Russell Martin criticised his Southampton players for “feeling sorry for themselves” and entering “self-preservation mode” after a shock 3-1 Carabao Cup defeat at Gillingham.

Last season’s semi-finalists were stunned in the opening round of this year’s competition as Robbie McKenzie’s double and Ashley Nadesan’s early strike propelled Neil Harris’ League Two side to a memorable triumph on home soil.

Martin made 11 changes to the team that beat Sheffield Wednesday in the Saints’ Championship opener on Friday night and was unhappy with his second-string side’s attitude after a dismal night at Priestfield.

“It definitely wasn’t the result I was expecting, but the performance was more surprising,” he said.

“Tonight I just saw too much stuff I didn’t like, things we haven’t worked on, with people trying to write their own script.

“Players entered self-preservation mode – they were doing stuff they wanted to do.

“It was a case of ‘as long as I’m doing my own thing I’m OK’, but it shouldn’t be like that.

“Some people had too much pity, too much feeling sorry for themselves, and they’re probably the ones who don’t see their futures here in the next three weeks.

“I understand that, it’s difficult to deal with, but they should have showed off what they can do on the pitch.”

Gillingham went ahead after just 12 minutes when summer signing Nadesan slid in to poke Ethan Coleman’s cross past Alex McCarthy.

McKenzie stabbed home from close range six minutes after the break to double the hosts’ advantage before then capitalising on more lacklustre Southampton defending to net his second.

Substitute Carlos Alcaraz curled home a fine consolation goal late on but that did little to improve an otherwise miserable night for the south coast side in Kent.

Gills boss Harris said: “It couldn’t have gone any better. It’s a great result, and the performance was excellent.

“If anything, the win should have been by more than two goals.

“Southampton are a top side, even with the changes – I wanted to play on the front foot.

“We dominated the first 15 minutes, during which we could have scored more than one, and ultimately for 75 minutes we bossed it.

“The cup competitions aren’t the priority, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want to win. We want to be competitive, we want 8,000 people to appreciate that, and we’ll do the same in the next round.”

Notts County manager Luke Williams has challenged his players to produce a response following the disappointment of crashing out of the Carabao Cup at home to Lincoln.

The Magpies were dumped out of with goals in either half from Sean Roughan and Lasse Sorensen and finished with 10 men following a red card for Aden Baldwin.

County’s return to league football had ended in a 5-1 thrashing at Sutton on Saturday, and Williams feels his side again let themselves down.

“It’s disappointing in reality because of the weekend,” Williams said.

“We are not expected to win against a team in the league above us, but with the backdrop of the weekend now feels terrible.

“We conceded again from a corner, pathetic again from a corner, and now it feels awful.”

County were reduced to 10-men in the 56th minute when Baldwin was sent off for a second caution – something which left Williams aggrieved once again.

“When you are on a yellow card, you have an awareness that you can’t do something silly – and I don’t think it’s like he is jumping on a grenade for a team,” Williams said.

“The ball is going to go through to the goalkeeper, but everyone can make a mistake and unfortunately you don’t have the luxury to make a mistake in the same way.”

Imps manager Mark Kennedy was impressed by his side’s performance and felt the League One side could have won by a more handsome margin.

“I thought we were excellent tonight. I am really pleased,” Kennedy said.

“Tactically we were excellent and did well with the counter press. They had 70% possession and we had 20 shots on goal.

“Football is about winning matches and I think we could have won by four or five tonight.”

Paul Simpson said his Carlisle players let themselves down during Tuesday night’s Carabao Cup first-round defeat at Harrogate.

Sam Folarin scored the only goal of the game from long range in the 23rd minute to leave the Sky Bet League One Cumbrians winless in eighth attempts against Simon Weaver’s Sulphurites.

And Simpson, who made no fewer than four substitutions at half-time, was far from impressed by what he witnessed in North Yorkshire.

“I’m really disappointed in what we have done tonight,” he said.

“I wanted to win this game, I wanted to be in the second round of the cup.

“In the first half, we lacked energy, which is why I decided to make changes at half-time, just to see if I could inject a bit of life into it.

