The official attendance was 292. Figures like this give ammunition to those who question the presence of B teams in the competition. The interest shown by Brighton fans was virtually zero.

But I've seen a report which claims that Sunderland earned £1million by reaching the final at Wembley last season.

Another point is that Brighton left out 5 players from the under 23 team that had played West Ham in their previous game.If the point of having B teams in the EFL trophy is to give them experience against more senior players , why did they do that?

But were those players necessarily eligible for the U21s?

G Guest wrote:The official attendance was 292. Figures like this give ammunition to those who question the presence of B teams in the competition. The interest shown by Brighton fans was virtually zero.

But I've seen a report which claims that Sunderland earned £1million by reaching the final at Wembley last season.

Would be interesting to know how many would turn up for the final if an under 21 side made it

Would love us to get to Wembley again mind

Tinpot or not, no doubt you’d all (yes, even Norm) be at Wembley should we reach the final

George Street-Bridge wrote:But were those players necessarily eligible for the U21s?

That's a good point that I had forgotten. Only two players over the age of 21 are permitted in the B teams. Brighton had Steele who is in his mid 20s and another aged 22. Of their starting 11 only 4 players were over the age of 19. The question might be why the format is so restrictive and should n't the age limit be raised to 23 which fits better with the way that premier teams set up their development squads.

Having said that we should remember that Brighton topped their trophy group which included 2 league 1 sides. Given our current problems our cobbled together team did well.

Exile 1976 wrote:Tinpot or not, no doubt you’d all (yes, even Norm) be at Wembley should we reach the final

Probably. Doubt my son would let me get away with that one.

There must be big scope for mistakenly using an ineligible player. I may be wrong, but I don't think the top clubs have a league specifically for U21s.

The snag with making the Trophy U23 would be Premier Division clubs might then be too strong.

I still quite like the competition.

The more U21 teams eliminated the better. The competition will fail if it is won with any regularity by Premier League youngsters.

Exile 1976 wrote:Tinpot or not, no doubt you’d all (yes, even Norm) be at Wembley should we reach the final

I can absolutely guarantee that I wouldn't. Not until the Football League change the format and get rid of B Teams from our competition. #BTeamBoycott

No U21s in the last eight in the southern section, only Man City through so far in the north with Leicester and Man Utd playing tonight.

Exile 1976 wrote:Tinpot or not, no doubt you’d all (yes, even Norm) be at Wembley should we reach the final

Not sure I would. It's becoming old hat

George Street-Bridge wrote:No U21s in the last eight in the southern section, only Man City through so far in the north with Leicester and Man Utd playing tonight.

Ironically, that might lessen our chances of going one round further in the competition. Nevertheless, I'm glad to see them all eliminated.

Another £20K in the coffers, brilliant.
Lads on the periphery plus the kids given a chance to shine, which they seem to do every time in this competition.
Seen a couple of games now and the football nice on the eye.

Purchase £100 product on Amazon and County get 50p.
Win a game at this stage and we get a comparison of a thousand paying punters to a league game.
Keep them coming.

rodneyboy wrote:

Beechwood Boy wrote:When's the draw for the next round? Anyone know?

I believe it's Thursday afternoon at 2 live on Sky.

19:15 Thursday