How many?! Shocking attendances across EFL Trophy games, including Proact clash

The Checkatrade EFL Trophy continues to draw some shocking attendances as fans vote with their feet against the competition's new format.
Chesterfield FC v Accrington Stanley, fans galleryChesterfield FC v Accrington Stanley, fans gallery
Chesterfield FC v Accrington Stanley, fans gallery

At the Proact there were just 976 in the ground to see Chesterfield take on Accrington Stanley, who appeared to have fewer than 10 supporters in the ground.

By comparison, on Saturday there was a crowd of 6,997 present for the League One game against Bradford City, which shows just how little appetite there is among fans for the Trophy.

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Our Facebook video HERE shows how sparse the crowd was just before kick-off on Tuesday.

Against League 3, which describes itself as “a campaign against B Teams entering the pyramid or first team cups” and “raising awareness on issues facing lower leagues” tweeted a set of figures showing the attendances at all last night’s games.

They initially queried whether or not there were just two Stanley fans in attendance, but Chesterfield rejected that notion, tweeting: “There were certainly more than two Accy fans here, no figure as they were housed in the home stand.”

Last night’s fixtures saw Portsmouth record their lowest home attendance since 1945 with just 1,355 fans turning up to watch their game with Reading U23s.

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Barnet welcomed just 457 for their game against Norwich U23s while locally Sheffield United’s game with Walsall attracted just 2,619 supporters and Doncaster Rovers win over Derby County U23s saw a paltry 1,515 through the turnstiles.

Port Vale recorded their second lowest ever attendance, Grimsby their worst ever cup attendance and Swindon versus Oxford had its lowest crowd in the history of the fixture.

The one year trial of a new format sees teams compete in groups before the knockout rounds, with clubs with Category One academies entering sides.

The likes of Leicester City and West Ham have entered teams in the competition, but other Premier League outfits like Liverpool and Manchester United declined invitations to join.

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Clubs in League One and League Two can only make six changes from the side who started the previous game, or must play at least five players who start the next league game.

But the invited academy sides are asked to field at least six U21 players.