Yorkshire derbies seldom go to plan for The Whites and Bradford City came to Elland Road determined to continue that tradition.

There were starts for Ramon Nunez, Lloyd Sam and Ben Parker as several first team regulars were away on international duty, but it was those that remained which would give Leeds United fans the most cause for concern as the evening’s events unfolded.

The biggest problem area remains the defence which was all over the place when Bradford City took the lead through a Jack Compton goal just after the half hour mark. Through a crowded defence, Compton managed to pull away and find space for a shot that left Andy Lonergan with no chance.

The general reaction within the ground was that Ben Parker was at fault as he allowed Compton to pull away without giving chase. And it’s true that Parker should definitely share the blame, but the defence were so badly organised that our two centre-backs are nowhere near the centre of defence when the shot was fired almost dead centre. The lack of organisation meant both Patrick Kisnorbo and Andy O’Brien had been left clumsily scratching their heads at the left-hand side of goal, whilst Ben Parker – who in my opinion should be covering the far post in this situation – was caught in two minds as the only defender remaining. There’s no escaping the fact he should have chased, but had he done so, it would have been just as easy for Compton to lay the ball off to whoever was coming in at the back post and then we’d have complained he was out-of-position. The fact is, the entire defence was at fault.

After a disappointing first half, Leeds United came out on fire and Ramon Nunez equalised within 30 seconds. Lloyd Sam did incredibly well to somehow work his way through a crowd of Bradford City players to tee Nunez up for the equaliser and his first goal as a Leeds United player. What Lloyd Sam lacks in the skill and trickery department, he more than makes up for with an unrelenting determination.

Lapse defending was to blame once again however as Michael Flynn restored Bradford City’s lead on 57 minutes. Andy O’Brien will once again come in for criticism here, and it seems Simon Grayson agreed as he decided to replace O’Brien with Leigh Bromby just five minutes later. Tom Lees was also brought on to replace Paul Connolly. Two changes in defence when trailing by a goal tells you all you need to know about The Whites’ performance up to this point.

On a more positive note, Ramon Nunez always looked a threat, Lloyd Sam worked tirelessly throughout and Ross McCormack was constantly on the move trying to create space and chances for himself. And it was McCormack who leveled for The Whites on 69 minutes, latching on to an incredible cross from Tom Lees to head home his first goal of the season and restore parity at Elland Road.

Leeds were starting to look more and more threatening going forward with Ross McCormack and Ramon Nunez showing the potential to forge a strong partnership up front. On several occasions, McCormack showed his ability to create space for a shot and was unlucky not to get a second with a couple of well-struck long range efforts. Nunez meanwhile was at times let down by a bit of rustiness in his control, but was always giving Bradford something to think about. Neither can really be classed as an orthodox striker, McCormack for example was still working his way back from defence at one point whilst half The Whites squad were up the other end of the field attacking and he does have a tendency to drift back into central midfield, but between the two of them, we may just be on to something.

Leeds eventually sealed victory when a Lloyd Sam cross was spilled by the Bradford City keeper gifting Ramon Nunez his second Leeds United goal with just 15 minutes remaining. From there on out, Leeds United dominated and retained possession well. City did manage a couple more half chances, most notable of which was a hit-and-hope attempt from the wing that Andy Lonergan had to peddle back and save at full-stretch, but we came through in the end to progress to the second round.

Conclusions

Credit to Bradford City, they came fired up for the battle and gave a very good account of themselves making this a thrilling Yorkshire derby match. What I particularly like about City is that they aren’t a side who spends half the match complaining to the referee when a decision goes against them or he misses something. Case in point, Leigh Bromby shoved their forward to the ground in an off-the-ball situation, but instead of rolling around like most Premier League (and Championship for that matter) players would have done, he got up and went over to the referee playing down the incident with Bromby, shook hands and left it at that. They’re not a team who ruins the game with constant whinging and moaning, they simply get stuck in and get on with it. I admire that it any team.

