Summary
And that’s all from me. Bye!
Updated
Overall, that was not a good advert for the Capital One Cup. A match characterised by a couple of bad tackles, a lot of bad shooting and an avalanche of terrible set-pieces is decided by a couple of bad penalties.
That Chris Wood penalty was terribly, terribly terrible. With Leeds already behind on penalties, he just had to hit the target. He didn’t.
Updated
Doncaster win 4-2 on penalties!
Richie Wellens sends Turnbull the wrong way, and for the first time in their history Leeds are out in the first round of the League Cup!
Wood misses! Doncaster 3-2 Leeds
Byram’s penalty was high. This one was HIGH! Bold and capital. Hapless.
Forrester scores! Doncaster 3-2 Leeds
Turnbull goes to his right well before the ball is kicked. Forrester goes that way anyway, and hits high into the net.
Byram misses! Doncaster 2-2 Leeds
Byram aims high to the right, but spears it too high, and it clears the bar by a couple of yards!
Williams scores! Doncaster 2-2 Leeds
The goalkeeper dives to his right, and Williams sends the ball high to his left.
Murphy scores! Doncaster 1-2 Leeds
Luke Murphy sends his penalty into the roof of the net, with the keeper again going the wrong way.
Tyson scores! Doncaster 1-1 Leeds
Tyson smacks the ball incredibly hard down the middle, and Turnbull dives out of the way. Which is just as well, really.
Antenucci scores! Doncaster 0-1 Leeds
Antenucci sends Stuckmann the wrong way and tucks the ball into the bottom left corner. Nice.
OK, penalties imminent. Leeds to go first.
Updated
Doncaster practiced penalties yesterday, holding a competition, which Paul Dickov won.
Score after extra time: Still Doncaster 1-1 Leeds
Given the quality of set pieces over the last two hours of football, this could go on for a while.
120+1 mins: Doncaster cross from the right, Turnbull catches, runs into Bellusci and stays down. Funny as it would be for one of the goalkeepers to injure themselves 20 seconds before a penalty shoot-out, he looks fine.
120+1 mins: One more minute.
Updated
120 mins: Leeds take the best part of a minute over taking a throw-in, and then lose possession immediately.
119 mins: Penalties are but a minute away. Taylor-Sinclair celebrates by whacking a cross beyond everyone and out for a throw.
117 mins: Main hares from the halfway line towards the penalty area, and then shoots wildly over the bar.
116 mins: The corner finds a team-mate in the penalty area! But only because the team-mate involved, Chris Wood, gave his marker a shove in the back. Free kick.
115 mins: Nice work from Murphy on the left, who eventually finds Byram, who can’t really do anything, is crowded out and gets a corner.
113 mins: Bellusci goes down clutching his leg. And then he gets up again. Presumably a bit of cramp. Whatever it was, it can’t beat Bellusci.
Updated
112 mins: It is raining.
111 mins: Coppinger takes on and beats Murphy rather nicely, but his cross goes to nobody in particular.
110 mins: Doncaster effortlessly parlay their corner into a Leeds throw-in.
109 mins: Forrester crosses from the left, and it might have dipped in at the far post had Turnbull not flappedc it wide! Another corner.
109 mins: As corners in this game go, that one was pretty magnificent. Still, it found only a Leeds head.
Updated
108 mins: Doncaster attack again, though, and win a corner after Bellusci clears a cross.
108 mins: A tired pass from Main hands possession to Leeds and ends a Doncaster attack. Main only came on in the 101st minute.
106 mins: And they’re back under way, for the final time!
105+1 mins: Tyson collapses under pressure from Bellusci on the edge of the Leeds penalty area, but the referee is not impressed. Moments later, the whistle goes to end the first half of extra time. The PA plays Shout by Tears for Fears. The words “these are the things I can do without” seem pertinent, as this tense but far from terrific encounter just keeps on going.
