Accrington Stanley comfortably beat Oldham 3-1 at Wham Stadium to secure their place in the first round proper of the 2025-26 Carabao Cup.
Close-range strikes from Anjola Popoola, Kelsey Mooney and a powerful low 33rd-minute strike by Josh Woods saw Accrington take a 3-0 lead into half-time.
Reagan Ogle pulled a goal back for Oldham with a 62nd-minute strike deflected in by Freddie Sass, but Accrington eventually clung on for victory.
The result also meant that the two newly-promoted League Two clubs both missed out on a place in the first round proper, after Barnet suffered defeat to Newport County on penalties in their preliminary round tie.
Accrington Stanley now will welcome League One’s Peterborough United to the Wham Stadium on Tuesday 12 August at 7:45pm BST.
Having registered the sole shot on target in their goalless draw at MK Dons in their League Two opener, Oldham failed to improve their end product in a dominant opening nine minutes.
Accrington calmly absorbed that pressure up and unleashed a fast counter-attack in the 10th minute which fell for Alex Henderson to cut back for Mooney, who teed up Popoola to roll the ball into the left corner unmarked to open the scoring.
Mooney nearly doubled Accrington’s lead just three minutes later after he met a throw-in and turned into the left corner, but referee – Scott Oldham disallowed the goal due to the ball having accidentally struck Mooney’s arm.
The 26-year-old however atoned for his unintentional error just four minutes later as a free-kick was nodded down by Farrend Rawson for him to bundle in to double the hosts’ lead.
Woods was the next Accrington player to go close as he dragged a 25th-minute shot wide of the left corner.
The 25-year-old however netted Accrington’s third goal after Seamus Conneely’s unintentional cross-shot was flapped away by Tom Donaghy with help of Ogle, which Woods’ duly pounced upon with a low shot into the far right corner.
Moments before Woods’ goal, Oldham produced their first notable shot of the game as Luke Hannant volleyed over the bar from close range.
Accrington almost put themselves out of sight just minutes from half time but Charlie Brown put his 20-yard strike just over the bar, before he saw a further chance in first-half injury-time blocked.
Oldham dominated much of the first 17 minutes of the second half and got a deserved reward after Ollie Wright’s clearance of Manny Monthe’s cross was intercepted, and played up the right as Ogle played a swift one-two with Kieron Morris before his shot deflected in off Sass.
Woods almost restored Accrington’s three-goal lead in the 67th minute but rifled his shot wide of the left corner as Accrington began to find their attacking gears.
Neither teams though were able to find further goals in the remainder of the second half as Accrington saw out their first victory in this competition since a first-round 2-1 win at Rotherham in August 2021, which was followed up by defeat to Oldham on penalties in the second round that season.
Teams
Accrington Stanley: Ollie Wright, Devon Matthews, Farrend Rawson, Freddie Sass, Charlie Brown (Coyle 84′), Seamus Conneely (Love 84′), Alex Henderson (Sinclair 84′), Finlay Tunstall, Anjola Popoola (Caton 63′), Kelsey Mooney (Walton 66′), Josh Woods
Substitutes: Charlie Caton, Liam Coyle, Donald Love, James Rogerson, Isaac Sinclair, Tyler Walton
Oldham: Tom Donaghy (Hudson 37′), Reagan Ogle, Will Sutton, Manny Monthe, Kieron Morris (Stevens 79′), Josh Hawkes (Drummond 61′), Oli Hammond, Luke Hannant, Ryan Woods (Conlon 79′), Mike Fondop, Kian Harratt
Substitutes: Josh Kay, Tom Conlon, Kane Drummond, Matthew Hudson, Jack Stevens, Billy Waters
Referee – Scott Oldham
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