Hit the heights

DAN GARDNER . . . "Good place to be"

ATHLETIC'S exciting new capture Dan Gardner believes firmly that he's joined a club who are going places.

Skilful attacking midfielder Gardner (27) has linked up with Athletic on a two-year deal following his summer release from Chesterfield.

He was boss John Sheridan's first new signing since guiding the club to safety in Sky Bet League One during a dramatic second half of last season.

Gardner, who began his career at Crewe before forging a name for himself at FC Halifax Town and then with the Spireites, said: "I met with the manager and he had everything good to say about the club. It's a club going forward and I'm happy to be here.

"I've known the manager for a while and I know his brother as well so I've heard a lot of good things about him.

"He plays good football and he's a good person around the place."

"PLAY-OFFS"

Gorton-born Gardner added: "This is a club that has got the foundations to go up and up so we just need to try and hit the play-offs.

"You don't aim to stay in the league, you want to push on as high as you can so hopefully we'll reach the play-offs.

"It's a good place to be at. The manager had everything good to say about who is already here and who he is trying to sign so I can't wait to get started now and hopefully it will be a good season."

The draw for round one of the 2017-18 Carabao Cup competition - formerly the EFL or League Cup - will be streamed live from Bangkok, Thailand on Friday, at 1pm (UK time).

World Cup winner Emmanuel Petit, Carabao CEO Sathien Setthasit, British Ambassador to Thailand Brian Davidson and EFL Chief Executive Shaun Harvey will unveil the 35 ties from the home of the competition's new title sponsor, Carabao Energy Drink.

Fans will be able to watch the draw unfold live on various platforms, including EFL's new live streaming platform, iFollow, on Facebook via the Carabao Cup and Carabao UK pages and SkySports.com.

Seventy EFL clubs will be in the draw with matches scheduled to take place week commencing August 7, with Sunderland included.

Championship newcomers Hull City and Middlesbrough will join the competition in round two alongside the Premier League clubs that are not competing in Europe.

The draw is also regionalised to minimise travelling time for supporters in the first round with seeding decided by a club's finishing position in the EFL.

Seeding, regionalisation and ball numbers within seeding groups -

North seeds: 1, Barnsley; 2, Blackburn Rovers; 3, Bolton Wanderers; 4, Bradford City; 5, Burton Albion; 6, Derby County; 7, Fleetwood Town; 8, Leeds United; 9, Nottingham Forest; 10, Preston North End; 11, Rochdale; 12, Rotherham United; 13, Scunthorpe United; 14, Sheffield United; 15, Sheffield Wednesday; 16, Sunderland; 17, Wigan Athletic.

North non-seeds: 18, Accrington Stanley; 19, Blackpool; 20, Bury; 21, Carlisle United; 22, Chesterfield; 23, Coventry City; 24, Crewe Alexandra; 25, Doncaster Rovers; 26, Grimsby Town; 27, Lincoln City; 28, Mansfield Town; 29, Morecambe; 30, Notts County; 31, ATHLETIC; 32, Port Vale; 33, Shrewsbury Town; 34, Walsall.