105 mins: Leeds hit the post! Antenucci goes on a lovely run, cutting this way and that, but then he holds on to the ball too long, runs out of options, has a speculative shot on goal and sees it deflect onto the near post! It bounces out rather than in, though, and Doncaster clear.
101 mins: Harry Middleston comes off, and Curtis Main comes on.
100 mins: Another Leeds corner, again taken short, again comes to nothing. Really, this is getting quite aggravating. Useless short corners, useless loopy corners, we’ve had all sorts of corners except the good sort.
98 mins: After another short corner and a bit of passing around the edge of the area, Cooper shoots high for Leeds. If any of these players have a spare pair of boots, it’s time to put them on. The ones they’re wearing are useless.
97 mins: Now Coppinger slides the ball across the penalty area to Wellens, who has to shoot first-time as various Leeds players throw themselves at him, and sends the ball high and wide.
96 mins: Taylor-Sinclair wins the disappointing shot of the evening award for a uselessly skewed right-footer from distance, after a free-kick was tapped into his path.
95 mins: Leeds have their best chance for an aeon! It falls to Byram, found by Antenucci running left to right into the penalty area and shooting back across goal, but Stuckmann saves with a strong right arm, the ball flying away to safety.
Updated
92 mins: Leeds win a corner, and waste it. The quality of set pieces has been dreadful in this game. There was one good Forrester delivery in the first half, but since then nowt.
91 mins: Leeds kick off again.
Score at 90 minutes: Doncaster 1-1 Leeds
90+4 mins: The referee blows his whistle, and we’re going to have another half an hour!
90+3 mins: And Leeds run down the other end and win a corner of their own! It comes to nought as well.
Updated
90+3 mins: Taylor-Sinclair shoots! Cheeky! And also unsuccessful. Turnbull saves.
90+2 mins: A free-kick for Doncaster, on the right of the penalty area, after a cross is blocked with a hand. What can they do?
90+1 mins: Into stoppage time we go, and there will be three minutes of it. At least.
Updated
90 mins: Coppinger crosses from the right, but by the time the ball reaches the middle Andy Williams is on the ground. Didn’t seem much in it, and the referee tells him to get up.
88 mins: Now Coppinger cuts in from the right and then shoots with his left foot across goal and wide. Great pressure from Doncaster, but no goal. Can they stop this game going to extra time? Um, please?
87 mins: And another chance! Tyson is played through on the right, he blasts the ball goalwards and Turnbull pushes out to Forrester, 20 yards out and off balance, who shoots high.
86 mins: Ooooooooh! A lovely cross from the right finds Williams beyond the back post, but he seems uncertain whether to head across goal and in, or across goal to Tyson, and heads wide of both goal and team-mate. Ever so close, though.
85 mins: Doncaster are throwing men forward – six of them in the penalty area as I type – but all they seem to be doing is getting in each other’s way.
84 mins: Wellens goes down in midfield, Leeds attack, the home crowd howls. Doncaster win the ball back and counter, with Wellens still on the ground. The home crowd roars.
Updated
82 mins: Which is cleared. Then Forrester shoots low towards the near post, but Turnbull gathers.
82 mins: Ooooh! A good move from Doncaster ends with Williams finding Coppinger on the right, and somehow nobody gets on the end of his cross. Corner.
79 mins: Lovely run from Tyson, who slaloms into the penalty area and briefly it looks like he’s going to go all the way, but Taylor, I think, gets his foot in the way at the last moment.
76 mins: A cross from the right towards Chris Wood misses its target, but finds McCullough with a handful of yellow shirt. The Leeds fans howl for a penalty, but get nothing.
75 mins: One more Leeds substitution, Sam Bryam coming on, and Mowatt coming off. This match is meandering at the moment, in dire need of a bit of quality or a moment of random good fortune.
72 mins: A substitution for Doncaster now, Nathan Tyser coming on for Cedric Evina to add a little quicksilver forward action to the equation.
