It was the proverbial ‘game of two halves’ last night against Leicester City. After a very promising opening period we let the Foxes back into the game, and the tie was decided by an 88th. minute handball from Neill Collins.

As expected, Grayson made a few changes to his starting line-up. Mad Max came back for his first game since his suspension, while Somma also got a start after his heroics on Saturday. Bruce got a game at the back to give Naylor some much-needed rest, while Higgs was given a turn in goal as Schmeichel sat this one out on the bench.

Leeds started well, with Gradel putting in an energetic performance and looking determined to make up for lost time, but we took a while to create any decent chances. Our best effort in the early stages was a good cross from Gradel that just eluded Becchio. But as the half wore on we began to look more dangerous, and Bruce headed just wide from a corner.

And we took a deserved lead in the 32nd. minute, with the move starting from a long clearance from Higgs. Kilkenny played it wide to Gradel and his cross was met by an excellent glancing header by Somma, who steered it into the net. And we could have gone further in front before half-time, but a long-range effort from Johnson was turned away for a corner.

And after the break it looked like more of the same, with max creating another good chance as he twisted his way into the box, resisting the temptation to go down under the weight of a couple of hefty challenges. His shot was blocked by Logan, and from the rebound Becchio’s shot was scrambled away to safety. There were further chances for Johnson and Gradel, but Leeds were starting to run out of steam, and Leicester were able to claw their way back into the game.

Higgs made a couple of good saves, but the equaliser arrived in the 66th. minute, when a neat passing move ended with Wellens firing past Higgs from the edge of the box. After that Leicester continued to put Leeds under pressure, so Grayson decided to freshen things up by introducing Watt and Hughes in place of Becchio and Howson.

The game seemed to be drifting towards extra time when Leicester were suddenly gifted the chance to win the game with two minutes to go. There seemed to be no danger when a hopeful ball downfield found Collins all on his own inside the box, but our big dollop of a defender allowed it to bounce up and hit him on the arm for the inevitable penalty.

Howard sent Higgs the wrong way from the spot-kick and that was it, we were out. Maybe the defeat was undeserved, but it was all very disappointing after Saturday’s performance, when we had a good chance of getting through for another third round tie against one of the really big clubs. Let’s hope we can get things back on track when we return to league action at Watford on Saturday.

Photo: Action Images

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