Crystal Palace Under-21s' visited the Lamex Stadium to face the first-team side of Stevenage. The League One outfit finished in ninth place in League One in 2023/24 and are currently two games into their new league campaign.
Stevenage won their opening game of the season 1-0 against Shrewsbury Town, though they lost their second game 2-1 against Huddersfield Town. They were also knocked out of the EFL Cup in a seven-goal thriller against Norwich City, losing 4-3 at Carrow Road.
They managed to squeeze past a resilient Palace side by a goal to nil, leaving the Eagles with it all to do in the remaining two group games against Peterbrough United and Gillingham.
Group Structure
Gillingham are currently in League Two and finished 12th last season, while Peterborough United and Stevenage are both in League One, The Posh finished fourth and lost out to Oxford United in the play-off semi-final.
All of Palace's games in this competition will be contested away from home.
The competition is contested by the 48 clubs in League One and League Two, along with 16 Category 1 Academy sides- bringing the total number of teams in the competition to 64.
Palace's are in the Southern section of the tournament, in a regionalised group which helps fans travel to the fixtures. The top two from each group progress to the knockout stages.
All matches in this season’s EFL Trophy will be broadcast live on Sky Sports+ in the UK, from the group stage all the way through to the final.
Fixture details
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Tuesday, 20th August: Stevenage 1-0 Crystal Palace U21s
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Tuesday, 24th September: Gillingham v Crystal Palace U21s (Priestfield Stadium, 19:00 BST)
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Tuesday, 5th November: Peterborough v Crystal Palace U21s (Weston Homes Stadium, 19:00 GMT)
Further details including tickets for the remaining games to be confirmed.