Nine-man Leeds take giant step to ending exile

Preston 0 Leeds 2

With the first leg ending in a 1-1 draw at Elland Road on Friday, North End enjoyed the better of the first half but Leeds’ double strike just before the hour put them into the Championship play-off final against Watford or Crystal Palace a week on Sunday.

United, who had six other players cautioned, had defender Stephen Crainey and Richard Cresswell both sent off for two yellow cards.

It was a bitter contest which included a power failure at half-time, second-half crowd trouble and melees involving the two sets of players.

North End started on the front foot, with midfielder Brian O’Neil drilling just wide with just over a minute gone.

However, Preston suffered a blow after nine minutes when striker Brett Ormerod was stretchered off, with reports later suggesting he had a suspected broken leg.

It took almost half of the first period for there to be a shot on target but North End keeper Carlo Nash had to be at full-stretch to hold Richardson’s half-volley from just outside the area.

Almost immediately at the other end a Graham Alexander corner was headed back across goal by O’Neil but Danny Dichio failed to make sufficient contact with his own header to trouble Neil Sullivan.

After the restart — which was delayed due to a power failure — Leeds played with more purpose and a Richardson cross sparked panic in the Preston box before the ball was cleared by Claude Davis.

Leeds were starting to push their hosts further and further back and they broke the deadlock 10 minutes after the break.

From Kelly’s corner, Hulse’s run was not tracked and he made no mistake to thump a header past Nash.

Four minutes later, Liam Miller fed Hulse, who put the ball through a defender’s legs and picked out Richardson at the far post for the midfielder to sneak the ball past Nash.

Crainey saw red in the 68th minute after a tackle on David Nugent, but despite their numerical advantage, Preston were too frantic and the visitors were able to cope.

Even though Cresswell was booked for a second time for kicking the ball away, the visitors held on for six minutes of added time to book their place in Cardiff.

PRESTON: Nash, Mears, Davis, Alexander, Mawene, Ormerod (Whaley 10), O’Neil, McKenna, Stewart (Agyemang 45), Nugent, Dichio.

LEEDS: Sullivan, Kelly, Gregan, Kilgallon, Crainey, Richardson, Derry, Miller, Douglas, Lewis (Stone 88), Hulse (Cresswell 78).

Referee: M Thorpe (Suffolk).