Birmingham City, Walsall and Wolves land home ties in Carabao Cup second round

On a midweek evening in August, the Carabao Cup second round draw revealed the fortunes of West Midlands football clubs — some advancing through grit and drama, one falling to the humbling logic of the cup, where league standing offers no guarantee of passage. Birmingham City and Walsall earned their places through adversity and last-gasp survival respectively, while Wolverhampton Wanderers entered the round by structural right as a European-free Premier League side. West Bromwich Albion's early lead against fourth-tier Fleetwood Town dissolved into elimination, a reminder that domestic cups h