The 1985–86 Football League Cup (known as the

Milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modula ...

Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 26th season of the Football League Cup, a knockout competition for England's top 92 football clubs. The competition began on 20 August 1985, and ended with the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

on 20 April 1986 at the Old Wembley Stadium. The cup was won by

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and t ...

, who beat

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

3–0 in the final, to win their first major cup silverware. It was Oxford United's first season in Division One. Goals from

Trevor Hebberd Trevor Neal Hebberd (born 19 June 1958) is an English retired footballer who played as a midfielder. Southampton Born in Winchester, Hampshire, he signed for Southampton on leaving school in 1974 and made his first team debut two years later ...

Ray Houghton Raymond James Houghton (born 9 January 1962) is a former professional footballer and current sports analyst and commentator with RTÉ Sport. As a player, he was a midfielder, notably playing for Liverpool where he won two First Division titles ...

and Jeremy Charles sealed the victory. TV coverage of this competition only began after Christmas following the "blackout" where no club matches were shown for the first half of the season,Remember the 1985 TV blackout? Only the Big Yin knew who McAvennie was
Simon Hart, The Independent, 22 October 2011When football fans did not see a single match on TV over Christmas
Steven Pye, The Guardian, 3 December 2019 and there was no UEFA Cup place for the winners as a result of the ban on English clubs that followed the

Heysel Stadium disaster The Heysel Stadium disaster ( it, Strage dell'Heysel ; german: link=no, Katastrophe von Heysel ; french: Drame du Heysel ; nl, Heizeldrama ) was a crowd disaster that occurred on 29 May 1985 when mostly Juventus fans escaping from a breach by L ...

First round

A total of 56 teams took part in the First Round. All of the Third Division and Fourth Division sides entered, with eight of the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

clubs also starting in this round. The eight clubs consisted of the three teams promoted from the Third Division and the five teams finishing 15th to 19th in the Second Division from the 1984–85 season. Each tie was played across two legs.

Second round

A total of 64 teams took part in the Second Round, including the 28 winners from round one. The remaining

clubs entered in this round, as well as the 22 sides from the First Division. Each tie was again played across two legs.

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.

Ties

Replays

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

Replays

2nd Replay

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

Replays

Semi-finals

As with the first two rounds, the semi-final ties were played over two legs. Favourites Liverpool, in search of a unique domestic treble, were surprisingly beaten by QPR, while Oxford United eased past Aston Villa in the other semi-final.

First leg

Second leg

''QPR win 3–2 on aggregate'' ''Oxford win 4–3 on aggregate''

Final

References

General

* *

Specific

External links

Official Carling Cup website
{{DEFAULTSORT:1985-86 Football League Cup EFL Cup seasons 1985–86 domestic association football cups

Lea Lea or LEA may refer to: Places Australia * Lea River, Tasmania, Australia * Lake Lea, Tasmania, from which the Lea River flows * RAAF Base Learmonth, IATA airport code "LEA" England * Lea, Cheshire, a civil parish * Lea, Derbyshire, a set ...

Cup