EFL apologises for delayed cup draw

The EFL has issued an apology after the draw for the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup was delayed by almost two hours.

The draw had been set to take place at 16:00 BST on Thursday and was due to be streamed live on Twitter.

However, technical difficulties led to the event being pushed back on a number of occasions, with the EFL Cup's social media account eventually releasing a pre-recorded video that included the last-eight draw at 17:45 BST.

"The EFL would like to apologise for a number of third party technical issues that affected coverage of today's previously advertised [EFL] Cup Round Five live draw at Twitter HQ," a statement read later on Thursday.

"The EFL has received an apology from Twitter UK for the delay which is believed to have occurred as a result of a faulty encoder.

"The EFL has requested a full explanation into the events that led to this afternoon's unacceptable delay."

Draws for previous rounds have taken place in Asia, with a number of errors littering the events.

EFL Cup holders Manchester United will face Bristol City in the pick of the quarter-final ties.

We're sorry for the issues that led to the delay of today's Round Five draw.

We would also like to apologise to the thousands of supporters who had been patiently awaiting news of who their team would be playing.

— Twitter UK (@TwitterUK) 26 October 2017