Leeds withstand West Ham comeback to win on penalties

Leeds United's Jayden Bogle (centre) celebrates with teammates. Pic: John Walton/PA Wire.

West Ham United 2 Leeds United 2 (aet. Leeds win 4-2 on penalties) 

PASCAL Struijk sent Leeds United to Wembley with the winning penalty that broke West Ham hearts and ended an FA Cup quarter-final for the ages.

With all hope of a semi-final seemingly extinguished by a controlled Leeds display, the home side somehow roused themselves to force an extra-time period of unstinting drama.

The woodwork, disallowed goals, goal-line clearances and even the introduction of 20-year-old Finlay Herrick to make his West Ham debut for the injured Alphonse Areola, the additional 30 minutes had the lot.

When Herrick then saved the first penalty in the shootout from Joel Piroe, it seemed the FA Cup had found a new hero, until Leeds keeper Lucas Perri saved from Jarrod Bowen and Pablo as Leeds squeezed through.

Quite what effect this contest will have on the sides’ respective bids to stay in the Premier League is anybody’s guess.

A match that had seemed destined to end in a comfortable Leeds victory that may have had implications for their rematch at the London Stadium on the final day of the Premier League season next month, instead descended into the most memorable chaos.

It looked as though goals from Ao Tanaka and substitute Dominic Calvert-Lewin had sent Leeds to their first FA Cup semi-final in 39 years.

The trouble was, just as they have in their league campaign over the past two months, West Ham refused to accept their fate.

Within three minutes of each other, Mateus Fernandes and Axel Disasi scored injury-time goals to haul West Ham level and force a period of extra-time that was even more bonkers than the action which immediately preceded it.

Until West Ham’s extraordinary comeback, Leeds had looked the more determined side, although that could partly be explained by the respective team selections.

With West Ham hosting Wolves on Friday night, fully three days before Leeds visit Manchester United, manager Nuno Espirito Santo made six changes to his most recent Premier League starting line-up.

There was a freedom and a freshness about the early exchanges, perhaps because of the lack of pressure for league points or maybe more simply because the teams were their playing their first game in a fortnight.

Noah Okafor forced West Ham keeper Alphonse Areola into a diving save in the second minute before Tati Castellanos’s toe-ended shot was brilliantly palmed away by Lucas Perri at the other end.

The superb Jarrod Bowen had created that chance and he then met an Adama Traore pass with a shot that forced an almost identical diving save from Perri.

Leeds took a 24th-minute lead with an equally inventive move. Tanaka began and ended it, with James Justin and Okafor involved in between before the Japan international tricked his way past Soungoutou Magassa and found the net with a shot that flicked off Disasi and looped over Areola.

The visitors almost made it 2-0 nine minutes later. Max Kilman’s last-ditch tackle hurried Anton Stach into a shot that Areola diverted away for a corner.

By contrast, West Ham were creating very little except for a Castellanos shot over the bar.

It was hard to shake the impression at that stage that the home side would take an FA Cup semi-final if it came their way, but that staying up was their overriding priority.

How that changed after the interval with Pablo and Tomas Soucek introduced to start the second half.

Ethan Ampadu took a booking when he chopped down the speedy Traore as West Ham increased the intensity of their attacks.

They almost equalised in the 62nd minute when Castellanos headed a curling Adama cross against the base of the post.

Any hope of a comeback seemed to be swept away when Kilman mis-timed his tackle on substitute Brenden Aaronson and conceded a penalty.

Calvert-Lewin, brought on two minutes earlier, found the corner of the home net with his spot-kick, his first touch of the game.

The mass exodus of West Ham fans was halted first by the sight of 11 additional minutes being added and then, three minutes later, Fernandes stabbing home the rebound after Bowen’s shot from the edge of the penalty area struck the Leeds post.

Hope restored, Espirito Santo’s side showed the resolve that has seen them revive their Premier League season in recent weeks by finding a 96th-minute equaliser.

Again, Traore was involved, clipping in another inviting cross from the left which was turned home by the outstretched foot of Disasi for his first West Ham goal.

With extra-time looping, there was the odd sight of hundreds of West Ham fans streaming back into the arena having heard the roars as they were making their way home.

The drama continued just 30 seconds into the extra period. 

Castellanos chased a long punt forward and after Leeds keeper Perri rushed from goal but could only head the ball up in the air, the Argentine steered his shot home from an acute angle only for VAR to halt the manic celebrations by disallowing the goal for offside.

Back came Leeds, who seemed to have re-taken the lead when a combination of Areola and Soucek somehow prevented a James Justin shot from crossing the line.

As the end-to-end action continued, Castellanos was denied by Perri before Bowen struck the post again with another stunning shot. Pablo steered home the rebound on this occasion, only to be flagged for offside.

To cap the bedlam, an injury to Areola in the second period of extra-time thrust 20-year-old academy product Finlay Herrick into the searing heat of an FA Cup quarter-final penalty shootout for his West Ham debut.

The youngster, who has been at the club since the age of six, played 10 games for National League Boreham Wood earlier this season but nothing could prepare him for this moment.

West Ham United (4-2-3-1): Areola 6 (Herrick 120, 6); Walker-Peters 6, Disasi 7, Kilman 5, Diouf 6 (Scarles 106, 6); Magassa 5 (Pablo 46, 6), Potts 7 (Soucek 46, 6); Bowen 9, Fernandes 6, Adama 8 (Mayers 120+5, 6), Castellanos 7 (Kante 106, 6).

Leeds United (3-4-2-1): Perri 8; Rodon 7 (Bornauw 52, 6), Bijol 6, Struijk 5; Bogle 6 (Piroe 106, 5), Ampadu 7, Tanaka 9 (Gruev 69, 6), Justin 7; Stach 6 (Aaronson 38, 8), Okafor 7 (Gnonto 69, 6); Nmecha 6 (Calvert-Lewin 69, 6).

Referee: Craig Pawson.