Karl Darlow's own goal gave Sheffield Wednesday a 1-1 draw before they went on to beat Leeds United on penalties in the Carabao Cup tie at Hillsborough.placeholder image
Karl Darlow's own goal gave Sheffield Wednesday a 1-1 draw before they went on to beat Leeds United on penalties in the Carabao Cup tie at Hillsborough.
The all too familiar Carabao Cup embarrassment struck again for Leeds United as their season that started so positive just eight days earlier is already in sharp decline.
After the 5-0 drubbing at Arsenal they were looking for a reaction when up against a young Sheffield Wednesday side that has been scratching around just to put a team out on the pitch. But on this performance it is already looking like a long season ahead.
They may have been knocked out in a penalty shoot-out rather than in the 90 minutes and there may have been nine changes from the starting team that played in London, but it was a strong line-up with no kids so a display this inept at times was worrying for the much bigger tasks to come.
The attitude of the players in the first half left much to be desired and although there was significant improvement after the break there were still too many errors for Daniel Farke to take many positives from this tie, other than giving players vital game time.
The Wednesday goal summed up the Whites' night as Karl Darlow managed to fumble a low cross to divert the ball into his own goal.
After substitutes Jayden Bogle and Willy Gnonto combined for the former to equalise eight minutes from time it was then all about missed chances for new
signing Dominic Calvert-Lewin as he missed a gaping goal when stretching to meet a clever low free-kick from Anton Stach, was denied at close range by keeper
Ethan Horvath from Gnonto's great cross then could not get a clean contact onto another ball into the box by Bogle. He had also earlier sent a header wide.
And the penalty shoot-out that followed was probably the biggest embarrassment of all with Leeds failing to score any of their three spot kicks to go out 3-0.
Joel Piroe's penalty was easily saved by Wednesday hero Horvath, Calvert-Lewin's effort was blasted well over and Sean Longstaff's kick was also kept out the home keeper.
It was not a good night for any of the new signings in the starting line-up with Sebastiaan Bornauw and Jaka Bijol looking uncomfortable at times in a new central
defensive partnership. They were clearly rusty and in need of game time.
Longstaff was largely anonymous in the first half, although he did show improvement when moved into the more defensive midfield role with Ilia Gruev taken off.
Lucas Nmecha, in the number nine role, missed a couple of half chances in the first half and was a willing runner, but unable to make a big impact
And £20 million winger Noah Okafor rarely threatened to unlock Wednesday's packed defence.
United were too late to get the urgency in their play even if they did eventually manage 24 efforts on goal.
The home team were spirited, but limited and although organised at the back they should not have been able to get within eight minutes of winning the tie.
Manager Farke put on a brave face after the game, but will be unhappy at the missed opportunity to advance in the competition and the missed chance of
players to put their case forward for starting spots that were up for grabs for the return to Premier League action at home to Newcastle on Saturday.
He said: “We had more than 80 per cent possession, we had 24 shots and expected goals three point something, they were 0.7 in the first half and 0.8 in the
second. But somehow they managed to be one time in our box and out of this situation somehow they scored an own goal.
“Yes we simply missed too many chances and didn't score out of 20 corners or free-kicks.
“It sums up that normally our safest penalty taker, Joel Piroe – I've never seen him miss a penalty – is the first one that goes and misses. Then Dominic and Sean our most experienced players at the top level.
“Sometimes these types of games are written in the stars. Congratulations to Sheffield, they have fought really, really hard.
“We were the favourite and the favourites should normally win, but this happens quite often in a cup game.
“When you have so many chances and are so dominant then normally you should win, but in football it's not always fair.
“Yes we are self critical, the first half we we too static. The second half was way better, but we should have scored goals.”
On Calvert-Lewin's missed chances to score on his debut, Farke added: “He had three chances during the game and normally at least he scores two of them,
but I'm happy that he had the chances and had the movement.
“He showed his instinct again and for him it's a little bit like pre-season. He needed desperately the minutes to build up his fitness.
“We are not happy with the outcome, we'd have liked to go through into the next round, but there were many more things to think about. Some players needed rest and some needed minutes.”
Sheffield Wednesday 1
(Darlow og 63)
(Bogle 82)
Wednesday won 3-0 on pens
Carabao Cup round two
Tuesday, August 26, 2025
Wednesday: Horvath; Otegbayo (Emery 41), McGhee, Weaver; Fusire, Shipston (Bannan 81), Thornton, Siqueira (Palmer 81), Johnson; Lowe (Ugbo 65), Brown (Grainger 65).
Leeds: Darlow; Byram (Bogle 71), Bornauw, Bijol, Harrison; Gruev (Stach 71), Longstaff; Aaronson (Gnonto 58), Piroe, Okafor (James 84); Nmecha (Calvert-Lewin 58).
Referee: Robert Jones
Continue Reading