70 mins: So we head into the final 20 minutes with the game tied at 1-1. So far, so exactly like the last two League Cup ties between these sides. Can Doncaster rewrite the script?
67 mins: That Leeds substitution happens: Doukara comes off, with Luke Murphy replacing him, and Chris Wood comes on for Dallas.
66 mins: Forrester gets to the byline, and then sends, yes, another loopy cross towards the far post, where it’s headed clear. Leeds, meanwhile, are preparing a double substitution.
63 mins: Half an hour to go. And then, perhaps, another half an hour after that. Doncaster are predictably dominant, but have only that Williams shot – eminently saveable – to show for it in this half.
60 mins: Another lovely Wellens pass set that chance up. Doncaster need to get him on the ball in the final third, and the chances will follow.
59 mins: Ooooh! Doncaster threaten again, with Williams turning on the edge of the area and sending a right-footed shot across goal, but Turnbull saves.
57 mins: Coppinger’s shot hits the wall, and Leeds escape. At the other end, Stuart Dallas sprints down the left and wins a corner.
56 mins: Forrester is fouled, just outside the D beyond the Leeds penalty area. A nice shooting chance presents itself.
54 mins: Coppinger spins nicely and thrashes a 40-yarder high over the bar, less nicely.
53 mins: Attendance latest:
Tonight’s attendance at Doncaster is 8,361, with 3,394 travelling #lufc fans. Thanks for your fantastic support!
— Leeds United FC (@LUFC) August 13, 2015
52 mins: Talking of Forrester, he cuts in from the right and scuffs a left-footed shot well wide from 20 yards.
52 mins: Another Doncaster corner on the right. This one is sent in with a bit of pace by Taylor-Sinclair, but doesn’t do any better than Forrester’s loopy ones.
50 mins: Doncaster have a corner, which they take short, and eventually send looping into the penalty area. Loopy corners are exceedingly frustrating. By the time they come down to earth the strikers have got bored and are looking somewhere else.
48 mins: The half starts with Doncaster pressing, without any particular focus. Leeds have Antenucci on his own up front now.
Peeeeeeeeeeep!
46 mins: We’re off! Again!
The players are back out, and Doncaster are ready to get us going again.
Updated
As for the match, it’s a tale of two terrible challenges from Leeds. One handed Doncaster a penalty, the other a one-man advantage.
“Easy? Better chance of round 3?” replies Robert James. “You did not see Brighton get thumped by Newport County a couple of seasons ago then I guess. And we had a team that made the play-offs then.” I’d take a 50% chance of victory over a 5% chance of victory any day, whoever the opponents.
Given Doncaster’s goalscorer, this would seem like the only possible half-time listening:
Half time: Doncaster 1-1 Leeds
45+3 mins: Jones heads it clear, and the half-time whistle goes.
47+3 mins: Forrester concedes a free-kick, 10 yards inside his own half, and the interval can wait until Leeds take it.
45+2 mins: We’re into the second and last minute of first-half stoppage time.
45 mins: Oooooh! Coppinger misses the best chance of the game for Doncaster. Wellens sets it up with a lovely, disguised pass to Evina. He pulls back to Forrester, but Coppinger’s bursting into the same patch of grass, reaches the ball first and spears just wide of the far post! Doncaster could really have done with either Coppinger or Forrester not being there.
44 mins: It looks a bit like Doncaster would like half-time to come, so their manager can tell them how to dismantle their 10-man opponents. And that Leeds would like half-time to come, so their manager can tell them how to avoid being dismantled.
42 mins: Leeds ping a free-kick from deep into the Doncaster area, where Wootton heads over the bar, with Stuckmann briefly caught in no-man’s land and worried.
40 mins: Here are a couple of screen-grabs courtesy of Sky:
RED CARD! Williams goes from hero to zero after being shown a straight red card. Watch on SS1. http://t.co/ImrqWtPzra pic.twitter.com/iVJvOMrw3J
— Football League (@SkySportsFL) August 13, 2015
RED CARD! Lewis Cook has been sent off and Leeds are down to 10 men!
