I thought the last round at Derby was an anxiety fest, but this tie was off the scale. After a dreadful first half Leeds matched Birmingham City for the rest of the game, but needed to survive a penalty shootout to finally get through.

The last few days had seen much debate on social media as to how seriously we should be taking the FA Cup with Premier League survival not yet secure, but I thought that the starting eleven named by Daniel Farke looked reasonably strong. He gave some game time to a number of fringe players, all of whom have played for us in the league this season at some point.

But in practise it all looked rather disjointed for most of the first half, and few of the irregulars did anything to suggest that they ought to be playing more often in the Premier League. Buonanotte was only there thanks to this season’s change in the rules, having made one of his few Chelsea appearances in the third round, but it has to be said that the game by and large passed him by.

We didn’t seem to be able to match Birmingham’s workrate and willingness to close us down quickly, with the home side roared on by a raucous home crowd. When we got the ball forward we were forever getting caught in possession, giving the ball away with sloppy passes or going backwards. And from our first two set pieces Longstaff’s delivery was way overhit, so they came to nothing.

Birmingham were creating all the chances, the best of them coming when Gnonto’s header out from a free kick only went as far as Stansfield just outside the area, and his dipping half-volley was palmed onto the post by Perri. On a couple of other occasions we needed to produce some desperate blocks, and Perri had to get his positioning right to get behind a couple of fierce shots from distance.

Another anxious moment came when Vicente went down after a challenge from Longstaff, but just as I was waiting for the referee to give a penalty I saw him pointing the other way. With no VAR it was fortunate that the official was in a great position to see the dive, as it looked like a spot kick from further away.

Our best effort of the first half was a shot from distance by Longstaff which might have been curling in, but Allsop made a fine save to make sure that it didn’t. While I was wondering how on earth we’d got to the break with the scores level, Daniel Farke was giving the team a dressing down, and making the first of his changes.

Thankfully he had put a lot of our key players on the bench in case things didn’t go to plan, and Ampadu was sent out to get some control over the midfield in place of the hapless Buonanotte. And as soon as the second half began we were playing with a lot more energy, and were rewarded with the opening goal of the game on 49 minutes.

Okafor played the ball on to Nmecha on the left, and the big German got through one tackle as he made his way inside, before smashing the ball home from just outside the area. At that stage I thought we might take control and leave the Blues to rue the fact that they didn’t score while they were on top, but after a few minutes to compose themselves they were back at us, looking for an equaliser.

The home side continued to create chances, with a series of dangerous inswinging corners into a crowded penalty area causing problems for Perri. But they contrived to keep missing their opportunities , with Osman the guilty party on more than one occasion, shooting across the face of goal but wide when well placed.
And when they did get their shots on target from close range, Bornauw was there to make a last ditch block. Daniel Farke kept making substitutions to try to keep control as the game went on, so by the end we had pretty much a first choice team on the field, with the possible exception of Piroe, once Okafor had been forced off with a thigh strain.

We needed a second goal to seal a win at this stage, but Bijol and Justin both headed over the bar from corners. And just when I thought we were going to see the game out, Birmingham finally managed to score in the 89th minute. A corner was cleared by Bogle, but only as far as Roberts, about 25 yards out. The Birmingham man tried his luck and it deflected off Justin’s head to leave Perri with no chance of getting to it.

Six minutes injury time was announced, which was enough for both sides to come close to getting a winner. A long throw was cleared but headed back into the box by Aaronson and flicked on by Piroe, but Wagner reacted quickly to get into position to block Calvert-Lewin’s shot. But at the other end I thought for a few seconds we were going out of the cup.

Osman’s shot across the face of goal came back off the far post, and Bijol flubg himself to block the shot from Fujimoto when the Japanese seemed certain to score. So we went into extra time, and I was cursing this new fangled business of getting rid of FA Cup replays, as at this stage I would have much preferred to take the tie back to Elland Road.

Both sides continued to go forward to avoid the agony of a penalty shootout, and we wasted a couple of promising breaks as we never seemed to play a decent final ball at the right time. While for Birmingham Stansfield found space on the right to send a dangerous ball across the face of goal, but Osman shot over the bar from beyond the far post.

In the second half of extra time a fine touch by Bogle brought the ball under control as it dropped from on high and enabled him to play a superb ball through to Calvert-Lewin. DCL could have crossed to the unmarked Piroe, but instead chose to shoot from an unpromising angle, and Allsop was able to make the save.

Our final chance right at the end fell to Ampadu, but bounced to high for him to control the half-volley, and our captain could only send the ball over the bar. So penalties it was, and memories of our unfortunate shoot out six months ago at Hillsborough. All three of our players who missed that night were back to take penalties this time, and all three would redeem themselves.

From the third Birmingham penalty Perri got down to his right to make the save, and their fourth was sent way over the bar. Our first three penalties were all perfectly struck, so when Longstaff stepped up to take our fourth, he only had to score to win us the tie. He sauntered up and hammered the ball into the corner of the net as Allsop went the way, and somehow we had managed to win this pulsating tie.

In truth I’ve no idea how we managed to get away with that, but our FA Cup run rumbles on into the fifth round, and with it the debate as to how much further we want to go. The draw for the next stage is tomorrow evening on TNT Sport, and I for one will be switching on in my droves.

Reuters