1989–90 Football League Cup

1989–90 Football League Cup
League Cup, Littlewoods Challenge Cup
Tournament details
Country	England; Wales
Teams	92
Final positions
Champions	Nottingham Forest (4th title)
Runner-up	Oldham Athletic
Tournament statistics
Top goal scorer(s)	Andy Ritchie (10)
	← 1988–89 1990–91 →

The 1989–90 Football League Cup (known as the Littlewoods Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 30th season of the Football League Cup, a knockout competition for England's top 92 football clubs.

The competition began on 21 August 1989, and ended with the final on 29 April 1990 at the

final, who regained the trophy after winning it the previous season. This was the second time that Nottingham Forest

had won the trophy in successive seasons, having won previously in 1978 and 1979.

First round

A total of 56 teams took part in the first round. All of the

1988–89 season

. Each tie was played across two legs.

First leg

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Birmingham City	2–1	Chesterfield	22 August 1989
Blackpool	2–2	Burnley	22 August 1989
Brighton and Hove Albion	0–3	Brentford	23 August 1989
Bristol City	2–3	Reading	22 August 1989
Bristol Rovers	1–0	Portsmouth	23 August 1989
Cambridge United	3–1	Maidstone United (1897)	22 August 1989
Cardiff City	0–3	Plymouth Argyle	22 August 1989
Colchester United	3–4	Southend United	22 August 1989
Crewe Alexandra	4–0	Chester City	22 August 1989
Exeter City	3–0	Swansea City	23 August 1989
Fulham	0–1	Oxford United	23 August 1989
Gillingham	1–4	Leyton Orient	22 August 1989
Halifax Town	3–1	Carlisle United	22 August 1989
Hartlepool United	3–3	York City	23 August 1989
Huddersfield Town	1–1	Doncaster Rovers	22 August 1989
Hull City	1–0	Grimsby Town	22 August 1989
Mansfield Town	1–1	Northampton Town	22 August 1989
Peterborough United	2–0	Aldershot	23 August 1989
Preston North End	3–4	Tranmere Rovers	22 August 1989
Rochdale	2–1	Bolton Wanderers	22 August 1989
Scarborough	2–0	Scunthorpe United	22 August 1989
Sheffield United	1–1	Rotherham United	22 August 1989
Shrewsbury Town	3–0	Notts County	22 August 1989
Stockport County	1–0	Bury	21 August 1989
Torquay United	1–0	Hereford United	22 August 1989
Walsall	1–2	Port Vale	22 August 1989
Wolverhampton Wanderers	1–0	Lincoln City	22 August 1989
Wrexham	0–0	Wigan Athletic	22 August 1989

Second leg

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date	Agg
Aldershot	6–2^[1]	Peterborough United	29 August 1989	6–4
Bolton Wanderers	5–1	Rochdale	29 August 1989	6–3
Brentford	1–1	Brighton and Hove Albion	29 August 1989	4–1
Burnley	0–1	Blackpool	29 August 1989	2–3
Bury	1–1	Stockport County	29 August 1989	1–2
Carlisle United	1–0	Halifax Town	29 August 1989	2–3
Chester City	0–2	Crewe Alexandra	29 August 1989	0–6
Chesterfield	1–1	Birmingham City	29 August 1989	2–3
Doncaster Rovers	1–2	Huddersfield Town	29 August 1989	2–3
Grimsby Town	2–0^[1]	Hull City	29 August 1989	2–1
Hereford United	3–0	Torquay United	30 August 1989	3–1
Leyton Orient	3–0	Gillingham	29 August 1989	7–1
Lincoln City	0–2	Wolverhampton Wanderers	30 August 1989	0–3
Maidstone United (1897)	0–1	Cambridge United	30 August 1989	1–4
Northampton Town	0–2	Mansfield Town	5 September 1989	1–3
Notts County	3–1	Shrewsbury Town	29 August 1989	3–4
Oxford United	3–5	Fulham	30 August 1989	4–5
Plymouth Argyle	0–2	Cardiff City	29 August 1989	3–2
Port Vale	1–0	Walsall	28 August 1989	3–1
Portsmouth	2–0^[1]	Bristol Rovers	29 August 1989	2–1
Reading	2–2	Bristol City	29 August 1989	5–4
Rotherham United	1–0	Sheffield United	29 August 1989	2–1
Scunthorpe United	1–1	Scarborough	29 August 1989	1–3
Southend United	2–1	Colchester United	29 August 1989	6–4
Swansea City	1–1	Exeter City	29 August 1989	1–4
Tranmere Rovers	3–1	Preston North End	29 August 1989	7–4
Wigan Athletic	5–0	Wrexham	30 August 1989	5–0
York City	4–1	Hartlepool United	29 August 1989	7–4

Second round

A total of 64 teams took part in the second round, including the 28 winners from round one. The remaining Second Division clubs entered in this round, as well as the 20 sides from the First Division. Each tie was again played across two legs.

