Town have drawn League One Bristol Rovers at home in round one of the Carabao Cup.

The Blues and Pirates were last out of the hat in this morning's draw, which was carried out by former England and Arsenal legend Paul Merson.

Round one fixtures are set to be played on Saturday 5th September, although with that weekend in the international window clubs are able to mutually agree an earlier alternative date with Saturday 29th August having been mooted.

Coincidentally, Rovers were set to be the Blues' opponents at the Memorial Ground in their next league game when last season was suspended in March. They will now be Town's first competitive opposition when 2020/21 gets under way.

The teams have faced one another once before in the League Cup, back in 2012 in the first round when the Blues won 3-1 at Portman Road with Jason Scotland, Tommy Smith and Aaron Cresswell netted their goals, while Michael Smith was on target for the visitors.

In last season's League One game which did take place, the Gas beat the Blues 2-1 at Portman Road, despite being reduced to 10 men in the 77th minute when Ollie Clarke was red-carded. Earlier, Tyler Smith and Tom Nichols had given the West Countrymen a 2-0 lead before James Norwood pulled a goal back for Town.

As in the previous two seasons, the Carabao Cup round one draw was divided into northern and southern sections and unseeded.

Last season the Blues were beaten 3-1 at Luton Town in the first round with Armando Dobra netting a debut goal.

The EFL Trophy draw is live on talkSPORT 2 at 1.30pm this afternoon.

Town have already been named alongside Crawley and Gillingham in Group B of the Southern section but they will learn their final opponent, an U21 side from a club with a category one academy, and fixture dates will be allocated.

Photo: Action Images

Pencilpete added 10:18 - Aug 18 Thats us out then .....
-1

dominiciawful added 10:39 - Aug 18 A funny twist of fate.
1

BlueArrow added 10:51 - Aug 18 Zzzzz 😴
2

Essexnblue added 10:52 - Aug 18 Be a decent test as I think Bristol Rovers are this seasons dark horses in the division. Also with the season due to start the next week, then I cannot see either teams weakening the starting line ups either.
1

hogster1970 added 11:01 - Aug 18 needs to be treated seriously, and a good warm game for the leaque were we can carry out some fine tuning, if PL decides to rest players then he is a fool, if any one says well a player can get injured then yes they can how ever better off getting injured in the field of battle than just swinging your sword around for fun as thats were most of our injuries seem to occur

6

dirtydingusmagee added 11:40 - Aug 18 last out of the hat , first out of the cup .lol
1

NITFC added 13:21 - Aug 18 Sadly this is irrelevant because none of us will be able attend
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Skip73 added 14:02 - Aug 18 Hogster; "if PL decides to rest players then he is a fool" I believe he is and will rest players in this one.
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warksonwater added 14:34 - Aug 18 'Resting' players? What from!
2

SheptonMalletBlue added 15:59 - Aug 18 Can't wait!
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Skip73 added 16:17 - Aug 18 Lambert will find something to rest them from.
2

therein61 added 16:42 - Aug 18 Lambert will do what 4&8 tell him to do
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chepstowblue added 19:14 - Aug 18 So by september 6th we'll be concentrating on the league then !!
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