium, racing one-on-one with keeper Toby Savin and slotting past him.

Stanley, relegated from League One last season, levelled on 66 minutes when Jack Nolan’s cross was headed home by Birmingham loan striker Josh Andrews.

Neither side could grab the winner and, while Bradford converted their four penalties in front of their fans, Nolan and Korede Adedoyin missed theirs for Stanley.

Hughes said: “They were four good penalties and it was good to take them in front of our fans. We wanted to progress in cup competitions as it’s important financially and it can help your league form as well. You just have to see where it takes you.

“The players were really determined after the disappointment at the weekend and I thought we were excellent throughout the game.

“It wasn’t an easy cup tie but it was enjoyable to watch and I think, on the performance, we merited the win.”

Accrington boss John Coleman said: “It was a scrappy game, we cancelled each other out.

“They took the lead but we stepped it up in the second half and I think we probably did enough to win the game based on our second-half performance, their keeper made a couple of good saves.

“We had two bizarre penalty misses. Jack Nolan hit the underside of the bar and Kody slipped when he took his and then you know it probably isn’t your night.”

New Swansea boss Michael Duff revealed the club are talking to star striker Joel Piroe to try to entice him to extend his stay at the club.

The Dutchman is out of contract next summer and gave Duff a first-hand look at what he can do by scoring two of his side’s goals in a 3-0 demolition of League One side Northampton in the first round of the Carabao Cup.

“We haven’t received a bid for Joel Piroe at the club, so it is pointless talking about his situation until someone makes a bid,” said Duff. “The club is talking to him. He hasn’t said yes and he hasn’t said no to a new contract.

“The one thing everyone is looking for in football is goals and Joel is a prized asset. If someone is willing to pay the right price then he may go.

“He was probably disappointed not to walk away with the match ball tonight because he had a number of chances to score more than two goals.”

Having been beaten by Newport and Oxford in the first round of the tournament in the last two seasons, Swansea fans were happy to see their side go through. As well as Piroe’s goals, new signing Josh Ginnelly fired home a 30-yard solo stunner to announce his arrival in added time.

“It was a tough lesson against a Championship side. We were left a bit short,” said Cobblers boss Jon Brady.

“There were a couple of chances in the first half. They are a high-level Championship team and it was hard.

“They played with excellent passing and movement, and they were very good out of possession and jumped all over us. There is lots to work on and much to sharpen up.

“We knew they would be really tough, especially with the changes we had to make. We had to give certain players minutes and build up our fitness. It is hard to get results when you are working through that.

“To only make four changes from their side last weekend made it a really tough challenge. We made seven changes from our team on Saturday, and we knew we would go through some tough moments.”

Sky Bet League Two Salford dumped Championship side Preston out of the Carabao Cup after a penalty shoot-out win at Deepdale.

Preston had fought back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 after 90 minutes, only for substitutes Ryan Ledson and Mads Frokjaer-Jensen to miss from the spot and send the Ammies through with a 4-2 win.

The home fans had earlier been left stunned as Preston took the lead after only five minutes.

Connor McLennan fired a rebound into the top corner after his initial strike from Luke Bolton’s low cross was blocked by Preston defender Patrick Bauer.

North End almost levelled soon after through summer signing Duane Holmes, before the Ammies doubled their lead after 39 minutes.

Preston debutant Jack Whatmough, who captained the side, gifted the ball to McLennan just outside the Preston box, and he slotted past David Cornell.

The home side halved the deficit just before the interval when Holmes set up Ben Woodburn for a neat finish from 12 yards.

Preston were level five minutes in the second half when Holmes pounced on a poor pass out from Salford keeper Alex Cairns.

Pushing for a winner, North End almost went in front soon after through Will Keane and Salford substitute Matty Lund missed a great chance to win it late on before the Ammies progressed from a dramatic shoot-out.

Mansfield turned on the style to see off Grimsby 2-0 in the Carabao Cup first round and delighted Stags boss Nigel Clough believes a team could be in for a real hiding if they can reproduce that form.

Lucas Akins netted a 27th-minute penalty in a one-sided first half and Rhys Oates added a crucial second on 55 minutes.

But it could have been many more and Clough said: “I think you can see already that someone is going to cop for one sometime during the season.

“If we do put in a reasonable percentage of the chances and crosses then we will get four or five on occasions.

“I thought some of the football tonight was from a higher level. Some of our play from start to finish was excellent.

“The lads have set the standard in the first two performances.”

Grimsby goalkeeper Harvey Cartwright brought down Oates for the spot kick after a poor touch from a backpass and then Oates flicked home the second from David Keillor-Dunn’s pass.

Grimsby boss Paul Hurst admitted: “That was pretty much as good a performance as I’ve seen from a League Two side for some time.

“They (Mansfield) went very close last season and are a group that’s been together for some time.

“They played some very good football – Nigel Clough wants his team to play that way.

“We did contribute to that by inviting pressure, but there is no doubt about it they were the better team on the night by far.

“Harvey made the mistake for the goal but then made some good saves afterwards.

“And when we did have some good opportunities, Christy Pym made a good save from Danny Rose.

“Mansfield are one of the favourites in terms of that top group and on tonight’s evidence it suggests we are short of that.”