First leg

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Arsenal	2–0	Plymouth Argyle	19 September 1989
Aston Villa	2–1	Wolverhampton Wanderers	20 September 1989
Barnsley	1–1	Blackpool	19 September 1989
Birmingham City	1–2	West Ham United	19 September 1989
Bolton Wanderers	2–1	Watford	19 September 1989
Brentford	2–1	Manchester City	19 September 1989
Cambridge United	2–1	Derby County	19 September 1989
Charlton Athletic	3–1	Hereford United	20 September 1989
Chelsea	1–1	Scarborough	19 September 1989
Crewe Alexandra	0–1	Bournemouth	19 September 1989
Crystal Palace	1–2	Leicester City	19 September 1989
Exeter City	3–0	Blackburn Rovers	20 September 1989
Grimsby Town	3–1	Coventry City	19 September 1989
Ipswich Town	0–1	Tranmere Rovers	19 September 1989
Leyton Orient	0–2	Everton	19 September 1989
Liverpool	5–2	Wigan Athletic	19 September 1989
Mansfield Town	3–4	Luton Town	19 September 1989
Middlesbrough	4–0	Halifax Town	20 September 1989
Norwich City	1–1	Rotherham United	20 September 1989
Nottingham Forest	1–1	Huddersfield Town	20 September 1989
Oldham Athletic	2–1	Leeds United	19 September 1989
Port Vale	1–2	Wimbledon	18 September 1989
Portsmouth	2–3	Manchester United	20 September 1989
Queens Park Rangers	2–1	Stockport County	20 September 1989
Reading	3–1	Newcastle United	19 September 1989
Sheffield Wednesday	0–0	Aldershot	20 September 1989
Shrewsbury Town	0–3	Swindon Town	19 September 1989
Stoke City	1–0	Millwall	19 September 1989
Sunderland	1–1	Fulham	19 September 1989
Tottenham Hotspur	1–0	Southend United	20 September 1989
West Bromwich Albion	1–3	Bradford City	20 September 1989
York City	0–1	Southampton	20 September 1989

Second leg

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date	Agg
Aldershot	0–8	Sheffield Wednesday	3 October 1989	0–8
Blackburn Rovers	2–1	Exeter City	3 October 1989	2–4
Blackpool	1–1^[1]^[2]	Barnsley	3 October 1989	2–2
Bournemouth	0–0	Crewe Alexandra	3 October 1989	1–0
Bradford City	3–5^[1]^[3]	West Bromwich Albion	4 October 1989	6–6
Coventry City	3–0	Grimsby Town	4 October 1989	4–3
Derby County	5–0	Cambridge United	4 October 1989	6–2
Everton	2–2	Leyton Orient	3 October 1989	4–2
Fulham	0–3	Sunderland	3 October 1989	1–4
Halifax Town	0–1	Middlesbrough	3 October 1989	0–5
Hereford United	0–1	Charlton Athletic	4 October 1989	1–4
Huddersfield Town	3–3^[1]	Nottingham Forest	3 October 1989	4–4
Leeds United	1–2	Oldham Athletic	3 October 1989	2–4
Leicester City	2–3^[1]^[4]	Crystal Palace	4 October 1989	4–4
Luton Town	7–2	Mansfield Town	3 October 1989	11–5
Manchester City	4–1	Brentford	4 October 1989	5–3
Manchester United	0–0	Portsmouth	3 October 1989	3–2
Millwall	2–0^[1]	Stoke City	4 October 1989	2–1
Newcastle United	4–0	Reading	4 October 1989	5–3
Plymouth Argyle	1–6	Arsenal	3 October 1989	1–8
Rotherham United	0–2	Norwich City	3 October 1989	1–3
Scarborough	3–2^[1]	Chelsea	4 October 1989	4–3
Southampton	2–0	York City	3 October 1989	3–0
Southend United	3–2^[1]^[5]	Tottenham Hotspur	4 October 1989	3–3
Stockport County	0–0	Queens Park Rangers	2 October 1989	1–2
Swindon Town	3–1	Shrewsbury Town	3 October 1989	6–1
Tranmere Rovers	1–0	Ipswich Town	3 October 1989	2–0
Watford	1–1	Bolton Wanderers	3 October 1989	2–3
West Ham United	1–1	Birmingham City	4 October 1989	3–2
Wigan Athletic	0–3	Liverpool	4 October 1989	2–8
Wimbledon	3–0	Port Vale	4 October 1989	5–1
Wolverhampton Wanderers	1–1	Aston Villa	4 October 1989	2–3

Third round

A total of 32 teams took part in the third round, all 32 winners from round two. Unlike the previous two rounds, this round was played over one leg.