As for Leeds, the defence is a still a total shambles. The only positives I can take from this is that Ben Parker got 90 minutes under his belt – he needs games to get back to his old self unfortunately – and that Simon Grayson identified Andy O’Brien as a weakness and gave Leigh Bromby and Tom Lees a chance to impress. Both Lees and Bromby looked an improvement to me and should be considered ahead of O’Brien who is clearly lacking fitness this weekend.

Micheal Brown looked a lot better than he did against Southampton and seemed to time his tackling a lot better too. Adam Clayton is an absolute warrior who I’m quickly falling in love with (he hasn’t got a bad shot on him either) and Lloyd Sam was an example every player should follow – absolutely tireless.

Other positives were Ramon Nunez and Ross McCormack, but I think I rattled on about them enough above?

Overall, we’re still not the finished article but in the second half we performed much better than we did last week against The Saints. Conceding two goals against a League Two side is a concern and one which needs to be addressed quickly, but at least we have some positives to take from this game unlike last week. On and on…

Leeds United	3	2	Bradford City
Ramon Nunez			Jack Compton
Ross McCormack			Michael Flynn
Ramon Nunez
Elland Road (Att. TBC)
League Cup 2011-12, August 9th 2011

Very little unites Leeds United and Bradford City, but David Wetherall spent 18 years between the two clubs making over 500 appearances and winning a league title in the process. You’ll find few fans of either side with a bad word to say about him. 

Leeds United’s defensive frailties are well document and we’ve all reminisced on better days and compiled our greatest defensive combination for when genetic cloning becomes a reality and we can farm Lucas Radebe’s and Terry Cooper’s –  the last player who truly satisfied at left-back some would argue. But whenever I read and hear these dream-team defensive combinations, no one ever includes the legendary David Wetherall!

OK, so we’ve had some good central defenders and it’s understandable that Lucas Radebe, Norman Hunter and Jonathan Woodgate would be top of your list. But to include Rio “Plug” Ferdinand above a man who bled blue, white and yellow is sacrilege.

Rio Ferdinand isn’t fit to lace David Wetherall’s boots. In 202 appearances for Leeds, Wetherall achieved much more than Plug. He won the League title in 1992 and also played in the League Cup final in 1996 (not his greatest moment, I grant you). Rio, to his credit, played a massive part in our Champions League run, but he also played an equally important part in our implosion the following season. By then, the captain of the club, Rio was the man who we hoped would lift morale following the release of that ridiculous David O’Leary book – instead, Leeds United slipped from 1st at the start of the year to finish outside the Champions League places triggering a financial crisis we still haven’t recovered from.

Now I’m not saying we should hold Rio fully responsible for our financial meltdown, but he is a Scummer these days so I think it’s only fair we give him some of the blame…

I’d also argue that Jonathan Woodgate has nothing on Wetherall. Sure, he was good. But you wouldn’t catch the ever-reliable David Wetherall ethnic cleansing the Leeds nightclubs on a Saturday night! You also have to take into account that Woodgate will retire with a Worthless Cup to his name and tales of ‘what might have been’ whilst Wetherall retired having conquered England.

And David Wetherall did much more than help us win the title and take us to the League Cup final. He also scored a sensational goal in September 1997 that gave The Whites a rare win over Manchester United. That alone is enough to make him a legend in my eyes.

But Wetherall didn’t stop there. Even after he’d left Leeds United he was still doing everything in his power to ensure The Whites were successful. Clearly not a fan of travelling (Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds United and then…) Wetherall moved to Bradford City where he scored the winning goal against Liverpool to give Leeds United a place in the Champions League. Sure, the youngsters did their part in getting us there, but the old head was still on hand to provide assistance.

So next time you’re listing your perfect defensive line-up spare a thought for the man who won us a league title, humiliated the Mancs and sealed us a place in the Champions League. Even if you (quite rightly) decide the best central partnership is Lucas Radebe and Norman Hunter, save a place for the always reliable David Wetherall on your bench – it’s the very least he deserves.

The Scratching Shed welcomes Michael (@boyfrombrazil) from Bradford City blog Boy From Brazil for a look ahead to tomorrow’s League Cup clash at Elland Road.