“I thought that second half, the two centre-backs showed some enthusiasm to want to play, but unfortunately there were too many who were off it in the final third and that is where we have really let ourselves down.”

After Jack Armer, Luke Plange and Jon Mellish all squandered first-half chances to find the net for Carlisle, while Ryan Edmondson wasted an even better opportunity after 76 minutes when he failed to convert from the penalty spot.

Speaking about the miss, Simpson added: “I don’t like to criticise anyone for missing a penalty, but I thought that penalty summed up our lack of quality in the final third on the night.

“It was really, really poor from players who have better ability than they showed.”

By contrast, Harrogate boss Weaver was more than satisfied by his own team’s attacking play and is now hoping to draw one of the big boys in round two.

“We achieved everything that we wanted to get out of tonight, so I’m really pleased,” he reflected.

“The first half, we were on the front foot and there was some free-flowing football at times. It was fast-paced and we had that goal-threat as well, which is great to see.

“This is an exciting competition to be involved in and so I’m delighted to be in round two.

“Our first year in the Football League we drew Premier League West Brom and it was shown live on Sky Sports, so that was in the back of my mind before tonight’s game.

“It was such a special occasion and I’m hoping we can pull a big club out of the hat again.”

Derby County head coach Paul Warne admitted he was “embarrassed” by his team’s Carabao Cup exit at home to Blackpool.

Warne’s side were booed off at half-time after two goals from Jake Beesley gave Blackpool control they never relinquished.

Beesley pounced in the seventh minute when Derby’s defence failed to deal with a cross from the left and after Owen Dale missed a great chance for a second, a defensive howler gifted Blackpool another.

Callum Elder’s 32nd-minute back header beat goalkeeper Josh Vickers, leaving Beesley to fire into an empty net.

Derby improved after the break and although Conor Washington forced Richard O’Donnell into a save in the 55th minute, a comeback never looked likely.

Warne said: “They were better than us from one to 11, they embarrassed us at times in the first half, we were deplorable with our performance.

“I openly admit I was embarrassed, I’ve never managed a team that’s been booed off at half-time and rightly so. The second half was significantly better but way below what we expect.

“The first half was honestly painful to watch, it’s hard for me to say because they are my team but I can’t sugar-coat performances like that.”

Blackpool head coach Neil Critchley was delighted with his side’s performance at their Sky Bet League One rivals.

“I thought we were excellent first half in and out of possession and played some really good football,” he said.

“Second half I thought we defended very well, I’d just like to see us see the game out with a little bit more possession and keep the ball more than what we did, we turned the ball over too many times.

“But to score two goals and keep a clean sheet, it’s been a good start for us. We had good control, good spells of possession and we were always dangerous.”

Xisco Munoz celebrated his first win as Sheffield Wednesday manager as they beat Stockport 4-1 on penalties after Tyreeq Bakinson levelled for the home side deep into time added on to make it 1-1 and force a Carabao Cup shoot-out.

Stockport’s Paddy Madden struck in the 16th minute with a fine finish, meeting Akil Wright’s cross with a volley and sending the ball into the roof of the net.

Bakinson equalised deep into time added on following a scramble inside the area.

Munoz said: “The most important thing is that we are in the next round. In England, it doesn’t matter if you are in League One or League Two or the Championship or the Premier League.

“When you are in the League Cup, someone can take you out.

“We had six new players in our squad and they arrived five days ago and this is the first time they have played together.

“We must start thinking about the important things, such as more accuracy, concentration and power. It’s important to try and come into the game with full power.”

Stockport manager Dave Challinor was left to rue the late goal his side conceded.

He said: “When you get so close, it’s obviously disappointing. There are bits we can do better and we understand that.

“We defended most moments and then we haven’t defended one moment.

“Then you maybe go into the penalties thinking, ‘If we’ve conceded in the 98th minute, maybe it’s not our night’.

“We dust ourselves down. We have two hard luck stories in two days and we have to make sure that we don’t get into the habit of that.

“There are huge positives. For the lads to go out there and perform in the manner they did. Young ones, especially, will have enjoyed it and it’ll have done them the world of good.”

Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson was delighted with his side’s clarity during the penalty shoot-out after beating Wigan in the first round of the Carabao Cup.

Charlie Hughes and Thelo Aasgaard both smashed their spot-kicks over the bar as the League One Latics crashed out of the competition.

It was Wrexham’s first success of the season after their return to the English Football League got under way with a 5-3 defeat to MK Dons on Saturday.

And Parkinson, whose run to the final of this competition with Bradford in 2013 included a shoot-out victory over a then Premier League Wigan, said: “We practised penalties and the instructions were clear – ‘don’t try and be clever’. The lads stuck to that.

“It would be great to have a cup run, but it was great to get our season up and running. We deservedly got through.

“We were hurting after the weekend because we don’t like losing and aren’t used to it.

“We had the better chances and we probably should have won it in normal time.

“It was really important to get going again as a team. It’s a nice boost for us after the weekend.”

The Latics barely created a clear-cut chance despite having the majority of possession.

Boss Shaun Maloney said: “We didn’t do enough to win the game.

“In fairness to Wrexham, they executed the penalties better than we did.

“I don’t think there was a hangover from Saturday, we just weren’t that aggressive. We had a lot of possession, but we struggled to break them down.

“We weren’t at the level. We don’t really take any positives from tonight, but it’s a lesson learned.

“We’ve got two young kids who have missed. They’ll have to remember the hurt and make sure it’s a different outcome when they next step up to take them.”

Ruben Selles saluted his red-hot Reading young guns after a stunning 4-0 Carabao Cup win over Millwall at The Den.

Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan’s double and late strikes from Charlie Savage and Mamadi Camara fired the League One side to a shock victory against their misfiring Championship opponents in the competition’s opening round.

Former Southampton boss Selles picked a youthful side with an average age of just 21 and hailed his players’ dynamism after a memorable night in south London.

“The boys did an amazing job from the first minute until the end of the game,” he said.

“Our recruitment has been good, and [the young players] have been trying to adjust themselves to the system.

“The way we play suits a lot of them – the dynamic football, aggressive on the pressure and very good in transitions.

“Today for us, everything came together – we have an identity, we know what we want and it doesn’t matter who plays for us: we want to try and put our stamp on the game.

“It’s good to see the young players are able to make that performance today.”

The Royals grabbed the lead in the very first minute when Ehibhatiomhan poked home over Bartosz Bialkowski.

And they seized their second at the start of the second half when the Nigerian striker rifled in from close range.

Former Manchester United star Savage grabbed his first goal for the club with a fine free-kick into the top corner before Camara’s late tap-in inflicted more misery on a near full-strength Millwall.

Lions Boss Gary Rowett, whose team had beaten fellow Championship promotion-chasers Middlesbrough 1-0 in their season opener at the weekend, said: “It was more disappointing than frustrating.

“We went quite strong after the result at the weekend and off the back of that, we wanted to win another game and roll it forward.

“I thought it might be better to try and get a bit of momentum but that didn’t go well.

“I thought Reading thoroughly deserved the win – they were far better than us, they ran with more intensity and looked like they wanted to fight and play for each other more than we did.

“We got what we deserved and they got what they deserved, which is a cracking win for them.”

Tranmere manager Ian Dawes praised his players for overcoming a late equaliser to progress to the second round of the Carabao Cup on penalties following a 2-2 draw with Barnsley.

Luke Norris and Sam Taylor gave the visitors the lead either side of the break, with Herbie Kane and Aiden Marsh twice equalising for the Tykes – with Marsh’s strike coming in the eighth minute of stoppage time.

Rovers won through 7-6 on penalties.

Dawes said: “I thought for the whole game we managed the game really well, we knew we had to be good out of possession today and get our organisation right.

“We also knew at times their deep lying midfielders would get a little bit of the ball but as long as it was in non-threatening positions, we couldn’t risk jumping out to them.

“I thought in possession we were very good, created a number of chances and we were probably unlucky not to get a third.

“The moment (goal) right at the end is a little kick in the teeth – it would have been nice to just win the game straight out but credit to the players to refocus again and go through on penalties.”

Despite the result, Barnsley head coach Neill Collins reflected on the positives.

