Leeds United planned to take it easy on their Sunday afternoon in the second city but ended up having to work overtime against Birmingham City, only reaching the FA Cup fifth round after a penalty shoot-out.
Joel Piroe, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Sean Longstaff – all of whom missed spot kicks against Sheffield Wednesday when Leeds went out of the League Cup in August found the net this time, and with Lucas Perri saving from Tommy Doyle and Brenden Aaronson also scoring, the visitors won the shoot-out 4-2 after a 1-1 draw.
The FA Cup tie was only the fifth club game Ampadu – a regular for Wales too – had not started this season as Daniel Farke tried to give some of his regulars a rest.
You often notice the importance of holding midfielders more when they are off the field than on it, and Farke soon realised he had to get his captain on the field.
He was introduced at half-time and made an instant impact. Quite apart from the normal qualities he brings to the team – his passing, positioning and ball-winning – within minutes he was pressing in the face of Birmingham City goalkeeper Ryan Allsop.
It gave Leeds the urgency they needed after being outplayed by Championship opposition and within minutes they had taken the lead, Noah Okafor winning the ball and giving it to Lukas Nmecha, who rode a tackle and got a shot away quickly into the net.
Even that did not turn the tide, though, with Farke having to introduce Calvert-Lewin and Aaronson in the 68th minute, and Jayden Bogle to see out the last 10 minutes of regulation time, Joe Rodon for extra-time.
Most of the stand-ins – well, pretty much everyone in black – failed to shine.
HIGH JINKS: Leeds United's Jaka Bijol (left) clears the ball (Image: Jacob King/PA Wire)placeholder image
HIGH JINKS: Leeds United's Jaka Bijol (left) clears the ball (Image: Jacob King/PA Wire)
They were fortunate Perri did, and that Sebastiaan Bornauw, playing in a back four, defended well.
A deep corner found John Solis at the back post but he found the height of the ball and angle of his shot too tough to get on target. A couple of minutes later Demarai Gray cut inside and had a shot deflected. Jay Stansfield kept it alive but knocked it to Bornauw.
Perri, dropped after conceding four at Newcastle United in early January, did his cause no harm whatsoever with a wonderful left-handed save to tip Stansfield's shot high onto a post.
At the other end, Facundo Buonanotte, making his debut in the hole of a 4-2-3-1 was only justifying why he has seen so little football since his loan signing from Brighton and Hove Albion, hugely wasteful in his passing.
OUTJUMPED: Jay Stansfield (left) beats Wilfried Gnonto in the air (Image: Jacob King/PA Wire)placeholder image
OUTJUMPED: Jay Stansfield (left) beats Wilfried Gnonto in the air (Image: Jacob King/PA Wire)
It was no great surprise he did not reappear for the second half.
Ao Tanaka disappointed too making way at the three-quarter mark.
Solis did well to fire a long-range shot through the bodies in front of him, but could not trouble Perri with it. Kai Wagner's effort fell into the same category.
Wily Gnonto lost the ball dribbling where he ought not to and Gabriel Gudmundsson made a good block from Carlos Vicente's cross.
NUISANCE: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (left) battles Phil Neumann for the ball (Image: Jacob King/PA Wire)placeholder image
NUISANCE: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (left) battles Phil Neumann for the ball (Image: Jacob King/PA Wire)
Christoph Klaser won his header from the corner but put it into the back of Gray.
Gray easily beat James Justin for pace to a ball over the top but his cross picked Bornauw out.
Leeds finally started to get a foothold around the half hour and Longstaff forced a good low save from former Hull City goalkeeper Allsop but when a similar chance came his way late in the half, he did not catch it anywhere near as cleanly.
Even then, Birmingham still threatened, and Perri had to make a good 40th-minute save when Vincente picked Gray out. A couple of minutes later the winger was booked for diving in the Leeds penalty area.
Ampadu's introduction meant a change to a three-man midfielder but Nmecha's 50th-minute goal only increased the urgency of the Birmingham attacks.
Jaka Bijol had to make a good tackle when Stansfield got into a shooting position and Amapdu's tracking back stopped fellow substitute Ibrahim Osman having a tap-in at the far post in the 59th minute.
His wastefulness would cost Blues, curling wide when the ball found him in space at the back post in the 87th minute.
Bijol and Justin headed over corners won by the energy Aaronson was supposed to be saving, and Bogle would volley a shot into a defender but there was no question which team deserved to score the second goal – the one who ought to have scored the first.
It finally came in the 90th minute, a corner cleared out to former Middlesbrough player Patrick Roberts, whose shot was deflected beyond Perri by the head of James Justin.
Calvert-Lewin and Aaronson both had shots blocked but it was Birmingham who came closest to sparing everyone an extra 30 minutes of work.
Despite only coming on at half-tome, Osman had more chances than anyone.
He wriggled into space in the 73rd minute but his shot was deflected for a corner, then he had another effort blocked and put the rebound well wide.
So Birmingham will not have been confident when the ball fell to him for just about the last kick of normal time, and with Perri at full stretch, his effort bounced off the far post.
Leeds had a couple of glimpses in the first half of extra-time by going direct to Calvert-Lewin, but defenders stopped Joel Piroe and Bogle getting shots away and again it was Osman who missed the best chance, from a Stansfield cross.
Calvert-Lewin and Piroe had shots blocked and Calvert-Lewin one saved in the final 10 minutes of football. Ampadu volleyed over from the corner the last effort produced.
The breakthrough in the shoot-out came from the fifth kick as Perri plunged right to deny former Sheffield United midfielder Doyle. Aaronson sent Allsop the wrong way and when Roberts cleared the bar, Longstaff was able to win it.
The how never matters in the FA Cup, but Leeds' German manager would have preferred to win with a lot more efficiency on a heavy pitch.
When you have a cup record like Leeds;, though, you take what you can get.
Birmingham City: Allsop;, Osayi-Samuel (Fujimoto 81), Panzo (Neumann FT), Klarer, Wagner; Doyle, Solís (Betteka 114); Vicente (Roberts 75), Stansfield, Gray HT); Priske (Ducksch 75). Unused substitutes: Beadle, Burrell, Mayo.
Leeds United: Perri; Justin, Bijol, Bornauw (Rodon FT), Gudmundsson; Longstaff, Tanaka (Piroe 78); Gnonto (Aaronson 68), Buonanotte (Ampadu HT), Okafor (Bogle 81); Nmecha (Calvert-Lewin 68). Unused substitutes: Darlow, Byram, Gruev.
Referee: S Hooper (Swindon).