For me, Leeds v Bradford was the ideal cup draw. Very rare we get to play you lot, and it’s always a game I look forward to and want to win. Were you happy with the draw?

To be honest I rolled my eyes at the draw. Firstly the structure of the league cup that splits into North and South and then seeds practically guarantees that there will be local derbies so it has a kind of forced feel to it but more importantly I find everything around the West Yorkshire derbies to be, well, dull.

The arguments between the three league clubs in West Yorkshire have been done to death and have gone beyond interesting. After every game with one of our West Yorkshire rivals there is an issue with our fans having to endure songs about the fire of 1985, there is reporting on semi-evolved fans (from both sides, we have some especially annoying runts following us at the moment) kicking lumps out of each other or buses. Add to the the usual exchange of “well, you are not our proper rivals” and the experience of covering goes between the tedious and the annoying.

If the game were just the game I might enjoy it but everything around it will probably be the same old, same old.

18th last season was a pretty poor finish, have you improved much over the summer and what are your expectations this time round?

If you look at the eleven years since we exited the Premier League then only once have we finished above our position in the last season so to expect that to be changed round by ridding the club of one set of League Two players dragged together over the course of one summer and replace them another set of League Two players dragged together over the course of one summer seems a little unrealistic.

That said it seems impossible to imagine this season being as unproductive as last so we might nudge above 18th but lets not start talking about promotions. More important is that rather than looking at the season as being an attempt to get promoted we need to start looking at the aim of a season as being to be better at the end of it than we were at the start.

With that in mind we recruited a genuine progressive in the form of Archie Christie who we brought from Dagenham and who is creating what he has dubbed Bradford City University for players released from Premier League clubs or signed from the non-league to scale up the success he had in developing players with the London club. In this – and for the first time since Geoffrey Richmond turned up in 1994 with his quid a kid and naming rights – we have a plan to improve the club other than just really, really wanting to be good. This is a longer term project – and one which hopefully will not be derailed in a half season like most of the plans that emerged in the last ten years – and certainly not one which has done much in the one game since it started.

All this said the team is probably better than last season – it could hardly be worse – but certainly not as good as the one which played at Elland Road two years ago losing 2-1.

Peter Jackson has been given a one year contract as manager following his interim spell towards the end of last season, what are your thoughts on him – is he the right man for the job?

The best thing about Peter Jackson – aside from his rare blood make up – is that he is unimpressive. He does not arrive as the promotion expert as Peter Taylor did nor is he the club legend that Stuart McCall was so he is not expected to achieve instant results so he might get a chance to do his job before the support turns on him as it did his predecessors.

Jackson does not offer any quick fixes. He has a bit of passion for the club which is good and he is prepared to work hard.

Who are the players we should be keeping an eye on in the Bradford City team?

James Hanson is developing into a fine player having added to his game in the last two years since he joined from non-league and the same might be said about David Syers at the end of the year. Both scored against Nottingham Forest in the First Round of the League Cup last season in a game we won but that had no impact on the season at all which perhaps might be the context of this game should either of us follow up our opening day defeats with further losses.

It is said that we will be fielding a new goalkeeper the other two being unavailable. That has a Neville Southall ring to it.

We’ve gone for an all black away shirt with illuminous yellow stripes this season, but it seems you’ve decided to release an even worse one! Are you a fan of your new bright pink strip?

Yes. If you do not like the pink away strip is is probably because you have gone the wrong side of thirty five, bought a pair of slippers and think that all modern music is “just noise.”

If you could sign any of the current Leeds United squad, who would it be?

Andrew O’Brien, because he is the only one I have really heard of and he remains the best man marker I have ever seen. That said man marking is an utterly unused skill in League Two which is all about size so if you have anyone who is over six foot six then I’ll take him.

What do the Bradford City fans think of Leeds United? Pure hatred I assume?

