EFL Trophy clash halted in farcical scenes as club could be thrown out of competition

 Luton Town and Swindon Town's EFL Trophy clash on Tuesday night was delayed in the second half due to a mix-up with the teamsheets. Swindon came from behind to beat the League One side 2-1 at Kenilworth Road to progress to the quarter-final.

With the score level at 1-1, play was stopped in the 67th minute when Swindon's Aaron Drinan came on for Ollie Palmer, despite not being on the official team sheet. Drinan was, however, named on the teams given to the media.

Defender Ryan Tafazolli was named on the team sheet instead, although the former Wycombe Wanderers ace was nowhere to be seen. After Luton realised that Drinan had come on despite not being on the team sheet, referee Peter Wright was alerted to the situation.

Swindon boss Ian Holloway offered to take Drinan off when the mistake was realised, but Luton's Jack Wilshere insisted that wasn't necessary. "There'll be some sort of action because something's gone wrong in the system," Holloway told BBC.

"When we used to write the teamsheet down it was never wrong, was it? But when it's on an iPad and it's now shown to us how can I say, 'Is that my team?' if I haven't checked it?

"So no one checked it and it's too late to check it once the game's gone on. They noticed it because one of their staff noticed it. It's a major whoopsie, I would suggest, from the officials. So is that us?"

Wilshere, who has won nine of his 19 games in charge of Luton, urged the English Football League to investigate the incident. "We'll leave it with the EFL and trust that they'll come to the right decision," he said.

"Whatever the rules are, the rules are. I felt like the decision could have been made quicker which was frustrating, it's either we carry on or we're stopping. But the EFL will (have to) investigate and they'll come to the right decision hopefully."

BBC Sport's Geoff Doyle provided an insight into the incident live from Kenilworth Road, claiming he expected to see punishment directed towards Swindon, which could result in them being booted out of the competition.

Posting on X, formerly Twitter, he wrote: "Holloway offered to substitute Drinan back off when they all realised the mistake he wasn't on the team sheet. Can't see how they won't get disqualified despite beating Luton - even a Swindon player admitted that as walked past me after in tunnel."