Leeds knocks out Man United in FA Cup

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-01-04 15:11

MANCHESTER, England: Fallen English power Leeds dumped Manchester United out of the FA Cup with a 1-0 victory Sunday, condemning the 11-time winners to a third-round defeat for the first time in 26 years.

Manchester United's Wayne Rooney (R) holds off Leeds United's Richard Naylor during their FA Cup soccer match at Old Trafford in Manchester January 3, 2010.[Agencies]

Jermaine Beckford scored his 20th goal of the season after latching on to Jonny Howson's 50-meter (yard) pass in the 19th minute to give third-tier club Leeds its first victory at Old Trafford since 1981.

"I didn't expect that," Man United manager Alex Ferguson said. "I'm shocked at the performance. Leeds fought like tigers, you would expect that when they come to Old Trafford for an FA Cup tie. They are human beings, they can always surprise you."

Since Ferguson took charge in 1986, United had never lost in the FA Cup to lower-league opposition. And the club hadn't been beaten in the third round since Ron Atkinson's FA Cup holders lost to third-tier club Bournemouth in 1984.

"It's an unbelievable, tremendous result - it's been a long time coming," Leeds captain Richard Naylor said. "I'm really proud. We dug in when we had to."

Ferguson feared an upset against Leeds, which was relegated from the Premier League in 2004, and started with first-choice strikers Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov, but neither seriously troubled goalkeeper Casper Ankergren.

The killer blow for United came when Danny Welbeck lost possession inside Leeds' half and Howson's long pass landed at the feet of Beckford, who evaded Wes Brown to sidefoot a shot that crept in as 9,000 visiting Leeds fans held their collective breath.

"Beckford has got a lot of pace up front and we were caught napping, really," Ferguson said. "It was a bad goal for us to lose but the whole performance was bad."

Leeds tops League One by eight points but is 43 places below United, which is second in the standings after winning the last three Premier League titles.

"We had to be at full tilt and Manchester United had to be slightly off it," said Leeds manager Simon Grayson, whose side is unbeaten in its last 16 matches. "We have worked ever so hard to earn the right to get the victory."

Leeds was inspired by its surprise lead and Howson created another opening inside two minutes, but Luciano Becchio headed over the cross.

It looked to be a costly miss when Rooney broke free. Ankergren partially blocked the England striker's initial shot but the spinning ball headed toward the net _ only for Leeds' Jason Crowe to produce a goal-line clearance.

Tensions boiled over in the second half with Brown lucky to escape a red card. Welbeck was denied an equalizer by the right leg of Ankergren, who also thwarted Berbatov.

Having brought on first-team regulars Ryan Giggs and Antonio Valencia in place of Welbeck and Obertan in the 58th, not even the appearance of Michael Owen 10 minutes later helped. Owen scuffed an immediate chance when Valencia cut the ball back to him in a prime central position.

Leeds didn't sit back. Beckford dragged a shot wide and substitute Robert Snodgrass hit the crossbar from a free kick. But the failure to score again set up a nervy finale as Leeds defended desperately to stop United's stoppage-time attacks.

Not that Ferguson was happy with the amount of injury time.

"The referee gave five minutes of injury time - that is an insult to the game and the players out there," he said.

United, which had made eight changes from the side that thrashed Wigan 5-0 on Wednesday, must recover quickly with a League Cup semifinal against Manchester City on Wednesday.

Leeds, though, will have a fresh impetus in its push for promotion to the League Championship.

Leeds was a major power in the Premier League at the start of the century, reaching the Champions League semifinals in 2001, before the club gambled on qualifying for Europe's top competition every year by investing heavily through borrowing against future success.

The team failed to qualify for the Champions League the following season and the club's financial implosion began, leading to relegation from the top flight in 2004.

Leeds was relegated to the third tier for the first time in its history in 2007 after being docked 10 points for entering financial administration with debts of 35 million pounds (then $69.7 million).