I cannot speak for anyone else but I feel near total ambivalence. There is nothing at all positive about the Bradford City vs Leeds United rivalry. For Bradford City fans it recalls a lot of nasty things in the 1980s most of which both sides would hopefully rather had not happened. Leeds United do not want it because they prefer to be the junior partner to Manchester United in a rivalry that is even more lopsided than the one with City.

This has always puzzled me about Leeds United’s desire to consider Manchester United rivals. Ask a guy who does not follow either side what is more likely: Bradford City playing Leeds in the Championship play offs or Leeds playing Manchester United in the Champions League and they will tell you that the former is more probable than the latter.

The rivalry is negative, unwanted, and uninteresting. Until things get on the pitch that is when the games can be very good.

Finally, what is your prediction for the game?

That – thanks to the gate receipts and the Sky TV money – Bradford City will walk out of Elland Road £200,000 richer which will go towards the work that Christie is doing to start building a squad for improvement rather than a team to go all out for promotion.

Anything else I’ve no idea about. A seeded draw tries to make sure that the higher team wins and this game – in that context – is 27th plays 86th so a home win is an as expected but I’ve learnt to never try predict games.

The new away kit has come in for a fair amount of stick since it’s release. But could it be worse? Are there sports manufacturers out there capable of producing a more ridiculous kit than the glow-in-the-dark effort we’ve been lumbered with? See for yourselves…

Newcastle United goalkeeper kit – Puma

Goalkeepers often get short changed when it comes to the kit they’re lumbered with. They have to stand out from the rest of the team so you can easily spot them out of the corner of your eye in a congested penalty area.

Most club’s choose illuminous colours, or something that contrasts with the main kit. Newcastle United however decided a horrible brownish colour was the best bet – reminds me of nicotine stained wallpaper in a pub, getting increasingly darker the further up the wall you look.

Aston Villa away – Nike

I know what you’re thinking – ‘That pattern would look lovely on my kitchen floor’.

You’d be right too. That design wouldn’t look out of place on anybody’s kitchen floor. As a football shirt however, I’m not convinced.

Everton goalkeeper kit – Le Coq Sportif

I can only assume the logic behind this truly historic effort was that it camouflages the keeper from oncoming strikers. The Everton keeper can therefore hide until the striker gets right up in front of him, snatch the ball and boot it up the other end of the pitch before the striker realises what’s happened. Clever, but a truly awful kit nonetheless. Probably explains why Andy Lonergan didn’t want to play for them!

Bradford City away – Nike

Clearly what happened here was, Nike had already designed kits for all the good teams and by the time they got to Bradford City they had simply run out of ideas. Since Bradford sell roughly the same amount of kits as Pontefract Collieries, they figured a pink kit wouldn’t damage the reputation of a sportswear giant too much – after all, who will ever see it?

Juventus away – Nike

Someone at Nike clearly likes a touch of pink in their kits. Realising they’d lumbered Bradford City with the same colour, they gave Juventus an enormous star too – just to show they cared.

Brighton away – Errea

I deliberately left Brighton’s kit ’til last just in case it blinded anyone and you were unable to read the rest of the post. Sorry about that.

I hope the above examples have made you realise, it could be worse. Bradford City are a perfect example – already a football club nobody cares about, they’re now wearing pink to try and catch people’s attention.

Over the past decade or so the League Cup has become an absolute joke of a competition. With the big boys of the Premier League often progressing to the latter stages with a squad full of reserve players few have heard of, it undermines the experience for the smaller clubs who simply can’t compete despite facing supposedly weakened opposition.

The problem with English football these days – much like the Spanish league winnable only by Real Madrid and Barcelona – is that success is often reserved for only the smallest handful of teams. The gulf in class between those at the top and those further down has widened to such an extent there’s almost no point competing any more.

This time around however, the standard apathy with which I usually receive news of the draw was replaced by genuine excitement. Ourselves and Bradford City might not share the same kind of rivalry as Everton and Liverpool, but the two cities have expanded to such an extent it’s difficult to tell where one starts and the other ends nowadays.

What you have here then is real derby day stuff – something I’ve developed a bit of a taste for over the past few years since our well-publicised nosedive into the abyss (where the rest of Yorkshire’s teams reside).

