Outfoxed - Leeds United 1 Leicester 2

[YorkshireSquare]

People often view the cup with a bit of romance, a chance to get an away tie against a lower league team and tick off one of those 92 grounds or even draw a top Premiership side and pit your wits against the best. For that reason many people saw a home tie against Leicester, a team in the same division, as slightly disappointing and so it was that they were proved right. Simon Grayson made four chances to the side that tore apart Millwall on the weekend with Shane Higgs getting his first competitive start of the season, Alex Bruce repalcing Richard Naylor, Max Gradel replacing Lloyd Sam and Davide Somma starting up front ahead of Sanchez Watt after his glorious league debut on Saturday.

After a miserable and overcast day in Beeston the game started brightly for Leeds, Max Gradel obviously had something to prove against his former side and put in a good cross with Luciano failing to get the definitive touch to put the ball in the back of the Leicester net. Leeds had a lot of endeavour but without Watt and Sam they lacked that sparkle, that cutting edge and decent chances were few and far between. Leicester although having less of the ball early on had the best chances with N'Guessan hitting a shot straight at Higgs and Hobbs heading wide. Luciano Becchio headed wide from a Neil Kilkenny corner and Gallagher failed to get on the end of a cross to put the visitors ahead.

Just after the half hour mark Max Gradel got into gear, having just hit a thunderbolt that was tipped over the bar by the Leicester keeper he this time received the ball half way inside the Leicester half, without prevaricating he played a beautiful first time ball into the box which Somma duly heading into the back of the net with the deftest of touches. The only other clear chances of the first half came as Bradley Johnson chipped over the bar after good build up play and Leicester’s Howard headed the ball wide when he should really have done better. Half time came with Leeds having a one nil lead.

Early in the second half Gradel broke into the box to set up Becchio whos effort was cleared off the line, after that Leicester grew in confidence and came into the game more and more. On sixty six minutes Bradley Johnson mistake lead to Wellens placing the ball past Higgs into the back of the net. Johnson couldn’t have played a much better assist if he’d tried, shame it was for the opposition. Simon Grayson reacted by making some changes, Watt came on for the Luciano Becchio who while trying hard looked a little laboured and nothing much had really come off for him. The other change was to bring on Andy Hughes for Jonny Howson, an odd one I thought given Howson had been one of our more creative players.

Davide Somma had the next half decent chance, after cutting inside and teasing the Leicester defence he lashed a left foot shot over the bar. The crowd groaned, not just at the miss but at the dawning realisation that they were probably going to have to endure extra time. Neil Collins however was on hand, literally, to save us from the prolonged suffering when a Leicester free kick bounced up and hit him clean on the arm, the referee wasted no time in blowing his whistle and pointing to the spot. Howard duly slotted the ball home from the spot and Leicester into the third round. The relief of the Leicester players and fans and manager Paulo Sousa was clear after a hesitant start to the season in which they have won only one point from their first three league games.

Grayson said after the game that the mistakes did not matter as long as the players learn from them and there really isn’t much we can take away from the game other than that. Davide Somma and Max Gradel performed well but will still have to work hard to oust Watt and Sam from the team who were clearly the missing difference from Saturdays magnificent display.