Leeds United » FA Cup

Forget about Leeds: a teacher, a taxi driver, and a janitor take on Liverpool

Matthew — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:07:28 +0000

Nothing to do with Leeds, but frankly, theirs isn’t the biggest game tomorrow: it’s non-league Havant and Waterlooville’s FA Cup match against Premier League Liverpool. The BBC just posted Havant and Waterlooville’s first-choice team and it makes fascinating reading. It also makes it even more ludicrous (not to mention offensive, blinkered, shameful, and against the spirit of the FA Cup) that the BBC will not be broadcasting the game live:

Kevin Scriven
On the pitch: Goalkeeper
Real life: Builder

Justin Gregory
On the pitch: Right-back
Real life: College student
Gregory, sadly, won’t get to play at Anfield: he picked up 5 yellow-cards and is due to serve a one-match suspension during the Liverpool game. The FA, being made up of aging, insensitive incompetents, refused to allow him to serve the suspension at a different time and refused to allow him to sit out on another, rescheduled game instead.

Jay Smith
On the pitch: Centre-back
Real life: “Works in planning”

Phil Warner
On the pitch: Centre-back
Real life: Drives a van

Tony Taggart
On the pitch: Right-back
Real life: Bin man (Garbage man for Americans)

Mo Harkin
On the pitch: Right-winger
Real life: Used to play for Wycombe

Jamie Collins
On the pitch: Central Midfielder & Captain
Real life: Primary School Teacher (Elementary School for Americans)

Charlie Oatway
On the pitch: Central Midfielder
Real life: “I work for Brighton and Hove Albion on a scheme called, ‘Albion in the Community’.”

Alfie Potter
On the pitch: Left-winger
Real life: Youth player at Peterborough United – currently on loan at Havant and Waterlooville

Rocky Baptiste
On the pitch: Striker
Real life: Training to be a taxi driver in London

Richard Pacquette
On the pitch: Striker
Real life: School Caretaker (Janitor for Americans)

The hell with Leeds – and with the dull, Premier League-only FA Cup matches the BBC will be showing this weekend – I’m slapping the radio on and listening to Havant and Waterlooville have the night of their lives.

Leeds crash and burn. Again. Leeds 0 – 1 Hereford

Matthew — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 17:35:10 +0000

Being a muppet, I just spent an hour and half writing an in-depth preview of tonight’s England – Croatia match, including assessments of all Croatia’s players, over on http://england.worldcupblog.org/, so if you want to know just who is Shakhtar Donetsk’s best Croatian player, go check it out. It’s certainly more fun than reading a match report on yet another perfect Leeds example of how to crash and burn out of a major cup tournament when up against inferior opposition. There’s no real point in writing a match report about a game in which Leeds did little of note other than injure their first-choice goalkeeper, especially when The Times and The Guardian have already done so. Let’s all just hold out for the coming weekend’s league action, since Leeds, for whatever reason, look like a Conference side whenever they have a cup match.

Tonight’s FA Cup Replay: Leeds United vs. Hereford United

Matthew — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 21:06:44 +0000

Apologies for the lack of posts this week – I’ve just taken over England duties on WorldCupBlog.org and I’m still working out how to juggle it with my Leeds commitments. Give me a few days, I’ll be fine.

Alright, crunch time. Prospective giant-killers Hereford United head to Elland Road tonight in the hopes of adding another big-name notch to their belts, and it will be up to a dramatically weakened Leeds team to stop them.

In Midfield, Leeds are down a host of players: Jonathon Douglas and David Prutton are serving one-match suspensions for five yellow cards each, while Filipe Da Costa is in the middle of a three-match ban after being sent off in Leeds’s 2-1 defeat to Bury in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy last week. Ian Westlake is out with a broken toe, while Tore Andre Flo is out with a broken foot.

Midifielder Radostin Kishishev and loan striker Mark De Vries aren’t eligible to play since neither was at Leeds when Hereford held the team to a draw earlier this month. The former will only be able to play in the FA Cup if Leeds qualify for the second round with a win tonight.

Shaun Derry has left Leeds on a loan deal to Crystal Palace after Dennis Wise decided that he needs more first-team action in order to regain match fitness for Leeds, and Alan Thompson, although healthy again, still needs to regain match fitness and will probably be on the bench.

On the plus side, Leeds can call on both Jermaine Beckford and Tresor Kandol up front, Seb Carole in the midfield, and all of their first-choice defensive lineup. Hopefully that will be enough to keep them in the FA Cup for another round.

Match-Report Monday: Hereford United 0 – 0 Leeds United

Matthew — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 18:07:04 +0000

It turned out not to be such a great game after all. Leeds spent most of the game as the inferior side, looking tired and out of ideas. Considering they were playing against a League Two side, that’s really not acceptable. Leeds, who have a good claim to being the best team in League One and expect to gain promotion to the Championship this year, should not be held to a goalless draw by a team only recently promoted into professional football; it’s even less comprehensible that Leeds were the second-best team on the pitch for much of the match. Dennis Wise blames fatigue, telling the BBC:

“We did not give a good account of ourselves and we looked tired and jaded. We can perform better than we did but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt as we’ve played Carlisle, Bournemouth and Hereford this week. It was a cup final for them, having mighty Leeds at Hereford. They wanted to cause an upset but they didn’t.”

I can agree with Wise to an extent, but there remains the fact that Leeds really should not have struggled against a team of Hereford’s standard, giant-killing reputation or not. Highlights of the match, such as they are, after the “read more” button.

FA Cup Preview: Hereford United v Leeds United

Matthew — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 15:12:12 +0000

Alright – the first time in the history of Leeds United that we’re playing in the first round of the FA Cup! And we’re going to be on TV again! Tonight! Alright, so we’re playing Hereford United, a team only recently promoted to League Two from the Conference, but look again. In 1972, Hereford defeated Newcastle United (yes, the Newcastle United) in the FA Cup third round, when Hereford were a non-league, amateur team. Hereford’s equalizer, which forced the game into extra time and gave them chance enough to score a winner, was an incredible 30-yard shot by a part-time carpenter, and one of Hereford’s defenders played solidly and passionately for most of the match despite having broken his leg at the start of the game. The legendary goal is right here:

Leeds are massive favourites to win, with the odds clocking in at 8/13 for a Leeds win, 23/10 for a draw, and 4/1 on a Hereford upset. I think you’d be wrong to discount Hereford completely, however: their manager, Graham Turner, has been at the helm for over ten years and invested his own money to keep the team afloat, and the passion for this game on the Hereford side will be incredible. An upset is definitely on the cards, and I personally wouldn’t bet against Hereford. Leeds will probably field a close-to-full-strength side, and Wise’s lads will have to raise their game to stop a Hereford side who are going to want to add to their legend by smashing Leeds tonight.

Look out for a full match report after the game.