Leeds United are often perceived as arrogant by the rest of Yorkshire’s teams due to the lack of respect we offer our neighbours. Most fans will dismiss any rivalry with those teams closest to us due to the fact we rarely get the chance to play one another. But what makes derby days so very magical for people like me who live in Leeds is that we all know supporters of the opposition – hell, I have about half a dozen family members who support Bradford who’ll definitely be amongst the 4,500 fans making the short trip to Elland Road, and that’s before I even begin to consider the amount of friends and colleagues I’ll have in attendance.

For me then, this is one of those rare occasions where the domestic cups deliver the kind of excitement they used to do when I was a kid. Regardless of what any Leeds fan tells you, we want to beat Bradford City – more than that, we demand it. The superiority complex that spawned flags and banners claiming we’re Yorkshire’s Number One team demands we keep these smaller clubs in place.

Bradford will arrive like an eager puppy, desperate to prove they can compete with the neighbour club that so often overshadows them. As Yorkshire’s biggest club Leeds United will have a point to prove. These opportunities don’t come around often, and a Bradford City victory is something we won’t hear the end of for years to come. A convincing victory then is the only scoreline that will satisfy. Bring it on…

William Shakespeare said “In time we hate that which we often fear” and who are we to argue with one of the greatest minds his time?

With that in mind, The Scratching Shed brings you a compilation of those who fear Leeds United the most. Enjoy!

Forest danger-man Robert Earnshaw

Leeds United head to the City Ground tomorrow to face Nottingham Forest in what will surely be one of the hardest tests of the season. Forest, like Leeds, lost their opening game of the Championship going down 1-0 to recently relegated Burnley. They will be hoping to make home advantage count against Leeds as they failed to get off the mark in the Carling Cup midweek losing 2-1 to Bradford City after extra time.

Nottingham Forest finished 3^rd last season and missed out on promotion losing in the play offs to eventual winners Blackpool. They will be hoping to get a first win under their belt as they push for an automatic promotion place. Despite being underdogs for this game, Leeds should be positive going into it, after a good 4-0 win in midweek against Lincoln, it is arguably the best time to face such a test before Forest have gathered any momentum.

With Robert Snodgrass and Max Gradel still unavailable, Leeds will again be reliant on the abilities of Sanchez Watt and Lloyd Sam in wide positions while hoping lone striker Luciano Becchio can make it three goals in three games. The primary concern for fans will be the ability of the defence to deal with the threat posed by Forest forwards Robert Earnshaw and Dexter Blackstock who between them scored 30 league goals last season. It may be that Simon Grayson sticks with the younger Alex Bruce who came in for Richard Naylor in the heart of defence against Lincoln City.

Leeds will travel to Nottingham without the weight of expectation that became all too familiar over the last few seasons and it may be of some relief to both fans and players that Leeds are back facing bigger sides, who like Leeds, will see themselves as belonging in the Premier League.

Leeds United’s last trip to the City Ground was in August 2007 and ended in a 2-1 victory thanks to a late winner from Jermaine Beckford. This will be the 81^st league meeting between the two teams, with both having won 26 a piece. Over 4000 Leeds fans will be making the trip to the East Midlands and will be hoping to see United pick up their first three points of the Championship season.

"You just listen to me Becks and we'll have this baby back in no time!"

Allan Clarke has added fuel to the never ending Jermaine Beckford saga by telling our leading goalscorer that Newcastle United aren’t a big enough club and he’ll never play for anyone bigger than Leeds. Quite right too. Clearly, this has annoyed a few barcodes mind.

Clarke said;

“Jermaine is doing a great job for Leeds, the fans love him, and he is already with the biggest club he’ll ever play for.

“Let’s face it, Leeds are far bigger than Newcastle, so Jermaine should stay at Elland Road and become a real hero there.”

A quick glance through the comments on the TribalFootball website is enough for you to get the jist of the Newcastle v Leeds row going on in there and what an amusing one it is too. Leeds fans agree with Clarke, Newcastle United fans don’t. (Shock!)

