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League Cup Misery

Swansea City were knocked out of the Capital One Cup by Hull City on Tuesday night, after only the Third Round.

As Champions of the League Cup just three seasons ago it’s pretty disappointing. But then, if you look at Swansea’s record in the competition, their early exit should come as no surprise.

In fact, apart from that one win, the best the club have achieved in the Cup in over fifty years is the fourth round - which they’ve only reached three times.

But despite the poor record, there have been some pride-evoking League Cup matches that we can look back on with fondness (something we’ll need to do at the end of October, when the fourth round of the 2015/16 League Cup kicks off and Swansea aren’t involved!)

The earliest of note was that memorable second round replay against Tottenham Hotspur on 6 September 1978. John Toshack’s Third Division Swans had played out a 2-2 draw at the Vetch, forcing a replay at White Hart Lane - resulting in an astounding 3-1 win against the First Division side, who boasted famous World Cup winning Argentinians Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricardo Villa.

Another League Cup outing worth reminding ourselves of was when the club played out their first ever South Wales derby at the Liberty Stadium in 2008. The match was a heated one indeed, with a red card and two disallowed goals for Cardiff. The Swans won that match 1-0 after a beautiful free kick from Jordi Gomez in the second half.

And we can always remember the 2012/13 competition, when Swansea beat Barnsley, Crawley Town, Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Chelsea and Bradford City to claim their first piece of major silverware. That’s definitely one worth remembering.

So it hasn’t all been bad in the League Cup. It’s not been great, admittedly, but at least we have had a few reasons to smile.