Anyone expecting Leeds to be totally humiliated by last years Premier League runners-up will have been sorely disappointed last night as Leeds held their own against the European giants.

David N’Gog’s strike was all that seperated the two sides but the result could have been much different. Leeds thought they were ahead after a Robert Snodgrass corner was turned in by Jermaine Beckford. However, Lucciano Becchio lunged at the ball as it was crossing the line after coming from an offside position, but it’s unclear as to whether the ball had already crossed.

Liverpool had made seven changes from the side that started at the weekend, but remained cautious with Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres on the bench. Torres never did get a chance to play infront of the sold-out Elland Road crowd, but the cautious Benitez did bring his captain on for the final fifteen minutes or so to try and secure victory, who took more than his fair share of stick from the Leeds faithful. Glen Johnson also made an appearence late on.

Liverpool’s part reserve, part first team line-up never managed to take control of the game as they maybe expected to. Leeds closed down well, attacked well and passed the ball fluently in patches. If anything, we probably had the better chances but paid the price for ultimately failing to convert.

There was some controversy late on when Javier Mascherano appeared to elbow Jermaine Beckford. Despite the referee having a perfect vantage point, nothing was awarded to Leeds. Mascherano escaped what should definitely have been a booking and perhaps a red card. Minutes later, David N’Gog found space in the box and slotted home to give Liverpool the lead.

The major negative for me last night was Andrew Hughes at left-back. Time and time again, Liverpool were able to find space down the right and Hughes held off the players rather than getting in and making the tackle. He was also out of position a lot of the night and most of the threat Liverpool posed came from his failure to clear the danger.

As I said earlier though, there was a lot of positives. Shane Higgs shined once more making a couple of important saves. His first save of the night was from a Ryan Babel shot that he collected comfortably, but his most notable one came just before half-time when he made a vital save from Albert Riera’s close range header leading to chants of ‘England’s number one’ from the crowd.

Elsewhere the midfield held their own in a tough battle. Jonny Howson continues to impress and has come on leaps and bounds in the last few months. Doyle didn’t do much wrong either, getting in quick with the tackles and passing well throughout. Bradley Johnson’s had better games, but didn’t do too much wrong in all fairness. The star of the show was Robert Snodgrass though who had his best game of the season so far.

Snoddy didn’t look out of place against Premiership opposition. He tackled well, passed well and controlled the right-wing throughout. I doubt there will be many Leeds fans suprised by his performance as we all know what he’s capable of, but he may well have caught the attention of some other clubs last night. At such a young age, Snoddy could have a long and prosperous career at Elland Road. As we climb back up the leagues, I firmly believe he can make that step with us.

For the other 38,000 fans alongside me in Elland Road last night, you were the real stars of the show. The Elland Road crowd has always been something special and we proved that to the world last night. The standard chants to tease the Liverpool fans were sang throughout alongside the usual chants to spur the boys on. At kick-off, the atmosphere was electric. The noise was truly deafening inside Elland Road, but what made me especially proud was the reaction of the fans when we went 1-0 down. As soon as the goal went in and Liverpool started celebrating, the stadium erupted into a chorus of “we are Leeds,” effectively silencing the Liverpool fans celebration.

After the final whistle blew, there was a standing ovation for the players and another chorus of ’we are Leeds’ followed by Marching on Together. I imagine the players are feeling some disappointment after last nights result, but they’ll also take great pride from knowing they can compete against the best. Hopefully this will add to the belief that we can win League One outright and start clawing our way back towards the Premier League.

Rafa Benitez was extremely complimentary of Leeds in his post match interview, saying;

“The atmosphere was fantastic, Leeds were really good,

 ”They are good team with good players and they worked really hard.”

Simon Grayson was also complimentary of the team and rightly proud of their efforts;

“I’m hugely proud of them. I thought they were excellent from start to finish.

“We certainly matched them and on another night we might have got the victory our performance deserved.

“We had good opportunities but over the course of it maybe we did not get the breaks we deserved.

“I felt Jermaine was level with the centre-half for the goal. I’m loath to criticise but when you look he was level and the goal should have stood.”

Overall, I feel proud to have seen our third division team compete so well with Premier League giants. On another night (with another linesman) we may well have come away victors, but that’s completely besides the point. Even in defeat, the performance can only add to the confidence within the squad and should serve as motivation to go and earn promotion.

TSS man of the match
Undoubtedly Robert Snodgrass for me. At such a young age, we have a terrific prospect who I honestly believe could compete at a much higher level. Didn’t put a foot wrong all night and truly deserves the praise he’ll receive.

On the way to the ground tonight I was telling a friend how Snodgrass had disappointed me so far this season. I said that his form had been nothing compared to last season and he looked nowhere near his best. So it was with some inevitability that he went and scored two against Watford to send us into the third round of the League Cup. Maybe I’ll start complaining about players more often.