Newcastle point to their superior attendance figures as proof they are a bigger club. Ok, that’s a given, but then you have got a much bigger stadium and more reasonable ticket prices for the League you’re in. This leads to catchment area. Leeds is indeed the third biggest city in England and definitely has a massive area, but then so does Newcastle. An almost infinite supply of feeder towns with almost no noticable clubs to rival you and Sunderland. Let’s not forget, we have both Sheffield’s who are unquestionably big clubs, Hull and of course Manchester United (Although, admittedly we all have to tolerate their fans). Then there’s a whole host of smaller clubs with sizeable fanbases around here such as Bradford and Barnsley. In comparison, you have a monopoly over your area!

The fact of the matter is though. Who cares? You’re always going to get bigger attendances whilever you’re in a bigger stadium and higher league. We’d be getting plenty more in, in your position. You’ve already lost 8,000 fans since last season (although, I can accept ownership may be an issue – as it is with Leeds!)

Trophies next up. Leeds have three league titles, Newcastle have four. Leeds have one FA Cup, Newcastle have six. Leeds have two UEFA Cup’s, Newcastle have one. Leeds were robbed of the European Cup by a bribed referee (1975). Newcastle have never come close. What really matters here though lads is you’ve done nothing since the 1950′s, and three of your League titles were in the days before Leeds United even existed when your biggest rival was Bristol City. Hardly a massive achievement is it?

In fairness it’s been a while for Leeds too. Aside from our title winning season of 1992 under the legendary Howard Wilkinson (who then messed up and sold Cantona), Leeds haven’t done much since the 1970′s. That said, when it comes to football on the big stage, by which I mean Europe, Leeds are still the 14th most successful side in Europe in terms of matches played and won. We’re ranked there because of consistency, because over the decades we’ve qualified and competed in Europe much more than the rest of the English teams in that list - yourselves included. (You’re 87th)

Healthiest looking Geordie I could find... honest!

For me, that makes Leeds United the bigger team, but it’s all down to interpretation and whatever shade of tinted spectacles you happen to be wearing. For those of you in the black and white striped ones, you’ll point to a collection of trophies collected 60-100 years ago, whilst the ones looking through blue, white and yellow ones will point to Revie, Europe and consistency.

It’s an impossible argument that no one can win. I know this because I grew up in a small mining town near Leeds which is literally bursting with Geordies who came Southwards to teach us how to dig holes in the ground and pull lumps of black gold out. A lot of my friends therefore support Newcastle United, so I’m well versed in such arguments and know full well that they never end, and no one ever wins.

It’s totally irrelevant who is and who isn’t the better team anyway. The fact of the matter remains that Leeds and Newcastle are two massive clubs who have massively underachieved, had inept chairmen and find themselves lingering in league’s neither of them belong. Let’s focus on what really matters, which is getting back into a position where we can both challenge for honours once more.

…and as for Allan Clarke? Well, he is a Leeds United legend, he’s hardly going to side with you lot!

Grayson rung the changes to his side. Richard Naylor returned to the team and partnered Lubomir Michalik at the back, with Crowe and Hughes playing at full-back. On-loan Liverpool goalkeeper, David Martin made his debut and there was also starts for Hogan Ephraim, Tresor Kandol and Mike Grella.

After Ephraim’s fortuitous opening goal, Leeds never applied any real pressure. The best chances we had for the remainder of the first half fell to Kandol, who had a shot blocked by the Accrington keeper’s legs and a hopeful shot from Robert Snodgrass that went wide.

Accrington meanwhile probably had as many chances as Leeds including a free-header from a corner that their striker really should have buried. The lack of man-marking from the set-piece was a sign of things to come as the shaky Leeds defence made the game harder than it should have been.

The second half brought with it another early goal when Ephraim crossed for Kilkenny who headed home. 2-0 to Leeds and things really should have been wrapped up.

