Leeds United youngsters miss golden Papa John's Trophy opportunity amid calamitous penalty drama - YEP 2/11/22

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Leeds were knocked out of the Papa John’s Trophy on Tuesday night after failing to secure a result against Crewe Alexandra

By Joe Donnohue

Leeds United Under-21s head coach Michael Skubala named a strong starting XI for his side's final Northern Section Group B fixture in this season's Papa John's Trophy as the youngsters took on Crewe Alexandra at Gresty Road. Leeds were held to a 0-0 draw in normal time, despite fielding two full internationals in Mateusz Klich and Willy Gnonto, an England U21 defender, England U20 forward, two England U19s, a Norway U21 defender and a former Spain U21 international.

Skubala included Klich, Junior Firpo and Joe Gelhardt in his starting line-up away to the Cheshire club, who had made eight changes from their 3-0 defeat to Barrow last weekend, currently sitting mid-table in League Two. And it was to be the fourth tier side who were victorious on penalties after a calamitous shootout in which seven of the ten spot-kicks were missed.

Leeds went into the fixture knowing a win would guarantee passage to the knockout round of this year’s Papa John’s Trophy, and that a penalty shootout victory following a score draw would also be enough to leapfrog Tranmere Rovers in second place.

The match’s subsequent nil-nil scoreline at 90 minutes meant a dead rubber shootout would be played out, with both sides unable to progress in this year’s competition. Daniel Agyei for the hosts, and Klich for the visitors made no mistake with the first two spot-kicks of the evening, but the shootout soon descended into farce as seven of the next eight penalties were missed. Harry Christy saved from Tariq Uwakwe, before Junior Firpo slotted his spot-kick wide of the mark altogether.

Mateo Joseph saw his effort saved, before Crewe’s Bassala Sambou and Leeds’ Sonny Perkins both skied their penalties. Eventually, the hosts found the net with their final kick of the shootout, leaving teenager Darko Gyabi to level the contest at 2-2, however the England Under-19 midfielder’s attempt was saved, leading to muted celebrations from the home side.

Leeds Under-21s’ season resumes next Monday at home to Newcastle United in Premier League 2, before a two-month break between fixtures due to the World Cup in Qatar.

Leeds XI: Christy (GK), Drameh, Moore (Spencer 62’), Hjelde, Firpo, Gyabi, Klich ©, Perkins, Gnonto (Snowdon 62’), Gelhardt (Allen 62’), Joseph

Unused subs: Ombang (GK), McGurk, Miller, Debayo

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