Just over fourteen and a half thousand had turned out for the second round League Cup tie to see the Whites maintain their 100% start to the season. Six wins from six and fourteen we remain undefeated at Elland Road since the 10th of January and although we looked nowhere near as good as we did against Tranmere Rovers tonight, our record remains intact and the momentum keeps going.

The only change from the weekend was Mike Grella in for Lucciano Becchio, who made a late cameo appearence to run down the clock. Jermaine Beckford started the game which effectively quashes the rumour he was being left out to prevent him getting cup tied. The Sun’s rumour from this morning was a key talking point though and few believe he’ll be here by the close of the transfer window.

The game was predictably our toughest test so far. Early on the chances were split 50/50. Watford should have done better with their first real chance as a close range header was fired wide of goal. Leeds responded and in-form Bradley Johnson had a go from range, but saw his effort fly over the bar.

Shane Higgs put in an impressive shift making a couple of good saves in the first half, whilst at the other end we were starting to see Robert Snograss’ reincarnation who had a shot blocked by the Watford keeper before firing over the bar.

Soon after though, Snoddy made no mistake. He found himself in space 10-15 yards from goal and curled it into the bottom corner to give Leeds a 1-0 lead. Watford tried to respond but Leeds kept them at bay.

Jermaine Beckford had his first real effort saved by the Watford keeper just before half time. Not the greatest of displays for him tonight and did appear to be limping at one point. His attitude showed no signs of improvement either as he made his feelings clear when brought down later in game.

A tighter game than what we’re perhaps used to and it looked like Leeds would hold out for a clean sheet as we neared the end of the match. Both sides had, had there chances to score, with Watford striking the post and Leeds creating a few chances in the second period. However, with three minutes remaining, Watford got their equaliser. A close range shot from Watford gave Higgs no chance, after the original effort was blocked by our defence only for it to rebound back to Sordell who made no mistake.

Extra-time was required and the feeling that Leeds had blown their chance seemed to have silenced the Elland Road faithful. Robert Snodgrass however, had other ideas and a flick from Enoch Showumni put him through to score the winner and give Leeds the victory. The Leeds fans were back in full voice. Showumni should have finished things off twice after that but failed to convert two good chances. It’s all irrelevant though and Leeds go through to the third round.

It wasn’t the prettiest, nor was it the most entertaining game of football you’re ever likely to see at Elland Road, but we got the job done. We seem to have learnt to grind out results where we’d have failed before. When Watford equalised, Leeds kept their heads up and deserved the winner. Our 100% run continues and we look in good shape ahead of the Colchester game on Saturday. The draw for the third round will be made this weekend.

Throughout the match I was getting texts telling me about the events at Upton Park this evening. Much will be said about this and in the grand scheme of things, my opinion will count for very little, but I really had hoped that in this day and age we’d got passed all this nonsense. If people want to batter each other because they wear a different shirt, then so be it. But do it away from the stadium and away from the streets nearby where innocent supporters, families and children are making their way to the ground.

TSS man of the match
Happy to eat my words and give it to Robert Snodgrass. Let’s hope tonight was the start of his season and he continues to chip in with some goals.

Final Score
Leeds United 2-1 Watford

Didn’t go tonight, mainly because I find it hard to muster up any enthusiasm for a match I deem totally pointless. You see for me, the League Cup and FA Cup are trophies that can only be won by Premier League teams, so our run in them is completely irrelevant. I did contemplate going but after it was chosen for Sky I failed to see the point of leaving my house.

My lack of enthusiasm seemed to be mirrored by the display as Leeds eased to victory without ever making too much effort. The 1-0 scoreline is a fair reflection of a game where very little happened and where the main talking point was made off the pitch by the absence of Jermaine Beckford.

Simon Grayson insisted beforehand that his absence was due to a knock he’d picked up and attempted to reassure fans that he wasn’t being left out to avoid getting cup-tied. I aren’t one to be cynical of Grayson usually as he’s never given me a reason to be, but it’s all a little too coincidental for my liking. He seemed absolutely fine on Saturday and the links with WBA and Wolves continue to worry me.

As for the football, well there was little to talk about. Despite some claiming Grella was man of the match, I thought he was slow to react infront of goal and had a few chances he should have struck first time. Showumni let himself down when he sliced an easy chance wide, but did well to score the only goal of the game, stretching out and guiding in it with the tip of his boot. Maybe it’s a lack of confidence from them both since they’re playing second fiddle to Becchio and Beckford, but on tonights performance it wasn’t hard to see why.

Not sure how to summarise a match review that in itself was a general summary, but I guess we did what was required. That’s if you think there’s any point being in the competition in the first place anyway. Be interesting to see if there’s any further news on Beckford tomorrow, but other than that, it’s time to prepare for the important fixtures that resume Saturday.