REPORT: LEEDS SEAL FA CUP PROGRESSION!

REPORT: LEEDS SEAL FA CUP PROGRESSION!

Goals from Mustapha Carayol and Souleymane Doukara secure a Fourth Round place...

LEEDS 2 (Carayol 45, Doukara 89), ROTHERHAM 0

Leeds team:  Silvestri, Coyle, Bellusci (Bamba 79), Cooper, Taylor, Byram, Bridcutt, Murphy (Cook 87), Carayol (Dallas 74), Antenucci, Doukara. Subs: Peacock-Farrell, Wootton, Phillips, Bianchi. 

Rotherham team:  Camp, Richardson, Broadfoot, Belaid, Mattock, Facey (Clarke-Harris 45), Green, Smallwood, Newell, G Ward (Derbyshire 78), D Ward (Ledesma 57). Subs: Cairns, Collins, Thorpe, Warren.

Referee:  Andy Woolmer

Booked: Clarke-Harris (Rotherham)

Att:  16,039 (1,344 Rotherham)

The Emirates FA Cup Third Round tie at home to Rotherham United saw Leeds head coach Steve Evans make four changes from the 1-1 draw with MK Dons a week earlier.

Mustapha Carayol, just over 24 hours after signing on loan from Middlesbrough for the remainder of the season, went into the starting line-up for his debut, while there was also a first start for young full-back Lewie Coyle and returns to the side for Giuseppe Bellusci and Mirco Antenucci.

United started brightly and looked to mount an early attack down the left through Carayol, only for his back-post cross to be stolen from the toes of Sam Byram, before the visitors had the game’s first real sight of goal through former Leeds midfielder Paul Green.

Marco Silvestri was equal to his low effort from the edge of the area with a sprawling save, while Antenucci threatened at the opposite end as his cross from the right was blocked inside a crowded area after working his way to the byline.

Grant Ward then dragged wide for the Millers from a similar position to Green’s earlier attempt, before the 34th minute saw Leeds test goalkeeper Lee Camp for the first time of the afternoon.

A delightful, floated cross from Liam Bridcutt found Byram at the back post, but Camp was able to get down sharply to beat away his goalwards header with a strong, two-handed save.

It signalled a strong end to an otherwise forgettable first half for Leeds, with the hosts starting to put Rotherham under some sustained pressure with a series of corners.

Souleymane Doukara and Byram both threatened from inside the area, before the lively Carayol broke the deadlock with a thunderous strike from 25 yards on right on the stoke of half-time after a clever cutback from Charlie Taylor.

The Millers made one change at the break, introducing Jonson Clarke-Harris, who was on target against Leeds at the New York Stadium last season, in place of Shay Facey.

But Leeds, who remained unchanged, were looking to pick up where they had left off and threatened twice in quick succession during the early stages of the second half.

Byram was involved on both occasions, first just being inches away from connecting with Bridcutt’s back-post cross after a strong run down the left from the on-loan midfielder, before firing into Camp’s arms after cutting inside of his marker on the edge of the area.

Liam Cooper then headed a Luke Murphy cross towards goal but Camp was again able to hold, before Rotherham started to apply some pressure of their own, twice threatening through substitute Emmanuel Ledesma.

Silvestri tipped the midfielder's low strike from range behind with a smart save, before Ledesma's 20-yard free-kick flew harmlessly over the Leeds crossbar.

Evans was prompted into his first change of the afternoon with just over 15 minutes remaining on the clock, replacing Carayol with Stuart Dallas.

The final act from the goalscoring debutant, who left the field to a standing ovation, was to drag wide from the edge of the area from a not too dissimilar position to his opener as Leeds chased a second.

Bellusci was then forced off with injury to be replaced by Sol Bamba in defence, and the Leeds captain came close to a second within five minutes of entering the pitch, sending a towering header high and wide after meeting Dallas’ free-kick.

Leeds' progression to the Fourth Round was then sealed in the final minute of the game, with Doukara taking advantage of a mix-up in the Rotherham defence to slot into an empty net and secure a Yorkshire derby victory to make it eight games unbeaten.

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