Spen Valley 5 v Leeds 'B' 2- Saturday 24th January
This was Leeds 1st cup game of the season on this cold and frosty January morning & they were looking for a much improved performance from the previous weeks disappointment at Nottingham.
The early stages saw the home team with the slight upper hand & good work at the back from Adam Drake kept the home team at bay.
The midfield of Callum Barron, George Hamnett, Ryan Bedford & Jack Cooper battled hard but couldn't seem to carve out any clear cut chances.
It was perhaps slightly against the run of play that Leeds took the lead. A series of throw in's down the left hand side left Matty Booth with his trademark long throw finding the feet of Mitch Pattinson just inside the penalty area. His quick turn & shot looped over the head of the keeper giving Leeds the lead. 0-1.
Spen were quick to recover & a run & shot down the left saw keeper Nicky Myers pushing the ball onto his crossbar & out for a corner. Moments later another breakaway found Myers indecisive whether to come out to the approaching attacker & as he rounded the keeper his shot was saved off the line by Lawrence Wilson. Leeds perhaps a little lucky to be leading going into the break.
The 2nd half saw Leeds look the livelier team from the off & they dominated the early exchanges. It was Spen who were to level the score though as a failure to clear a corner saw the resulting shot deflected past the keeper. 1-1
Leeds continued to push & a poor goal kick from the Spen keeper found the feet of Ben Hinchcliffe. His pass was picked up by Kristian Smith who was clear though on goal but unfortunately his shot was well saved by the keeper. Spen upped their game and took the lead shortly after when another deflected shot gave keeper Nicky Myers no chance.
Leeds fought back but a harshly awarded free kick on the edge of the area gave Spen the opportunity to score again - the well taken strike easily finding the back of the net. 3-1
The Leeds defence were well up against it at this point with 2nd half substitute Oscar Turnbull kept plenty busy.
It was bad luck again that brought about the 4th goal when another deflected shot gave the Leeds keeper no chance at all. 4-1
Leeds bounced back & were unlucky when a Jack Carr goal was disallowed for offside. They got their reward shortly after as a Matty Wheeler cross was dropped by the Spen keeper and Ben Hinchcliffe was on hand to tap the ball home. 4-2
The game was finally put beyond doubt following another Spen attack. A move down the left, with a suspicion of offside, found the striker shooting for goal. His effort was stopped on the line by Todd Thackray only for the ball to come out again for Spen to score. 5-2
So an early cup exit for Leeds in a game that the home side seemed to want more than the visitors. Leeds are capable of so much more so lets hope they can pick themselves up ahead of another fixture against Spen in 2 weeks time.