Oldham's 7–0 victory over Scarborough

.

Ties

Home team	Result	Away team	Date
Arsenal	1–0	Liverpool	25 October 1989
Aston Villa	0–0	West Ham United	25 October 1989
Crystal Palace	0–0	Nottingham Forest	24 October 1989
Derby County	2–1	Sheffield Wednesday	25 October 1989
Everton	3–0	Luton Town	24 October 1989
Exeter City	3–0	Blackpool	25 October 1989
Manchester City	3–1	Norwich City	25 October 1989
Manchester United	0–3	Tottenham Hotspur	25 October 1989
Middlesbrough	1–1	Wimbledon	25 October 1989
Newcastle United	0–1	West Bromwich Albion	25 October 1989
Oldham Athletic	7–0	Scarborough	25 October 1989
Queens Park Rangers	1–2	Coventry City	25 October 1989
Southampton	1–0	Charlton Athletic	24 October 1989
Sunderland	1–1	Bournemouth	24 October 1989
Swindon Town	3–3	Bolton Wanderers	24 October 1989
Tranmere Rovers	3–2	Millwall	23 October 1989

25 October 1989

Arsenal	1 – 0	Liverpool
Smith 80'

Highbury, London

25 October 1989

West Ham United

Villa Park, Birmingham

25 October 1989

Crystal Palace	0 – 0	Nottingham Forest

Selhurst Park, South Norwood, London

24 October 1989

Everton	3 – 0	Luton Town
Newell (2) Nevin

Goodison Park, Liverpool

25 October 1989

Tottenham Hotspur
		Samways Nayim 88'

Old Trafford, Manchester

25 October 1989

Oldham Athletic	7 – 0	Scarborough
Bunn (6) Ritchie

Boundary Park, Oldham

Replays

Home team	Result	Away team	Date
Bolton Wanderers	1–1^[1]	Swindon Town	7 November 1989
Bournemouth	0–1	Sunderland	7 November 1989
Nottingham Forest	5–0	Crystal Palace	1 November 1989
West Ham United	1–0	Aston Villa	8 November 1989
Wimbledon	1–0	Middlesbrough	8 November 1989

7 November 1989

Bournemouth	0 – 1	Sunderland
		Gabbiadini

Dean Court, Bournemouth

8 November 1989

Aston Villa
Dicks

Upton Park, London

2nd Replay

Home team	Result	Away team	Date
Bolton Wanderers	1–1^[1]	Swindon Town	14 November 1989

3rd Replay

Home team	Result	Away team	Date
Swindon Town	2–1^[1]	Bolton Wanderers	20 November 1989

Fourth round

A total of 16 teams took part in the fourth round, all 16 winners from round three. Once again this round was played over one leg.

Ties

Home team	Result	Away team	Date
Derby County	2–0	West Bromwich Albion	22 November 1989
Exeter City	2–2	Sunderland	29 November 1989
Manchester City	0–1	Coventry City	22 November 1989
Nottingham Forest	1–0	Everton	22 November 1989
Oldham Athletic	3–1	Arsenal	22 November 1989
Swindon Town	0–0	Southampton	29 November 1989
Tranmere Rovers	2–2	Tottenham Hotspur	22 November 1989
West Ham United	1–0	Wimbledon	22 November 1989

29 November 1989

Exeter City	2 – 2	Sunderland
Rowbotham 17' Neville		Armstrong Gates

St James Park, Exeter

22 November 1989

Nottingham Forest	1 – 0	Everton
Chapman 83'

The City Ground, Nottingham

22 November 1989

Oldham Athletic	3 – 1	Arsenal
Ritchie 45' Henry		Quinn 90'

Boundary Park, Oldham

29 November 1989

Swindon Town	0 – 0	Southampton

The County Ground, Swindon

22 November 1989

Tottenham Hotspur
Vickers Steele		Gascoigne Lineker

Prenton Park, Birkenhead

Replays

Home team	Result	Away team	Date
Southampton	4–2^[1]	Swindon Town	16 January 1990
Sunderland	5–2	Exeter City	5 December 1989
Tottenham Hotspur	4–0	Tranmere Rovers	29 November 1989

29 November 1989

Tranmere Rovers
Howells 30' Stewart Mabbutt Allen

White Hart Lane, Tottenham, London

Fifth round

The eight winners from the fourth round took part in the fifth round. Once again this round was played over one leg.