38 mins: The Leeds goalscorer loses control of the ball on the right and flies in two-footed on Taylor-Sinclair, as the Doncaster player takes possession. Terrible challenge.
Updated
34 mins: And a shot down the other end, Mowatt trying to beat Stuckmann at his near post from a tight angle, but failing.
33 mins: Ooooh! Williams controls a long pass, scurries left to right across and into the penalty area, and then shoots. This time Turnbull saves.
GOAL! Doncaster 1-1 Leeds (Williams, 31 mins)
Williams strikes the penalty low to his right. It goes nowhere near the corner, and Turnbull goes the right way, but somehow he lets it in anyway.
Updated
Penalty to Doncaster!
Taylor-Sinclair finds Evina in the penalty area, and Wootton bowls him over. Penalty!
Updated
29 mins: Mowatt’s long-range shot flies high. And probably wide, it was hard to tell because it was so high.
28 mins: Forrester wins, and then wastes, a free-kick.
26 mins: “This is very uncomfortable,” writes Robert James. “As a Brighton fan we get a chance of a Premier League team if Leeds win, and a League One or Two team if Doncaster win. But Doncaster have great fans, a special place for me, last game at the Withdean, first at the Amex, and Leeds are … well … I am old enough to remember Don Revie’s not exactly genteel team. Do I go with the head, Leeds and a chance to play/lose one of the big boys, or the heart, Doncaster and the threat of humiliation to a fourth division club?” Seems straightforward to me: if Doncaster win Brighton will be seeded, and thus have a better chance of reaching round three. Ergo, support Doncaster. Easy.
25 mins: Doncaster win a corner, take it short and then pass to Taylor-Sinclair at the edge of the area, but he’s in the middle of falling over as he sends a weak shot at Turnbull.
24 mins: Ooooh! Doukara, looking bright on the right, runs into the penalty area and slides the ball across goal and out for a goal kick, as various team-mates throw themselves at it.
23 mins: The assist for that Coppinger chance came from Taylor, the Leeds defender, who inexplicably passed the ball to him in his own penalty area under minimal pressure.
21 mins: Cleared off the line! Doncaster come inches away from an equaliser! Coppinger sends the ball looping goalwards, and Bellusci hacks it clear!
19 mins: Williams backheels towards Wellens, but the ball is lost. It’s been pretty equal overall, unsurprisingly a bit hectic, but a moment of clinical precision has given the visitors their advantage. Their pace in attack looks crucial.
16 mins: Doncaster’s right-back was nowhere to be seen there, and though Rob Jones came across to cover he was in no way mobile enough deal with Antenucci’s run when the ball was passed into space behind him.
GOAL! Doncaster 0-1 Leeds Utd (Cook, 15 mins)
Antenucci motors down the left and shoots right-footed, across the goalkeeper, who palms out straight to Lewis Cook, who scores his first senior goal!
Updated
14 mins: Wellens tries to curl the ball around the defence and into the path of Williams, but doesn’t get enough curl, and overhits it, and Turnbull picks it up.
11 mins: Forrester crosses the ball in, and Cooper does well to head the ball clear with Jones right behind him (though surely offside, had he touched it).
10 mins: Bellusci uses his arm to lever his leap for a high ball, which then hits said arm, handing Doncaster a decent free-kick chance, 25 yards out.
9 mins: Forrester does well to hold on to the ball on the left, but is eventually forced to pass back to Wellens, and the attack peters out.
7 mins: Another Leeds corner, like the first high and loopy and unproductive.
6 mins: Leeds win a corner on the left, which is headed to a yellow-clad player on the edge of the box, who is forced to pass back to a team-mate, who is forced to pass back to a team-mate, who is forced to pass back to the keeper. Pressure.
