Carling Cup Draw Just Round The Corner

Just after 10am on Thursday morning, the day before the league fixtures are announced, the Hornets will discover their opponents in the First Round of the 2011/12 Carling Cup.

Because Birmingham are playing the in Europa League they will receive a bye until round 3 as do all clubs competing in European competitions. This means there are an odd numbers of teams in the southern draw meaning Crawley and AFC Wimbledon will play-off in July to decide which club will enter the Round 1 draw.

The Hornets, who lost out to League One side Notts County in last seasons second round, have been seeded in the southern side of the draw meaning they cannot be drawn against the other 17 highest southern finishers in last seasons Football League. This means they will avoid all other southern Championship clubs. Watford can be drawn either home or away against the non-seeded southern sides which are as follows:

1. Aldershot
2. Barnet
3. Bristol Rovers
4. Charlton Athletic
5. Cheltenham Town
6. Crawley/AFC Wimbledon
7. Dagenham & Redbridge
8. Gillingham
9. Hereford Utd
10. Northampton Town
11. Oxford Utd
12. Plymouth Argyle
13. Southend Utd
14. Stevenage
15. Swindon Town
16. Torquay Utd
17. Wycombe Wanderers
18. Yeovil Town

And just for the record the seeded southern sides are:

1. AFC Bournemouth
2. Brentford
3. Brighton H&A
4. Bristol City
5. Cardiff City
6. Colchester Utd
7. Crystal Palace
8. Exeter City
9. Ipswich Town
10. Leyton Orient
11. Millwall
12. Milton Keynes Dons
13. Peterborough Utd
14. Portsmouth
15. Reading
16. Southampton
17. Watford
18. West Ham Utd

The second round will revert to an open draw irrespective of Geography and seeding.

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