Leeds United were left embarrassed as they were knocked out of the EFL Cup on penalties by an extremely youthful Sheffield Wednesday side at Hillsborough.
The backdrop of Leeds’ trip down to Hillsborough on Tuesday evening was one of protest from the home fans, staying away and seeing the attendance figure amount to a meagre 7801 despite a sold-out away end.
Despite the bleak situation Henrik Pedersen was dealing with, a valiant display forced Leeds to penalties where his side came out triumphant as Daniel Farke was left with egg on his face.
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Leeds United dumped out of EFL Cup despite strong lineup boasting five full debuts
Leeds looked like they meant business with their lineup on Tuesday evening, naming five full debutants in Jaka Bijol, Sebastiaan Bornauw, Sean Longstaff, Noah Okafor and Lukas Nmecha.
However, United struggled for a breakthrough in the first hour before a shock setback when Jamal Lowe’s rebound from a tight angle squirmed through Karl Darlow’s legs for 1-0.
It prompted Leeds into their most important change shortly after as Jayden Bogle was introduced and scored the leveller just 10 minutes after coming off the bench, and alongside Willy Gnonto, were pushing hard for a winner with Dominic Calvert-Lewin on for his debut too, unable to find a breakthrough despite three big chances.
What followed was a brief penalty shootout as the Owls won 3-0 from three penalties each, Joel Piroe and Longstaff seeing efforts saved either side of Calvert-Lewin’s skied spot-kick.
(Action Images via Reuters/Craig Brough)
Sheffield Wednesday youngster mocks Leeds United with post-match reaction
As you might expect, the youthful Owls side were lapping up a memorable night against Premier League opposition and a Yorkshire rival.
Namely, Rio Shipston was keen to get his thoughts across on his Snapchat account from the dressing room, sharing a simple message for United:
He also shared his club’s Instagram post with the caption “easy” to his story, clearly happy to get one over United.
Leeds United made a laughing stock by woeful performance at Sheffield Wednesday
An EFL Cup exit isn’t the end of the world by any means and the most important thing was getting the new signings settled in as quickly as possible.
However, the new arrivals didn’t look coherent at all and we had no real fluidity in possession until Willy Gnonto and Jayden Bogle came on.
There are questions to answer for Farke as a result and after the loss to Arsenal, a big reaction is needed against another daunting prospect in Newcastle United.
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