The 2006–07 Football League Trophy, known as the 2006–07 Johnstone's Paint Trophy for sponsorship reasons, was the 26th staging of the Football League Trophy, a knockout competition for English football clubs in Leagues One and Two. The winners were Doncaster Rovers from League One and the runners-up were Bristol Rovers from League Two.

The competition began on 17 October 2006 and ended with the final on 1 April 2007. The final was the last to take place at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. In the first round, there are four sections: Northern Section–West, Northern Section–East, Southern Section–West and Southern Section–East. In the second round this narrows to simply a Northern and a Southern section, whereupon each section gradually eliminates teams in knock-out fashion until each has a winning finalist. At this point, the two winning finalists face each other in the combined final for the honour of the trophy.

Swansea City were the defending champions, but lost to Peterborough United in the second round.

Doncaster Rovers won the final, beating Bristol Rovers 3–2 after extra time, having been 2–0 up after just 5 minutes before Bristol Rovers scored twice in the second half to make the score 2–2 after 90 minutes.

First round Sixteen teams received byes to the second round. The other remaining teams start in a single-legged knockout. Should the scores be level after 90 minutes, the match entered a penalty shootout phase, with no extra-time being played.

Northern Section Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendanceWest1Accrington Stanley 1 – 1 Carlisle United850Accrington Stanley won 3–1 on penalties2Bury 0 – 2 Tranmere Rovers1,0933Macclesfield Town 0 – 1 Stockport County1,7924Wrexham 1 – 1 Rochdale1,209Rochdale won 5–3 on penaltiesEast5Bradford City 1 – 2 Scunthorpe United1,9366Hartlepool United 3 – 1 Rotherham United1,8327Huddersfield Town 1 – 2 Doncaster Rovers3,6298Lincoln City 0 – 0 Grimsby Town2,019Grimsby Town won 5–3 on penalties Byes: Blackpool, Chester City, Chesterfield, Crewe Alexandra, Darlington, Mansfield Town, Oldham Athletic, and Port Vale.

Southern Section Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendanceWest1Bristol Rovers 1 – 0 Torquay United2,6722Hereford United 1 – 2 Shrewsbury Town2,0073Walsall 1 – 1 Swansea City2,557Swansea City won 4–3 on penalties4Wycombe Wanderers 1 – 0 Swindon Town1,583East1Brighton & Hove Albion 2 – 0 Boston United1,7402Gillingham 1 – 2 Nottingham Forest1,8173Northampton Town 0 – 0 Brentford2,088Brentford won 4–2 on penalties4Notts County 0 – 1 Barnet1,291 Byes: Bournemouth, Bristol City, Cheltenham Town, Leyton Orient, Millwall, Milton Keynes Dons, Peterborough United, Yeovil Town.

Second round In the second round, the sixteen winning teams from the first round were joined by the teams with byes. Again, there were eight one-legged matches in each section (North and South), with a penalty shootout if a draw occurred after 90 minutes.

Northern Section Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendance1Accrington Stanley 4 – 4 Blackpool1,344Accrington Stanley won 4–2 on penalties2Chester City 3 – 0 Stockport County1,2293Hartlepool United 1 – 3 Doncaster Rovers1,8534Mansfield Town 3 – 0 Grimsby Town1,7615Oldham Athletic0 – 1Chesterfield2,1186Rochdale 1 – 1 Crewe Alexandra1,148Crewe Alexandra won 2–0 on penalties7Scunthorpe United 0 – 0 Port Vale3,421Port Vale won 5–3 on penalties8Tranmere Rovers 0 – 1 Darlington2,036

Southern Section Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendance1Brighton & Hove Albion4 – 1Milton Keynes Dons2,7742Cheltenham Town 3 – 2 Barnet9643Leyton Orient1 – 3Bristol City1,1184Millwall 2 – 0 Bournemouth1,9055Nottingham Forest 2 – 1 Brentford2,0316Peterborough United 1 – 0 Swansea City1,4327Shrewsbury Town 2 – 1 Yeovil Town1,7598Wycombe Wanderers 0 – 2 Bristol Rovers1,314

Area quarter-finals In the third round, the winning teams from the second round play in eight one-legged matches, four in each section (North and South). Again, a penalty shootout followed if the match was drawn after 90 minutes. Matches were played on 28 November and 29 November 2006.

Northern Section Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendance1Chesterfield 4 – 4 Chester City2,414Chesterfield won 3–1 on penalties2Darlington 1 – 0 Mansfield Town2,0593Doncaster Rovers 2 – 0 Accrington Stanley3,2094Port Vale 2 – 3 Crewe Alexandra4,694

Southern Section Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendance1Bristol Rovers 1 – 0 Peterborough United3,6212Cheltenham Town 2 – 3 Shrewsbury Town1,3793Millwall 1 – 1 Brighton & Hove Albion3,659Brighton & Hove Albion won 3–2 on penalties4Nottingham Forest 2 – 2 Bristol City4,107Bristol City won 4–2 on penalties

Area semi-finals Matches were played on 8 January 2007.

Northern Section Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendance1Chesterfield2 – 4Crewe Alexandra3,4142Doncaster Rovers2 – 0Darlington8,009

Southern Section Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendance1Bristol City2 – 0Brighton & Hove Albion6,4852Shrewsbury Town0 – 1Bristol Rovers3,199

Area finals

Northern Area final

Doncaster Rovers won 6–5 on aggregate and progressed to the final.

Southern Area final The Southern Area final produced the first Bristol derby played in over five years.

Bristol Rovers won 1–0 on aggregate and progressed to the final.

Final The 2007 final was the last major Football Association or Football League final to be held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. All subsequent finals were held at Wembley Stadium in London.

References

Sources