4 mins: The big question so far is: are Doncaster’s floodlights rubbish, is Sky’s broadcast a bit dark, or does the Guardian need a new TV?
2 mins: A kind of attack from the home side, after Cook gave the ball away in midfield, but Forrester’s cross is a bit short, and Williams can only send it out for a goal-kick.
2 mins: A celebrity fan writes:
Donny rovers on sky sports !!! Come on lads!!
— Louis Tomlinson (@Louis_Tomlinson) August 13, 2015
Peeeeeeeep!
1 min: Leeds, clad all in yellow, get the game under way.
The players come out. The side of the ground which the cameras are pointing at is very sparsely populated, but the ends look pretty busy.
Leeds have never, ever lost in the first round of the League Cup. That’s quite the record.
And Uwe Rösler also had a chat. It wasn’t a very long one.
We have to take the game to Doncaster. We have to play the game the way our DNA is. We can’t react we have to act.
Asked if he’s practised penalties:
You know what, Germans always practice penalties. You know that.
Sky have just shown a pre-match chat with Paul Dickov.
I hope there’s no controversy. I’m really looking forward tonight. Big crowd, the players are really up for it and it’ll be a proper derby match. It’s a big game. We want to get as far in the competition as we can for lots of reasons: confidence at the start of the season, and also there’s a financial aspect.
They’ll be very organised, play with a lot of energy, they’ll have a game plan. He’s a top guy, a top manager, I’m delighted he’s back in.
Leeds make five changes to the team that started against Burnley on Saturday. In come Turnbull, Wootton, Antenucci, Doukara and Berardi.
Second-round draw latest: if Leeds win tonight they will be seeded and Brighton will be unseeded. If Doncaster win tonight they will be unseeded and Brighton will be seeded.
Tonight’s teams!
Doncaster: Stuckmann, McCullough, Butler, Jones (c), Taylor-Sinclair, Evina, Wellens, Middleton, Forrester, Coppinger, Williams. Subs: Marosi, Lund, MacKenzie, Main, Tyson, P McKay, Whitehouse.
Leeds Utd: Turnbull, Wootton, Cooper (c), Antenucci, Mowatt, Doukara, Dallas, Taylor, Cook, Berardi, Bellusci. Subs: Silvestri, Byram, Bamba, Murphy, Wood, Erwin, Phillips.
Hello world!
If you don’t count play-offs – and, just to be clear, you don’t – in the 96 years that they have both existed Doncaster and Leeds have only ever met twice in cup competition, and it can thus be classified as an extraordinarily rare event. On the other hand, this is the third time in four years that the teams have played each other at Doncaster in the League Cup in the month of August, and it can thus be classified as a surprisingly common event.
Both the other two have been won by the visitors, 2-1 in 2011 and 3-1 in 2013, though neither game was precisely straightforward: in the first match the teams were tied at 1-1 until the 83rd minute, and in the second they were tied at 1-1 until the 77th. You could surmise from this that whenever they play in cups Leeds win the match late on, and that they score a number of goals equal to the highest figure in that year, while Doncaster score a number of goals equal to the lowest figure in that year that isn’t zero. Tonight’s game will therefore finish 5-1 to Leeds, with their last four goals coming in the final 15 minutes.
Doncaster are managed by the former Manchester City striker Paul Dickov. Leeds are managed by the former Manchester City striker Uwe Rösler. They played together for a couple of seasons and Dickov considers his foe to be “a very good friend” and also “a fantastic guy” who has “all the makings of a top manager”. Dickov insists that “while the game is on, I will be doing everything I can to beat his team”. Rösler insists that “a natural part of my philosophy is rotating in a sensible way so the team which stared against Burnley will most likely not be the same team which starts against Doncaster”. Time alone will tell.
Anyway, hello. Here’s someone playing a nice song in a pigsty. No reason, I just like the song. And no, that doesn’t seem like a very sensible way to spell Andrea.
.png?w=600)
