FA Cup
Round 3: Saturday 02 January 1999
Rushden and Diamonds 0 - 0 Leeds United
(Half-time: 0 - 0)
Crowd: 6431
Referee: S Dunn (Bristol)
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FA Cup Rushden and Diamonds 0 - 0 Leeds United(Half-time: 0 - 0) |
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| « Wimbledon | Blackburn Rovers » | |
| Match Facts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Teams | Unused Subs | |
| Leeds | Martyn, Haaland, Woodgate, Harte, Granville, Halle, Bowyer, Hopkin, Wijnhard (Smith 61), Kewell, Hasselbaink | Robinson, McPhail, Ribeiro, Jackson |
| Rushden and Diamonds | Feuer, Wooding, Bradshaw, Hamsher, Rodwell, Heggs, McElhatton, Butterworth, Foster, De Souza, Underwood | Brady, Corry, Whyte, Wilson, Cooper |
| Scorers | Other Info | |
| Leeds | ||
| Rushden and Diamonds | ||
| Yellow Cards | Red Cards | |
| Leeds | Woodgate | Woodgate |
| Rushden and Diamonds | Butterworth, Foster | |
| Match Statistics | ||
|---|---|---|
| Leeds | Rushden and Diamonds | |
| Corners won | ? | ? |
| Fouls committed | ? | ? |
| Hit woodwork | ? | ? |
| Offsides committed | ? | ? |
| Shirt numbers of goalscorers | 0 | 0 |
| Yellow cards | 1 | 2 |
| Red cards | 1 | 0 |
| Match Reports | |
|---|---|
| Fans' Reports | |
| Mick Clements | Rushden Match |
| Matt G | Can we play there every week? |
| ?? | ?? |
| Newspaper/Newswire/Net Reports | |
| The Observer | Talbot's Diamond Geezers |
| The Guardian | Leeds happy to survive Rushden's onslaught |
| The Electronic Telegraph | Diamonds a cut above |
| The Times | Leeds discover that Diamonds are genuine |
| The Sunday Times | Leeds have to fight all the way |
| Express Sport | Rushden vs Leeds |
| The Independent on Sunday | Talbot's gem of a result |
| The Independent | Diamonds' ambition shines through |
| Yorkshire Evening Post | Rush of blood costs Jon |
Oh no they're not, they're no mugs, closed us down and broke away easily. We lacked ideas and penetration, although their keeper did make a few good saves (but probably less than Martyn had to).
I'm sure their fans were singing "can we play you every week?" towards the end (which ranks alongside the "you're so shit you're worse than Hartlepool" we got at home from Darlington a couple of years ago).......plus no doubt Woody will be suspended for the return match.......(or will he miss his home team Boro?).
Despite Clyde's early scraping of the post - after they'd hit ours in the first minute - we were guilty of throwing away the first half by simply pissing about & trying to walk the ball into the back of the net e.g. we had 6 or 7 corners in the first half, the first few were 'Thorp Arch specials' ie Harte & Hopkin arsing about, tapping it to each other & getting closed down (or the obligatory 'cunning one' deep to Kewell) rather than simply whipping 'em in.
After Woodgate was off (no malice, just pointlessly late) we were reduced to hanging on, and on on on (surviving 88th minute corner free-header horror).
Nice stands though, despite blinding sun in our eyes first half & wind-assisted rain in our faces the second half (even reaching us on Row M).
The best (worst) part is, the full suite of Match Of The Day cameras where there ('cos they thought we'd lose), so keep your head down at work Monday morning.
Ah, the magic of the Cup.
Also, R & D's tickets were only £7.50 full price, what do you reckon ours will be a week on Tues? Spend ten bob in the shop and get two free (like the Wimbledon game).
As Rushden's so close to home, it was nice to leave at 1.30 for a game, as opposed to 9.00 for a home game. Got to the ground just after 2 but the Car Parks were already full, so we had to go back into Irthlingboro to park. By the time we got back to the ground it was half past two and the other end, the Rushden end already looked pretty full. Neat little ground, better than most 3rd division grounds are.
Have to admit when the draw was made, I was happy but with us on a hiding to nothing I was quite nervous by the time the match began. Game started with us playing sort of 3-5-2,
Woodgate, Alfie, Harte
Halle Bowyer Hopkin Granville
Kewell
Jimmy Wijnhard
After an initial burst from them, they nearly scored in the 1st minute; we dominated for the next half an hour and really should have scored about 3 goals. Closest was when Wijnhard turned his defender, his shot hit the post and rebounded to Granville, who should have scored, his shot back was going wide but Hopkin failed to divert it in from a few yards. Plenty of other chances, Jimmy seemed strangely reluctant to shoot at times, Wijnhard worked very hard but just doesn't have enough quality and various shots seemed to hit as oppose to be saved by the keeper. Woodgate and Harte were getting plenty of chances to bring the ball forward, but got confused when they reached the edge of the area. Granville as well had plenty of shooting chances but is very one footed and kept cutting back onto his left. Towards the end of the 1st half, Martyn was forced to tip a long range shot over.
At half-time we had a bit silly marching band, who left to chants of "Time to Go" etc, as well as a WATCOE. Just after h-t we got the chance to sing to Chris Whyte, "He Leeds and he's got no hair", who was one of the Rushden subs. More pressure from Leeds to begin the half, but you could feel the tension building as we failed to score.
Then with about 15 minutes left, Woody dived in on the edge of the area and as he'd already been booked it was inevitable he'd go. We really are short of centre-backs now Woody is suspended, maybe one of the Lards could step up. This shouldn't have been that much of a problem, but after that Rushden who hadn't threatened much til then, started to push us back. By this time we were collectively shitting ourselves every time Rushden came up our end and I was wondering how many days I'd need to take off work til the abuse stopped, if we did lose.
The chance came with 5 minutes left when we managed to lose their centre- forward from a corner and thankfully he spared us the nightmare of it being repeated Ronny Radford like on tele ad nauseum, by heading over. We held on to the end and to be honest we were pretty relieved when it was all over.
Given that we had a non-league teams fans singing "Can we play you every week" at us and we spent the last couple of minutes trying to waste time in the corner, it's pretty obvious that not many of the players deserve many marks. Only ones worthy of a mention, Alfie who played well out of position, Bowyer who worked his socks off as usual and Harry who was our main threat.
Newcastle on Boxing Day seems a long time ago tonight. Still at least I got home quick. Anyone going up the A1 through Bedfordshire for the replay?
Copy from Football Unlimited of 03/01/1999.
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Upwardly mobile Conference side Rushden and Diamonds earned a lucrative third-round replay on Tuesday week with a stirring performance, though after having Jonathon Woodgate dismissed 16 minutes from time it was arguably Leeds United who lived to fight another day.
Rushden dominated the second half, and the last thing we needed was to lose a centre-back,' admitted the ever forthright David O'Leary. 'We were already playing midfielders in defence. But having said all that we dominated the first half and should have scored when we had the chance.'
Copy from Football Unlimited of 03/01/1999.
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There was a luminous full moon hanging over Nene Park as the Leeds United players walked quickly through the cold night air and on to the team coach, hoping perhaps that it was not a portent of more non-league sorcery to come when the teams meet in the replay a week tomorrow.
David O'Leary had told his players to expect a hard game, which is precisely what they got. With Jonathan Woodgate dismissed for a second bookable offence in the 75th minute, the visitors were eventually grateful to be heading back to Elland Road with their reputations still intact. "Rushden played out of their skins," said the Leeds manager admiringly.
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