2008–09 Football League Trophy

2008–09 Football League Trophy
Tournament details
Country	England; Wales
Teams	48
Defending champions	MK Dons
Final positions
Champions	Luton Town
Runner-up	Scunthorpe United
	← 2007–08 2009–10 →

The 2008–09 Football League Trophy, known as the 2008–09 Johnstone's Paint Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is the 28th Football League Trophy, a knockout competition for English football clubs in Leagues One and Two, the third and fourth tiers of English football. Luton Town won the competition, beating Scunthorpe United 3–2 after extra time in the final. However, Luton were unable to defend their trophy as they were relegated from the Football League at the end of the season.

The format was the same as that which had been used since 1996, with four first round regions; North-West, North-East, South-West and South-East and a two-region format from the second round; North and South. The resulting regional winners then meet in the final.

First round

The First Round draw was conducted on 16 August 2008. The teams to be granted byes to the Second Round were drawn first, with the remaining teams drawn for the First Round ties. The First Round matches were played in the week commencing 1 September 2008.

Northern Section

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Attendance
North-West
1	Oldham Athletic	1–1	Morecambe	2,016
Morecambe won 5 – 4 on penalties
2	Crewe Alexandra	3–0	Macclesfield Town	2,463
3	Stockport County	1–0	Port Vale	2,290
4	Tranmere Rovers	1–0	Accrington Stanley	2,410
North-East
5	Chesterfield	2–2	Grimsby Town	1,665
Grimsby Town won 4 – 1 on penalties
6	Scunthorpe United	2–1	Notts County	1,755
7	Leeds United	2–1	Bradford City	20,128
8	Hartlepool United	0–3	Leicester City	2,807

Southern Section

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Attendance
South-West
1	Bournemouth	3–0	Bristol Rovers	2,220
2	Brentford	2–2	Yeovil Town	1,339
Brentford won 4 – 2 on penalties
3	Exeter City	1–2	Shrewsbury Town	1,530
4	Aldershot Town	2–2	Swindon Town	1,814
Swindon Town won 7 – 6 on penalties
South-East
5	Millwall	0–1	Colchester United	2,456
6	Northampton Town	0–1	Brighton & Hove Albion	2,047
7	Southend United	2–4	Leyton Orient	3,499
8	Dagenham & Redbridge	4–2	Barnet	1,412

First round byes

Northern section

Bury, Carlisle United, Chester City, Darlington, Lincoln City, Rochdale,
Rotherham United, Huddersfield Town.

Southern section

Cheltenham Town, Gillingham, Hereford United, Luton Town, Milton Keynes Dons, Peterborough United, Walsall, Wycombe Wanderers.

Second round

The Second Round draw was conducted on 6 September 2008, with matches played in the week commencing 6 October 2008.

Northern Section

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Attendance
1	Tranmere Rovers	1–0	Crewe Alexandra	2,626
2	Rochdale	2–2	Carlisle United	1,608
Rochdale won 4 – 2 on penalties
3	Chester City	1–1	Morecambe	926
Morecambe won 3 – 1 on penalties
4	Bury	1–0	Stockport County	2,384
5	Scunthorpe United	2–1	Grimsby Town	4,844
6	Rotherham United	4–2	Leeds United	4,658
7	Darlington	1–0	Huddersfield Town	1,791
8	Leicester City	0–0	Lincoln City	8,046
Leicester City won 3 – 1 on penalties

Southern Section

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Attendance
1	Cheltenham Town	1–2	Walsall	1,741
2	Hereford United	1–2	Swindon Town	1,458
3	Wycombe Wanderers	0–7	Shrewsbury Town	1,730
4	Milton Keynes Dons	0–1	Bournemouth	4,329
5	Peterborough United	0–1	Dagenham & Redbridge	2,644
6	Brighton & Hove Albion	2–2	Leyton Orient	2,157
Brighton & Hove Albion won 5 – 4 on penalties
7	Gillingham	0–1	Colchester United	1,557
8	Luton Town	2–2	Brentford	2,029
Luton Town won 4 – 3 on penalties

Area quarter-finals

The draw for the area quarter-finals was conducted on 11 October 2008. The matches were played in the week commencing 3 November 2008, with the exception of the match between Brighton & Hove Albion and Swindon Town, which was played on 12 November 2008.

Northern Section

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Attendance
1	Rotherham United	2–0	Leicester City	4,255
2	Tranmere Rovers	1–0	Morecambe	2,110
3	Darlington	1–0	Bury	1,651
4	Scunthorpe United	1–0	Rochdale	2,474

Southern Section

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Attendance
1	Shrewsbury Town	5–0	Dagenham & Redbridge	2,747
2	Brighton & Hove Albion	2–0	Swindon Town	2,234
3	Walsall	0–1	Luton Town	1,844
4	Bournemouth	0–1	Colchester United	2,275

Area semi-finals

The draw for the area semi-finals was conducted on 8 November 2008, and matches were played in the week commencing 15 December 2008.

Northern Section

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Attendance
1	Scunthorpe United	2–1	Tranmere Rovers	2,669
2	Rotherham United	1–1	Darlington	2,706
Rotherham United won 4 – 2 on penalties

Southern Section

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Attendance
1	Luton Town	1–0	Colchester United	2,638
2	Shrewsbury Town	0–0	Brighton & Hove Albion	4,052
Brighton & Hove Albion won 5 – 4 on penalties

Area finals

The area finals, which serve as the semi-finals for the entire competition, are contested over two legs, home and away. The first legs were played on 20 January 2009; the second legs were played on 17 February 2009.