A quarter of the League One and Two clubs that played in the Checkatrade Trophy's group stage have been fined by the English Football League for fielding weakened teams.

And Hartlepool United boss Craig Hignett, not a fan of the competition in it’s current misguided guise, admits he can’t understand the merits of the event. He feels the competition is ‘killing itself’.

The competition was revamped to include 16 invited under-21 teams from the Championship and Premier League.

While the invited teams were encouraged to experiment with youth, the EFL teams had to meet "full strength" criteria that meant five of their starting line-ups had to have started the previous or following game, or have five of the 11 players who have made the most starting appearances in league or cup fixtures this season.

None of the invited clubs failed to comply with the requirement to start six under-21s but 12 EFL clubs broke the full-strength rules.

Luton and Portsmouth did in all three of their games and have been fined £5,000 a match, and Fleetwood have been given a single £5,000 fine.

Bradford, Blackpool, Bristol Rovers, Milton Keynes Dons, Millwall, Charlton, Peterborough, Sheffield United and Southend have all been fined £3,000 each.

Hignett said: “It’s like two competitions, one rule for one, one for us. How can you develop kids for one team and not for the lower league teams?

“It’s more important to keep my players fit when we don’t have as many players as the bigger clubs who have been invited to play in the competition.

“What Luton said isn’t far off the mark – the competition is dying to a certain extent.

“But if they had stayed with it like it was then the competition was a chance for lower league teams to reach Wembley and have a go.

“Instead we have three games to play instead of one, so the competition has killed itself.

“Even when it comes to the rules there’s a lot of question marks – bookings and sendings-off don’t count in Football League games from it.

“I actually like the competition how it was, get through and progress and there’s an incentive.’’

Luton chief executive Gary Sweet said: "We are staggered that we have been fined the maximum amount for our first offence, which was winning away from home at a club from the division above with half-a-dozen first-team regulars in their team.

"We played nine graduates of our academy in that game at Gillingham, and seven against a West Brom side containing four players, two of whom who were internationals and had been transferred for several million pounds, and still beat both."

Hignett, whose side lost all three of their group games and played out their final match against Rochdale in front a crowd of 380 – the lowest ever for a competitive Pools home game, added: “Some teams have budgeted for fines, win and you get ten grand, so then you get fined five….

“It’s a strange thing. With a really small squad, a core of 15/16 players then why would you risk them? I risked mine really because I had to.

“We went through all the different scenarios about most appearances, players who played the last game, players who play the next game and we still get questioned.’’

Pools could have keeper Trevor Carson fit for tomorrow’s trip to Doncaster.

The goalkeeper suffered a broken finger in last weekend’s win over Cheltenham – and was denied the chance to make his international debut for Northern Ireland in midweek as a result.

Carson trained with Pools yesterday and the club’s medical staff will decide on his availability depending on any reaction.

Hignett said: “His finger was in a bad way when he came off on Saturday. He has been and had treatment, has been away with Northern Ireland and come back.

“He has had a scan and he has no major damage. It is just a real sore one. We will have to see how it goes.’’