Leeds United v Birmingham City: Becchio earns a second bite
There was no magic in the air at Elland Road on Saturday; viral infections aplenty but nothing to suggest that two of England’s bigger cities had time to spare for the FA Cup.
The stadium’s attendance sneaked into five figures which is more than St Andrews can count on when Leeds United and Birmingham City replay this third-round tie next week.
That hapless addition to the fixture list came courtesy of a strike in the first half from Wade Elliott and one in the second from Luciano Becchio.
Birmingham’s manager, Lee Clark, flew the FA Cup’s flag at full-time, calling the competition an “opportunity to fulfil dreams”, but he was more effusive than most.
Even Mick Jones, the Leeds assistant manager who talked wistfully of “packed houses everywhere” in days gone by, said: “It’s been diluted by the Premier League.
“When I saw the crowd, it represented people’s feelings towards the FA Cup. That’s a little bit sad but I understand it. The big boys at the very top, they’ve brought the FA Cup to its knees.”
A virus had Leeds on their knees last week and it kept Neil Warnock there on Saturday – ill at home while Jones fulfilled his manager’s duties. It was, as Jones thought it might be, an absence in body rather than spirit. “I’ve never known my phone ring so much,” he said.
United all but quarantined their training ground in the days before their third-round tie, so rife was sickness across the club’s squad, and they fought with it still on Saturday afternoon. Rodolph Austin was sent home from Elland Road before the game and El-Hadji Diouf and Sam Byram took up places on the bench after contracting the bug.
Six changes in all were made by Leeds but Clark looked at a strong line-up and smelt a rat. “We got the news about the virus ripping through the place,” he said, “but their team was very strong. Was that a little bit of gamesmanship maybe?”
Jones refused to change his tune. “Most of the changes were forced by illness,” he said. “Half at least.
“It’s been a strange thing and we decided that the best thing to do last week was close the training ground down. The only people allowed in were people who were definitely fit and okay. Everyone else had to stay away. We locked the doors for two days, got everybody out the way, and if anyone came in with any of the signs then they were sent straight home.”
For all the chaos, Birmingham’s crisis was worse than United’s. Clark’s absentee list is so long that his squad had nine teenagers in it and not a single first-team striker but it was he who felt more aggrieved to be facing a replay after Becchio’s sharp finish on the hour negated a sweet goal from Elliott midway through the first half.
Birmingham have won at Elland Road already this season and in respect of the clubs’ style, not much has changed since October. Leeds suffered from the pace and invention of Ravel Morrison and Nathan Redmond, a makeshift but talent-laden partnership up front, and cried out for swagger and enthusiasm until Diouf and Byram took to the field immediately after half-time. Even then, the going was hard against persistent opposition.
Lain at home on his settee, Warnock listened to the first half on the radio and could tell that United’s performance was going nowhere. Their captain, Jason Pearce, nodded a header against Birmingham’s left-hand post 14 minutes into the game but his chance fell in amongst more created by City. Elliott found a way through in the 33rd minute when he dribbled around David Norris and, unchallenged on the edge of the box, picked out the corner of Jamie Ashdown’s net.
When half-time came, Warnock phoned Jones and first-team coach Ronnie Jepson and instructed them to replace Ryan Hall and Aidan White – anonymous presences on either wing – with Diouf and Byram. Hall’s substitution in particular highlighted the fleeting contribution made by the winger – a player who Leeds paid £150,000 for last week – both on Saturday afternoon and since his transfer to Elland Road on loan in October.
“He didn’t cope very well,” Jones said. “Whether Ryan’s like all of us, struggling with this virus, I don’t know but he didn’t look sharp or ready for it.
“He’s only a boy but it’s a big thing to live in the scenario of being at a top club. It’s something you’ve got to live with to be a top player and it’s something he’s got to learn about. If he’s going to be a top player, he’s got to come to terms with it.
“We gave the lads (Hall and White) a chance but I didn’t think we created anything from wide positions in the first half. When you’ve got players like Becchio and (Ross) McCormack, they need balls into the box and they need good crosses. Give them that and they’ll find the ball. It didn’t happen.
“To be fair, it was the manager who got the result. We spoke to him on loud speaker at half-time and from listening to the commentary he made the decision to change the team. I’ve got to say that it worked. Genius, eh?”
Becchio should have equalised four minutes into the second half when Birmingham played him onside from a throw-in and the striker drove a volley down the throat of goalkeeper Colin Doyle but he was on hand to force a replay after further chances slipped through the fingers of Redmond and Morrison.
The striker leapt to head down a long punt forward from Pearce and he anticipated Norris’ clever through-ball, slipping his marker and angling a shot inside Doyle’s far post.
It was the first of two set-backs for Birmingham who lost right-back Will Packwood to a badly broken leg six minutes later. The injury was suffered in an innocuous aerial challenge between the defender and Becchio and the extent of the damage told in the shocked look on the faces of City’s players. “They were all distraught,” said Clark. “Some of the more experienced Leeds players could see it was a horrendous one too.”
Redmond came within inches of winning the tie in Packwood’s name on 70 minutes, drawing a low shot across Ashdown’s goal, but a replay seemed inevitable from then on.
“When you’re 1-0 down at home you’re desperate for a result and we got that,” Jones said.
“Becchio missed a great chance by his standards 10 minutes or so before we scored and I was surprised to see him miss it. But he doesn’t freeze. Like all goalscorers, he kept his head, waited for the next chance and took it. It kept us in the hat.”