Teenager Sonny Perkins was able to spare Leeds United’s blushes as his last-gasp equaliser kept his side in the FA Cup as they rescued a 2-2 draw against 10-man Cardiff City on Sunday to earn a third round replay at Elland Road.
Leeds had been poor for much of the game and they had to rely on substitutes Rodrigo and Perkins to bail them out of trouble as the pressure on Jesse Marsch’s position as manager has been intensifying. They have kept themselves in the FA Cup for a while longer but with how poor Leeds started against the Championship strugglers, this will have done Marsch no favours.
The American opted to make seven changes to his side as it was clear that his main attention is on keeping the Whites in the Premier League. The biggest concern from their performance at the Cardiff City Stadium was the lack of depth in their squad, while the regular starters who featured looked subpar compared to their Championship opponents.
The Bluebirds themselves had eight changes, with fans displeased with boss Mark Hudson before kick off. However, they soon saw that their second-string side was outperforming Leeds’ and if you were watching this game having never watched football before, you’d think Cardiff were the Premier League team based on the first 60 minutes. Leeds conceded twice to the lowest scorers in the second tier and a team that had not found the back of the net in their three previous fixtures.
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Both teams headed into this fixture low on confidence with them experiencing dismal form in their respective leagues and both are just two points above their respective relegation zones. Cardiff hadn’t won since early November, losing their last three. While Leeds haven’t won since their triumph over Liverpool at Anfield at the end of October.
The two teams’ objectives this season are to maintain their place in their respective divisions so you can understand why both coaches made several changes to their lineups. It was a bigger risk for Marsch, however. While he called upon some young talent to award some valuable minutes in the Welsh capital, he still had a few top-flight regulars featuring and they were ultimately outfought by their Championship counterparts.
Jaden Philogene and Sheyi Ojo put the Bluebirds 2-0 up in the first half as the hosts were in control of the match while Leeds looked devoid of any ideas going forward and extremely frail at the back.
Leeds didn’t spark into life until Marsch made three changes which saw top scorer Rodrigo enter the fray. It didn’t take long for the Spaniard to pull one back for his team as he headed home from a corner to give Leeds a chance.
From then the game flipped. Leeds were the more assertive side with the ball and started to create far more than they had accomplished in the game until that point. Cardiff’s confidence started to fade and suddenly their game plan changed to holding out for the victory.
They made it difficult for themselves when Joel Bagan was sent off for handball as the defender tipped Junior Firpo’s shot past the post as Leeds were awarded a penalty. Rodrigo stepped up but was denied by Jak Alnwick. Substitute Mateus Joseph looked nailed on to fire in the equaliser from close range but he blazed his effort over the bar. It then fell to fellow substitute teenager Perkins to keep his side in the cup and force a replay - something which neither team would’ve wanted.
