Leeds United were dumped out of the Capital One Cup on penalties on a night of cruel firsts at the Keepmoat Stadium.
Never before had Leeds been ousted at this stage of the competition but they became the ninth Championship club eliminated by lower-league opposition this week after the teenage midfielder Lewis Cook followed his first senior goal with a first-half dismissal. His departure came moments after Andy Williams converted a regular-time penalty following Scott Wootton’s inexplicable felling of Cedric Evina.
Although Uwe Rösler’s team took the Yorkshire derby as deep as possible, Leeds suffered defeat in Doncaster for the first time in 64 years when the substitutes Sam Byram and Chris Wood ballooned their spot-kicks over the bar. In contrast, Doncaster Rovers were clinical and did not miss a single penalty, with Richie Wellens sealing a second-round meeting with Ipswich Town after dispatching his side’s fourth past Ross Turnbull.
“I don’t think we should be too harsh on Lewis. He was excited about his first goal in senior football and he was probably in that moment, that split-second, a bit too excited,” said Rosler afterwards. “It was unnecessary that we conceded a red card and unnecessary that we conceded a penalty – but the players gave me everything.”
Although Doncaster dominated the chances, during the second half in particular, Leeds showed they have intensity under their German manager and struck the base of a post on the interval of extra-time when a twice-deflected shot from Mirco Antenucci forced Thorsten Stuckmann into a low save.
Doncaster’s manager, Paul Dickov, a close friend of Rösler during their playing days at Manchester City, said: “Cup games are all about getting into the next round no matter about how you do it. We had not beaten Leeds at home for a long, long time so to do that was fantastic.”
Leeds appeared to be bucking the trend of upsets this week when they took the lead before the quarter-hour. Alex Mowatt burst through the heart of the Doncaster defence, eyed up the far corner and was only denied by Stuckmann’s parry. But Cook seized on the rebound and swept into the unguarded net.
However, two pieces of poor judgment saw their lead wiped out and Doncaster gifted a numerical advantage before the interval.
First, Wootton tripped Evina in the penalty area when there appeared little danger. Andy Williams, who scored more than 20 goals with Swindon Town last season, stepped up to score his first goal since a summer switch despite Turnbull getting his left-hand to the ball.
Then Leeds were reduced to 10 men eight minutes before the interval when Cook’s lunge at the Doncaster left-back Aaron Taylor-Sinclair on the touchline left the referee Keith Hill with no option but to produce a red card.
