We laboured to break down some stubborn resistance from League Two Harrogate Town, but in the end a 59th minute goal from Largie Ramazani was enough to take Leeds through to the fourth round.
There was an excellent turnout for this game on a bitterly cold evening, with kick-off put back to 5.45, the time when the temperature would start to drop even further. BBC iPlayer is…. Many Leeds fans from Harrogate had divided loyalties having grown up also following their local club in the days when they were a non-league side, thinking there would never be any conflict of interest.
It was always inevitable that there would be changes to the line-up, given the need to rest some players and give others a game, but there were several of the regular starters on the bench, ready to come on if things were going pear-shaped. But Piroe was out of the squad altogether with a bit of a problem with his thigh muscles, so we could be in danger of running out of strikers altogether.
I was a bit surprised to see Byram operating on the left and Schmidt on the right rather than visa versa, but I thought Schmidt had an excellent game, and it was hard to see why Farke has been selecting any option except him in the full back positions since he came. Hopefully he will now get a chance to impress against sterner opposition in the league.
Inevitably Leeds dominated possession for most of the first half, and for much of the time it looked like Harrogate couldn’t break out of their own half even when they wanted to, with the Leeds press usually winning the ball back when they tried to play out. But it was the same old problem of Leeds struggling to break down a ‘low block’ when the defence is working hard to keep us out.
Ramazani had a couple of good efforts, one fierce shot that was too close to the goalkeeper, and one which was blocked on the line after he cut in from the left. But there was one anxious moment when Harrogate had a good claim for a penalty, after Guilavogui leant on March as the pair came into the area and there was a clash of feet, but the referee might have thought the Harrogate man had gone down a bit too easily.
Our best chance of the first half came after one of the other rare occasions when Harrogate ventured downfield, when we got the ball back and made a quick break of our own. Joseph ran through the centre and took the shot on, but it came back off the post. You could tell by the look on his face that the lad needs a goal, and he knows it.
Otherwise the Harrogate defence proved to be very adept at making last-ditch blocks. One to stop a cross reaching Guilavogui’s head just a few yards from goal, and another to get in the way of a shot from Joseph, but the latter might have been going wide anyway. So it was goalless at half time, and the anxiety levels were ramped up even further in the early stages of the second half, when Harrogate seemed to be getting up a head of steam.
The away side forced a couple of corners, but it made a pleasant change to have a goalkeeper who could command his box and look confident in dealing with crosses. At the other end Solomon cut inside but clipped the bar, before the breakthrough finally arrived in the 59th minute.
For once, the Harrogate defence didn’t seem quite switched on, as Solomon was allowed to make his way into the area with no one closing him down, and Ramazani was completely unmarked in the centre, so he was able to pick his spot and head the ball into the corner of the next from close range.
Once we’d got in front a few big names came off the bench as Farke looked to shore things up and made sure we got through. Although the FA Cup isn’t a priority this season, we certainly didn’t want the embarrassment of losing to a League Two side. And the majority of the crowd didn’t want to have to get even colder while watching extra time and penalties, so we needed to hold onto our lead.
In the midst of the subs it was good to see Gruev and Firpo making a comeback after their injury problems, with no apparent ill-effects. But Harrogate weren’t beaten yet, and Darlow had to come out quickly to make a fine save from March. Certainly he did nothing wrong during the 90 minutes, and could well have done enough to keep the gloves for the next league game.
We should have put the game to bed with a late breakaway, but Joseph’s ball out to James forced our winger a little too wide, giving Belshaw time to get into position to block his cross. So there was some relief when the final whistle went a few minutes later and we were safely through to the next round.
Daniel Farke was gracious in victory when he spoke to the BBC. "It's never easy. For them, it's the game of the season or - for some of them - perhaps even the game of their lives. For us, it was important to use this game to rotate a bit, rest a few players, to give some minutes away”.
"You also have to respect the quality of the opponents. They defended really well and deep, with a knife between their teeth. Well done to Harrogate. I think they played an excellent game today in terms of defending but I'm also pleased we progressed through."
The draw for the fourth round is after the all-important tie between Arsenal and Man United this afternoon, and will be shown live on BBC1.