The Carabao Cup first round is meant to be a formality for the bigger names in it. Instead eight of Saturday's ties were settled from twelve yards, and for the most part it was goalkeepers, not forwards, who decided who went through.
The outstanding one was at Loftus Road, where Lukas Jensen saved all four QPR penalties to take Millwall through 2-0 in a shootout after a 1-1 draw. Luke Cundle had put Millwall ahead in the second half following a goalkeeping error, and Mark Sykes turned a late ball into his own net to force the shootout. Jensen kept out Ilias Chair, Harvey Vale, Koki Saito and Kwame Poku, having only just returned from a long lay-off. "To save four penalties is really, really rare," his manager, Alex Neil, said afterwards, noting the goalkeeper had been missing for 15 months with a bad injury and then a setback.
The shootouts elsewhere were barely tidier. Shrewsbury beat Salford 4-3 in one that produced nine misses before Arkell Jude-Boyd found the top corner. Barnsley and Wigan scored the first ten between them before Jon Mellish's effort was blocked by Rogan Ravenhill's knee and Josh Earl made it 6-5. Reading were the exception, converting five out of five to beat Bromley after Joel Pereira had saved from Ethon Archer. At Turf Moor, Burnley needed Kyle Walker to hold his nerve with the winning kick to see off League One Notts County 4-3, after Max Weiss had saved from Emile Acquah and Jacob Bedeau.
First nights for the new men