Champagne and crisps on the menu for Warnock after superb cup win over Spurs
By Ian Ladyman
Leeds manager Neil Warnock was preparing on Sunday night to celebrate his team’s FA Cup win with a bottle of champagne and a bag of crisps.
Goals from Luke Varney and Ross McCormack were enough to beat a Tottenham side showing five changes from the one who drew with Manchester United seven days earlier. The visitors ultimately paid a heavy price.
Afterwards Warnock said: ‘This is a fabulous day for everybody and I thought we were fantastic. We’ve done this for the 1,500 supporters who followed us to Birmingham for last week’s replay.
‘When I was a kid these were the type of games that I loved. It was a classic FA Cup tie and I have to say that I don’t think we have got anything other than what we absolutely deserved.
‘When you put heads in and tackles in at the end, that is what I love about English football. When you see games likes that it is a fabulous advert for the FA Cup.
‘I’m on my own tonight. My wife and family aren’t up here so I will open a bottle of champagne and have a few tipples.
‘I may even treat myself to a bag of crisps as well.’
Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas went into this game without an out-and-out centre forward. England’s Jermain Defoe suffered a pelvic injury in midweek and may yet need surgery.
Defoe has had an injection in the hope of being fit for Wednesday’s fixture at Norwich but the fear at Spurs is that it nags away or worsens, requiring an operation.
Villas-Boas defended his selection at Elland Road and also refused to blame his team’s defending.
He said: ‘I had full confidence in my players and I don’t think I made aggressive changes from last week.
‘But we played against a team who were extra-competitive. All credit to them. They played well.’
'It's a fabulous performance,' Warnock told ESPN. 'It's a great day for us. The atmosphere was good, two cracking goals.
'There were a lot of heroes today. It was a typical FA Cup tie today.'
With Jermain Defoe ruled out through injury, Spurs relied heavily on wing pair Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon but the duo rarely got any change out of Leeds full-backs Sam Byram and Aidy White.
And Warnock was full of praise for his defensive duo after seeing two of the most dangerous wingers in the game kept quiet.
'I thought Aidy and Sam got done occasionally, but they've learned so much today against top-class opposition,' he said.
'It's not very often that Aaron Lennon has an ineffective game as he did today, and we handled Gareth well as well.'
Leading scorer Luciano Becchio was not involved for the hosts as a move away from Elland Road looms, but Warnock admitted the situation with his Argentinian striker had not been a distraction in the build-up.
'If I'd have thought Becchio would have been fit today or in the right frame of mind I would still have played this team,' he said.
'The lads knew on Wednesday I was going to play this team.'
Varney handed Leeds the lead on 15 minutes with just his second goal of the season, and the striker was delighted to set his team off on the right foot.
'We've set out all week to be positive and we're all delighted,' he said.
'The lads grafted and we really hung on at the end, but two quality goals eventually made the win so we're delighted.
'I was really pleased to start us off. Just buzzing to be fair.'