After Sunday’s gripping final, it may be time to reassess the Carling Cup. The nation’s secondary knockout competition has seldom produced so many entertaining ties and dramatic stories in one season as it has in 2006-07. Even the mass brawl between the players of Arsenal and Chelsea towards the end of Sunday’s final must have had the sponsors rubbing their hands and remembering that there is no such thing as bad publicity.

While the FA Cup has been unfortunate in that its supposedly dramatic Monday draws have resulted in one uninspired pairing after another being pulled out of Soho Square’s plastic bowl, this season’s Carling Cup came up with a series of classic ties — Southend United versus Manchester United, Chesterfield against West Ham United, Milton Keynes Dons versus Tottenham Hotspur — and many delivered the shock results that the punters crave.

Charlton Athletic, Fulham, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough and West Ham were eliminated by teams from lower divisions. In most rounds there were reminders that, on the day, 11 men always have a chance to beat 11 others, even if Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo are lining up against them.

“This has undoubtedly been a very good year for the Carling Cup and certainly one of the best in recent memory,” John Nagle, the Football League’s head of communications, said. “Right from the opening night, when Accrington Stanley upset Nottingham Forest, through to Sunday’s memorable final there’s been just about the right mix of great matches, terrific goals and giant-killings, as well as considerable measures of debate and controversy.

“The recent rejuvenation of the competition is very important for the domestic game as it underpins the financial structure of the Football League and our clubs.”

Before Chelsea’s multi-million-pound squad hoisted the trophy at the Millennium Stadium, other teams who had been put together on a tighter budget had had their chance to shine. It was the season when Arsenal’s young second string, which had threatened to go all the way before, finally broke through. Wycombe Wanderers reached their second leading semi-final in seven seasons, having achieved the feat in the FA Cup in 2001. And Chesterfield renewed their reputation as a cup team to be feared.

A number of Premiership clubs still seemed to regard the competition as an annoyance, but others embraced the chance to see what their young players could do. Some were pleasantly surprised; others had a rude awakening.

And while Arséne Wenger, the Arsenal manager, has drawn fire from all sides for suggesting the scrapping of replays in the FA Cup, could anyone claim that the Carling Cup was diminished by the settling of results on the night?

Ask the spectators at Reading’s 3-3 draw with Darlington, at the Madejski Stadium, that was won 4-2 on penalties by the home team, or Doncaster Rovers’ tie with Derby County, which Derby won 8-7 on penalties after the teams had also shared six goals.

Ticket allocation for the supporters of the two teams in the final was also more generous than at an FA Cup Final, with each team receiving about 30,000 seats. The number was higher than normal thanks to Carling’s decision to give up its allocation and invite 200 fans of each team to be guests in the sponsor’s suites. “The more fans in the ground the better, so we wanted to help as many as possible enjoy the game,” Richard Smith, the cup’s sponsorship manager, said.

Baptista takes accolade for best performance in lead role from a cast of thousands

Team of the tournament
Wycombe Wanderers: Beat two Premiership clubs (Fulham and Charlton Athletic) away from home on their way to the semi-finals, where they held Chelsea 1-1 at Adams Park in the first leg.

Honourable mention
Arsenal: Arséne Wenger stuck by his young Gunners all the way to the final.

Performance of the tournament
Southend United 1, Manchester United 0 (fourth round): 24 hours after Sir Alex Ferguson had celebrated 20 years in charge at Old Trafford, Freddy Eastwood, a lifelong United fan, scored the only goal against a team including Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and eight other full internationals. Darryl Flahavan, the Southend goalkeeper, produced a hat-trick of saves from Ronaldo to preserve the lead.

Honourable mention
Accrington Stanley 1, Nottingham Forest 0: In their first tie in the competition after 44 years outside the Football League, Stanley beat a team who had twice won the European Cup in the interim.

Match of the tournament
Liverpool 3, Arsenal 6 (quarter-final): Rafael BenÍtez was criticised for his Liverpool team selection, but Arsenal made nine changes to the side who had won at Anfield in the FA Cup third round three days earlier, fielding six teenagers.

Honourable mention
Chesterfield 3, Charlton 3 (fourth round): Wayne Allison’s 120th-minute equaliser gave Chesterfield the chance of a third Premiership scalp, but Scott Carson saved twice in the shoot-out.

Player of the tournament
Júlio Baptista (Arsenal): Four goals, even though he also had a penalty saved, in Arsenal’s quarter-final victory at Anfield put him in contention, but his brace in the semi-final, first leg away to Tottenham Hotspur — not to mention an own goal that increased Spurs’ lead — sealed it.

Honourable mention
Jermaine Easter (Wycombe Wanderers): Scored in every round, including the first leg of the semi-finals, and hit the winner away to Charlton.

Goal of the tournament
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) v Arsenal: His acrobatic volley in the quarter-finals went largely unnoticed as Arsenal stuck six in at the other end.

Honourable mention
Theo Walcott (Arsenal) v Chelsea: Started the move and ended it with deft control and a cool finish past arguably the world’s best goalkeeper to score his first senior goal for Arsenal — in a cup final.

Tasty brew

3.16 Average goals per match in this season’s Carling Cup, higher than the 2.48 Premiership average
1,012 Rise in average attendance this season, 2.6 per cent up on 2005-06
3.2m Peak audience for the final, the highest figure for a digital channel this year
£50m Income generated by a competition more lucrative to clubs than the FA Cup

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