Ties

17 January 1990

Tottenham Hotspur
Crosby Parker		Lineker Sedgley

City Ground, Nottingham

24 January 1990

Oldham Athletic
Le Tissier pen.'		Ritchie 90'

The Dell, Southampton

17 January 1990

Sunderland	0 – 0	Coventry City

Sunderland

17 January 1990

Derby County
Dicks		Saunders

West Ham United

Attendance: 27,854

Replays

24 January 1990

Coventry City	5 – 0	Sunderland
Livingstone (4) Gynn

Highfield Road, Coventry

24 January 1990

West Ham Utd

Baseball Ground, Derby

31 January 1990

Oldham Athletic	2 – 0	Southampton
Ritchie Milligan

Boundary Park, Oldham

24 January 1990

Tottenham Hotspur	2 – 3	Nottingham Forest
Nayim Walsh		Hodge Jemson

White Hart Lane, Tottenham, London

2nd Replay

31 January 1990

Derby County
Slater Keen		Saunders

Upton Park, London

Semi-finals

As with the first two rounds, the semi-final ties were played over two legs. Holders Nottingham Forest narrowly defeated Coventry City, while West Ham United bowed out in the semi-finals for the second year running, this time at the hands of Oldham Athletic 6–3 on aggregate. Oldham's 6-0 first leg victory all but sealed their first ever appearance in a major final and at Wembley, was a record for a league cup semi-final until Manchester City defeated Burton Albion 9–0 in the first-leg of the semi-final tie in 2019. Five years earlier, in 2014, City had equaled Oldham's record, again at the expense of West Ham, with a 6-0 first-leg semi-final victory, and on that occasion City's 3–0 win in the second leg at Upton Park had set a record for an aggregate victory (9-0) which City themselves surpassed in 2019 with a 1-0 second-leg win at Burton for a 10-0 aggregate semi-final win.

First leg

11 February 1990

Coventry City
Clough 36' (pen) Pearce 79'		Livingstone 72'

City Ground, Nottingham

14 February 1990

West Ham United
Adams 12' Ritchie 18' Barrett 33' R. Holden 46' Palmer 70'

Boundary Park, Oldham

Referee: Lester Shapter (Torquay)

Second leg

25 February 1990

Coventry City	0 – 0	Nottingham Forest

Highfield Road, Coventry

Nottingham Forest won 2–1 on aggregate.

7 March 1990

Oldham Athletic
Martin Dicks pen.' Kelly

Upton Park, London

Referee: Terry Holbrook (Walsall)

Oldham Athletic won 6–3 on aggregate.

Final

29 April 1990

15:00

Nottingham Forest	1–0	Oldham Athletic
Jemson 47'

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 74,343

Referee: John Martin (Alton, Hampshire)

References

General

"English League Cup 1989/1990". Soccerbase. Retrieved 3 February 2009.
"England League Cup Full Results 1960–1996". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Archived from the original on 21 February 2009. Retrieved 3 February 2009.
"English League Cup 1989–1990 : Results". Statto. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2012.

Specific

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ After Extra Time
^ Blackpool F.C. won 5–4 on penalties
^ West Bromwich Albion won on the away goals rule
^ Crystal Palace won on the away goals rule
^ Tottenham Hotspur won on the away goals rule

External links

Official Carling Cup website

[aet-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ After Extra Time

[bw5op-2] Blackpool F.C. won 5–4 on penalties

[wbawotagr-3] West Bromwich Albion won on the away goals rule

[cpwotagr-4] Crystal Palace won on the away goals rule

[thwotagr-5] Tottenham Hotspur won on the away goals rule

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

v t e EFL Cup
Seasons	1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
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Finals Alan Hardaker Trophy Records

v t e 1989–90 in European football (UEFA)
Domestic leagues	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark '89 '90 England Faroe Islands '89 '90 Finland '89 '90 France East Germany West Germany Georgia Greece Hungary Iceland '89 '90 Israel Italy Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '90 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania San Marino Scotland Soviet Union '89 '90 Spain Sweden '89 '90 Switzerland Turkey Yugoslavia
Domestic cups	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark England Faroe Islands '89 '90 Finland '89 '90 France Georgia East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '89 '90 Israel Italy Liechtenstein Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '89 '90 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania San Marino Scotland Soviet Union Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Wales Yugoslavia
League cups	England Greece Israel Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland Scotland Soviet Union '89 '90
Supercups	East Germany West Germany
UEFA competitions	European Cup (Final) Cup Winners' Cup (Final) UEFA Cup (Final) Super Cup
Non-UEFA competitions	Intertoto Cup Baltic League
On request of the Soviet Union, UEFA imposed sanctions against Georgia and Lithuania