Leeds United fans praised by Jesse Marsch for impact they made in FA Cup comeback draw at Cardiff

Another embarrassing third round exit looked on the cards as the Whites were two down with 25 minutes to play, but they hit back to draw 2-2 and would have won had Rodrigo not seen his penalty saved by home keeper Jak Alnwick.

It was beginning to look like one of those days with chance after chance squandered, including the 80th minute penalty, before young substitute Sonny Perkins came to the rescue with a stoppage time equaliser with possibly his only touch of the ball.

A draw was the least United deserved as their mix and match side of first teamers and fringe players had 26 shots to five and head coach Marsch was pleased with the way the 6,000 away fans kept believing and kept backing the team.

He said: "It was really important to have our fans here, especially when we were pushing for the game with them right behind the goal.

"That had a big impact in our ability to get back in the match so we're thankful to have a big crowd that came here.

"I think the fans deserve a lot of credit. But if we've learned one thing it's that if you don't show up and you're not ready to play from the beginning, you cause yourself problems.

"None of us were happy at half-time. It's a little bit of a challenge of where we're at right now.

"These players are trying to develop and trying to grow, but we just in the process seem to find ways of shooting ourselves in the foot, dig holes for ourselves and then have to find a way to dig out of it.

"The nice things about being the manager of this group is that I know they are never going to quit and they are going to invest everything they have every day. The tough part is we don't learn fast enough.

"We don't understand sometimes how to handle every moment and tactically how to manage matches the way we want so we have to keep pushing, keep believing and staying positive."

Marsch added: "I've heard from the beginning that this is the Leeds way and it's brutal.

"Credit to the lads for fighting to the end and I thought the guys we inserted into the match made a big difference – obviously Rodri coming in, Cody (Drameh) did well and Max Wober in the midfield made a big difference. He calmed the game down and understood what the match meant.

"Mateo (Joseph) created a big chance then Sonny (Perkins) getting the goal – big moments for those guys and helpful."

As ever with Leeds it was not another simple story as the young guns in the starting line-up started brightly, particularly midfielder Darko Gyabi, who almost scored in the second minute with a shot from the edge of the box that flashed inches wide.

He also showed nice feet in the box to work space for another effort only to see his shot deflected behind for a corner.

Willy Gnonto was again linking well with Crysencio Summerville, who had the first great chance only to blaze over after meeting his mate's low cross.

United could have had a penalty when Brenden Aaronson had his shirt pulled in the area, but with no VAR there was nothing doing and the incident was missed by referee Jarred Gillett.

This being the FA Cup of recent memory of course it was Leeds' opponents who would score first. From their first decent attack Mark Harris got in behind a dawdling Pascal Struijk and although his initial effort was well saved well by Joel Robles the rebound fell kindly for Jaden Philogene to have a tap-in for the opening goal.

One soon became two – as has been the case a lot recently against the Whites – when Sheyi Ojo was allowed to run free into the box to meet Andy Rinomhota's chip over the top of a static back four and he finished well.

All the bright early play from Marsch's men had now faded, although they did fashion one chance before the break when little Gnonto somehow got to the ball from a Sam Greenwood corner only to head over.

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Surprisingly there were no changes from Marsch at half-time, but there was more intensity to his side's play immediately with Joe Gelhardt's diving header from a Struijk cross saved.

The changes came just before the hour mark with new signing Max Wober coming on to play in midfield, top scorer Rodrigo taking over the striker's role and young former Cardiff loanee Cody Drameh introduced at right-back.

Straight away Leeds turned up the heat further as Wober saw a shot blocked then seconds later Struijk was inches away from scoring with a near post header from a Greenwood corner.

The next corner brought United the goal they had been looking for as Gnonto took it quickly and short to Greenwood, whose cross picked out Rodrigo to score his 11th goal of the season.

Junior Firpo was suddenly freed to become a threat in the home box and his pull back could have resulted in an equaliser only for Gelhardt to miskick with his left foot. The ball was quickly reworked to set up Greenwood, but he shot over.

Aaronson, who was out of sorts for much of the game, had a chance on the edge of the box, but his shot was deflected over.

It was all Leeds now and they should have made it 2-2 when Gnonto panicked home defenders and Firpo was only denied a goal when his goalbound shot was blatantly handballed by defender Joel Bagan after a diving save his keeper would have been proud of.

He was correctly sent-off for his act of cheating, but from the resulting penalty Rodrigo's effort went straight down the middle to be saved by the man with the gloves, Alnwick.

It definitely did not look to be Leeds' day when three minutes later Rodrigo did well to get to a ball in behind the Cardiff defence and pulled the back for young substitute Mateo Joseph, but with the only the keeper to beat he fired over.

However, they kept going and were rewarded in the third minute of added time as the ever willing Gnonto raced down the wing and produced a low cross into the box. Firpo met it with a back flick and another young sub Perkins was on hand to score from close range.

Leeds now face a home replay against Cardiff, likely to be on Tuesday, January 17 – their first home match in the competition since 2016 – and if successful they will travel to either Boreham Wood or Accrington Stanley in the fourth round.

Before then comes an important Premier League match at Aston Villa on Friday.

Cardiff City 2

(Philogene 25, Ojo 31)

Leeds United 2

(Rodrigo 65, Perkins 90+3)

Sunday, January 8, 2023

FA Cup, round three

Attendance: 20,324

Cardiff: Alnwick; Sang, Nelson, Simpson, Bagan (sent-off 80); Rinomhota, Sawyers (Wintle 77), Ojo (Ralls 86), Philogene (O’Dowda 77), Harris (Ng 86); Davies (Tanner 63).

Leeds: Robles; Kristensen (Drameh 59), Llorente, Struijk, Firpo; Gyabi (Wober 59), Greenwood; Aaronson (Perkins 86), Gnonto, Summerville (Rodrigo 59); Gelhardt (Joseph 73).

Referee: Jarred Gillett