Plymouth Argyle 1-4 Leeds United: Substitutes prove the difference — Mail 6/2/24
Plymouth Argyle 1-4 Leeds United: Substitutes prove the difference in extra time as visitors progress to FA Cup fifth round on rain-soaked night at Home Park
Goals from Gnonto and Galloway drew the sides level at the
end of 90 minutes
But Leeds pulled away in extra-time thanks to Summerville
and Georginio
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By ADAM PATEL
After 180 minutes of football across West Yorkshire and
Devon failed to separate Leeds United and Plymouth Argyle, Daniel Farke finally
turned to Crysencio Summerville in injury time and the Dutchman proved to be
the difference as Leeds scored three goals in extra time to progress to the
Fifth Round of the FA Cup, where a trip to either Aston Villa or Chelsea
awaits.
Summerville cut in from the left flank before arrowing a
superb right-footed finish in the 97th minute for his 13th goal of the season
and with nine minutes to go, the 22-year-old teed up another substitute in
Georginio Rutter, who doubled Leeds’ advantage before Ilia Gruev’s corner took
a touch off Ryan Hardie and ended up in the net to ensure a first defeat at
Plymouth for Ian Foster.
‘In the end, the scoreline was quite sobering for us, in
terms of their ruthlessness but we know how well we played over the two games,’
said Foster.
‘I said to the players after the game how proud I was of the
way we approached the game and made it difficult for Leeds,’ the Plymouth boss
added.
‘Today was nearly a perfect away performance. We dominated,
hit the woodwork three times, created so many chances and we showed great heart
to win the game,’ said Leeds boss Farke, as his side continued their unbeaten
2024.
Both sides went into the game without tasting defeat in the calendar year and with a place in the last 16 on the line, it was all square for just over an hour before Wilfried Gnonto finished wonderfully to give Leeds a much-deserved lead, only for Brendan Galloway to equalise with 12 minutes of normal time remaining to send the contest into extra time.
This was a game that both of these Championship sides could
have done without after a 1-1 draw at Elland Road but it was a full house at a
wet and windy Home Park.
Almost 2,000 Leeds supporters made the 600-mile plus round
trip down to the south coast and the visitors dominated possession and came
closest in the first half, hitting the bar twice in the opening 20 minutes
through Mateo Joseph and Joel Piroe.
Leeds shifted up a gear after the break and 66 minutes in,
the breakthrough came after they won the ball back in the Plymouth half and
moved the ball wonderfully before Glen Kamara drilled the ball into the path of
Gnonto, who took one touch with his left foot before smashing it into the back
of net with his right foot.
Both Kamara and Gnonto were taken off five minutes later as
Leeds looked to see out the game, only for Plymouth to hit back with a
well-worked set-piece.
Morgan Whittaker looped a diagonal free kick over to Ashley
Phillips on the right-hand side of the six-yard box and Phillips squared for
Galloway to chest home from a few yards out.
Farke threw on Patrick Bamford and Rutter in a bid to get a
winner before extra time and both sides nearly won it in injury time as Joe
Gelhardt’s strike hit the post and seconds later, Hardie’s strike was pushed
behind for a corner by Illan Meslier.
the moment of class to put Leeds ahead. Minutes later, he
turned provider for Rutter in front of the travelling support and a late own
goal from Hardie added the icing onto the cake to cue chants of ‘Wembley’ from
the away end.