Accrington never put their heads down though and kept fighting. Had it not been for a lucky save from David Martin which flicked on to the post and came back out in to the path of a White shirt, Accrington could have been back in it. More fortune for Leeds as the woodwork came to their rescue again and the Leeds defence continued to scare the life out of the 12,000 inside Elland Road.

Grayson changed the front two with Kandol and Grella making way for Vokes and Gradel. Neither of the departing strikers will have been happy with their shift as they did little to threaten Stanley’s keeper throughout. Gradel forced an impressive save from the Accrington keeper late on, but the substitutes didn’t have much more luck than the two they replaced and Accrington continued to look the more likely to score.

Such was the state of Leeds United at the back, Simon Grayson made the decision to bring on Patrick Kisnorbo in place of Robert Snodgrass, effectively changing the formation to 5-3-2. Probably not something he’d expected to have to do before the fixture, but Naylor and Lubo just weren’t keeping the visitors at bay.

Leeds managed to escape the fixture with a clean sheet, but if todays team was supposed to show the quality of this squads depth then we have problems. I know Doyle is often seen as the weak link in midfield, but the job he does in suring up the defence is invaluable. His absence today was noticable throughout. The partnership of Lubo and Naylor didn’t work and the full-backs didn’t inspire much confidence either.

Elsewhere, Grella and Kandol never really had a chance to shoot. The difference between the two sides was only Leeds taking their chances. There were very few clear cut chances for the Whites as we rarely looked in a hurry to attack, but the ones we did have were converted. Accrington meanwhile will have been disappointed with some of their finishing, most notably the free-headet in the first half. However, they’ll also be cursing their luck with the woodwork coming to our rescue twice.

Regardless of how many changes we made tonight, we have to improve before the weekend. Southampton are a strong side and with Rickie Lambert upfront, they’ll be sure to punish such sloppy defending. The main thing is that we’re through to the final where we’ll meet Carlisle United. Although I’d have preferred to play the Leeds suburb of Bradford, we’re still in the race for Wembley and that’s the main thing.

TSS man of the match
I’m going to give it to the Elland Road woodwork tonight as without it, we’d have probably been knocked out on penalties. Hogan Ephraim deserves a shout too though. Although he did little to help out defensively (like the rest of the team) he got himself a goal and an assist, so an obvious choice.

A win for the Whites tonight could setup an area final against the Leeds suburb of Bradford. Leeds and Bradford last met in this competiton last season, when Leeds knocked the Bantams out with a 2-1 win at Elland Road. That day, Andy Robinson fired Leeds into the lead early on from the penalty spot and Becchio added a second just before half-time. Bradford did pull one back late in the second half, but it was Leeds who progressed.

Whilst Leeds have a glorious history of dominance over our neighbours, we’ve never met Accrington Stanley before in a competitive match, so they’ll be an unkown challenge as they visit Elland Road for the first time tonight.

A couple of current players share a link between the two teams. Young Scottish goalkeeper, Alan Martin was on-loan to Accrington before Shane Higgs’ injury forced Leeds to recall him and another youngster, Tom Lees is also getting some first team experience on loan to Accrington. However, I’m under the impression that there’s some kind of mutual agreement between the two sides meaning Tom Lees will not play at Elland Road tonight.

Accrington Stanley are managed by John Coleman who has been in charge at the club for 10 years. He has a pretty impressive record overall having guided Accrington to three promotions (all as champions) during his 465 games in charge. He also holds the record for the clubs longest serving manager and so far this season, his team sit comfortably in mid-table in League Two, still with an outside chance of reaching the play-offs.

Robert Snodgrass will return to the team tonight after picking up a one-match ban for five bookings so far this term. Simon Grayson has also suggested that Sam Vokes will return to the squad after being left out for the draw away to Brentford. Grayson said that the reason Vokes was missing was because he had already selected five loanees which is the maximum allowed under FA rules.

I’d be disappointed if we failed to progress tonight. Success in the JPT would mean a trip to Wembley, which would be good for the fans and just as good for the clubs finances. The possibility of a derby match against Bradford City too is hard to ignore, and after two draws in the League, we need to get back to winning ways.