He said: “I think there’s a lot of positives when you consider the young players that played tonight and the opportunities they got. I think there’s many more positives than negatives.

“I think it’s a good experience for them to have that belief that they can affect the game at this level.

“I look at Tranmere and they’re bringing on some really experienced players and they look to have a lot of good strength in depth.

“I think right now we are probably a little lighter in terms of the strength in depth but it was a great opportunity to showcase some of the young players.”

Zac Ashworth’s first senior goal secured Carabao Cup progress for Sky Bet League One Bolton courtesy of a 1-0 victory over fourth tier Barrow.

And on a night of unexpected results, manager Ian Evatt was just pleased his former club could not add to the list of giantkillers.

Ashworth, on a season-long loan from West Brom, curled in a 44th-minute free-kick to mark his debut in fine style.

“We should not take progression for granted,” said Evatt after Wanderers followed up last Saturday’s opening league win against Lincoln.

“There have been some strange results and big shocks so I am delighted to get through.

“Overall, I thought it was comfortable but great credit to Barrow. They made it tough for us and got a lot of bodies behind the ball.

“Obviously while they are still in the game they can have a last-minute push and anything can happen.

“We were waiting for them to come out earlier than they did. They probably waited until injury time to throw men forward.

“But we were completely dominant in possession, but probably not productive enough in the second half.

“There were very limited opportunities, but we were perhaps a little safe in the final third. But we limited them to very little so lots of positives.”

On Ashworth’s match-winning contribution, Evatt added: “I am pleased for Zac and great we managed to blood him along with Paris Maghoma and Carlos Mendes Gomes to get them some match minutes to bring them up to speed.”

Barrow boss Pete Wild refused to be too downhearted by his team’s exit.

“For me the Carabao Cup is a free hit,” he insisted. “It has been a night out for the fans and a good chance for the players to play at a top League One ground.

“Ultimately, I won’t be judged on what round of the Carabao Cup I get to. I will be judged on what we do in the league.

“We watched Bolton over the last couple of days and you have a decision to make. Do we come out and be blasé because it is the cup and have a right go but leave yourself wide open?

“Or you can sit in, try and frustrate and in the last 15-20 minutes, if you are still in the game, have a chance to have a go at them.

“The plan was to sit in and frustrate for long periods. And what a shift the lads put in.

“We had a couple of chances at the end to maybe nick something. But we came up against a top League One side.

“They play the same system as us but with a lot more purpose and power.”

Doncaster boss Grant McCann praised his “brave” side after they upset his old club Hull with a 2-1 win to book a place in the second round of the Carabao Cup.

McCann – who oversaw relegation and promotion before being sacked by the Sky Bet Championship side last year – probably feared the worst when Oscar Estupinan gave the Tigers an early lead.

But Rovers belied their League Two status and fought back with a goal in each half from George Miller.

“I thought we were excellent,” McCann said. “It is difficult to play against Hull – they have got a unique way of playing.

“We came here and tried to be brave. We wanted to try and get after them, and I felt we did that after the first 10 minutes.

“We will see what the draw throws at us – it would be nice to have a cup run – but the league is our bread and butter.”

The game looked to be going to script when Estupinan tapped in Justin Lokilo’s pass, but Miller changed the course of the game with a smart finish from the left after 15 minutes.

The Doncaster forward then scored what proved to be the winner just after the hour when he diverted Harrison Biggins’ long-range strike from distance.

Hull head coach Liam Rosenior was watching from the stands after he was sent off following the stoppage-time late defeat at Norwich on Saturday. “It was unacceptable,” he said.

“This is the first time I have felt like this at the football club and it will be the last time.

“We have got a lot to work on very quickly. I didn’t see it coming and that is why I trusted the players to make the changes I did.”

Rosenior, who was also fined £2,000 for his reaction to Adam Idah’s stoppage-time winner for the Canaries, expects a response.

“It was the longest 90 minutes of my career by a mile. Now we will see – we will see what I am made of and what the group are made of,” he said.

“The boos and the jeers from the fans are from our doing. I know what needs to be done and it will be done.”

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.”