Leeds suffered yet more Wembley heartbreak as a first half Enzo Fernandez goal brought a rare and memorable FA Cup run to an end.

Daniel Farke pretty much named an unchanged line-up to the one that battled at Bournemouth for a point midweek, Lucas Perri continued his run in the cup in goal in place of Karl Darlow.

Leeds should have taken an early lead when Brendan Aaronssen found himself one-on-one with Chelsea keeper Sanchez but rushed his shot enabling him to save with his legs.

But Leeds were increasingly pressed and frustrated by the London team, incapable of bringing their two most potent attackers Okafor and Calvert-Lewin into the game.

And Calvert-Lewin himself may have been in for an early bath when he was investigated by VAR for violent conduct for alleged hair-pulling on Cucurella, ironically something he was on the receiving end of less than a fortnight ago. But no offence was detected.

By then Leeds were a goal-down, Strujjk got into a horrible mix-up on the edge of the nix allowing Fernandez to head home the easiest of chances from the resulting cross

And Pedro thought he'd doubled the Blues advantage when his effort cannoned off the post. It surely would have curtains for Leeds had they gone in 2-0 down at the break?

They did start the second-half with more attacking impetus, Farke unusually chosing to make half-time changes, Bijol and Justin were withdrawn during the break in favour of Stach and Rodon. Stach was unlucky not to level when he drew a world-class save from Sanchez. Calvert-Lewin also missed the target with a header.

Leeds cause was further hindered with Chelsea's persistent timewasting from goal-kicks, throw-ins, fouls and the obligatory impromptu teamtalk whilst the keeper is treated for injury. Its shocking that a team costing One Billion has to resort to tactics like that against a newly promoted side who still have work to do to avoid the drop.

But it would be more than sour grapes to blame this for our cup exit. Leeds were poor in the first-half, they looked jaded from their recent run of games and too many players appeared to get stage-fright on the biggest stage in the English game.

Its hard to get over-critical on Farke and his team. Leeds have now lost their last four matches at the national stadium without scoring, just a sprinkling of players remain from the previous horror-show against Southampton in the play-off final two years ago.

And back in August I guess most of us would have taken going into late April with us going to Wembley and six points off the drop-zone?

A cup run in itself is a rariety and I fully expect us to secure safety on Friday night by beating Burnley.

Photo: Action Images via Reuters