Leeds made nine changes from the team that beat Yeovil, and we made hard work of this tie, but eventually went through with a 48th. minute debut goal from Huntingdon.
Richardson and Heath were the only survivors from Saturday’s starting eleven, and they were joined by youngsters Howson, Parker and Weston, while the two loan forwards were back up front and Lucas got his chance in goal and Huntingdon came in for his first Leeds appearance.
The first half was rather poor fare for the millions watching on Sky TV, and Darlington had the best of the few chances that were created. Our former star Julian Joachim was looking lively and he forced an early save from Lucas, and our own defence caused problems for our keeper a few minutes later, with a dodgy backpass that he just managed to hack clear in time.
On the one occasion when we did have a promising break Andrews didn’t seem to have the confidence to try to run through the defence and have a shot, instead passing the ball to Westlake and giving the defence time to get back and clear the danger. Just before the interval Darlington had the best chance of the half, when Lucas made a fine save to keep out a shot from Blundell.
Clapham came on at half time with Parker moving into central defence, and the youngster was soon called into action in his new role, running back to make a perfectly timed saving tackle as Darlington broke into our area. Almost immediately Leeds went ahead with the first real chance we had created, as Howson’s corner dropped beyond the far post, and Huntingdon’s late run eluded the Darlington defence. He made no mistake and sent a powerful header into the far corner of the net.
The goal seemed to give our makeshift side a bit of confidence, and at last we seemed to take control of the game and make a few more chances, with De Vries getting on the end of a cross from his strike partner and hitting the outside of the post. And Portuguese winger Filipe Da Costa finally got the chance to play for Leeds when he came on for Thompson. After the frustrations of his transfer wrangle he looked eager to impress and went close after a good run through the defence and was always keen to track back and tackle, though he hit a shocking free kick near the end.
By now Darlington were mostly shooting from distance and straight at Lucas, but Green went very close with a shot that our number 2 keeper did well to turn onto the post with his fingertips. At the other end De Vries had a great chance to make the game safe, but he took a bit too long to chest the ball down, and Oakes had time to scramble across and make the save. Then with the last kick of the game Wainwright had a great chance to equalize but could only shoot wide, although Richardson had got across and might have been able to block the shot had it been on target.
So we held on for yet another victory in a game where we didn’t play particularly well, though rumour has it we might face a £5,000 fine for fielding too weak a side, even though we won. Although the league is undoubtedly the priority we are now only three rounds from the final, and if you’re dreaming of a trip to Wembley you can look out for news of the third round draw some time on Saturday.