Football / FA Cup Fourth-Round Replays: Magilton's late show puts out Leeds: Oxford take honours in extra time
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Your support makes all the difference.Leeds United . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Oxford United. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
(aet; score at 90 minutes 2-2)
LEEDS UNITED'S season, a story of unfulfilled promise, became bleaker last night when they went out of the FA Cup. To add to their frustration, they had discovered an escape route away from embarrassment in this fourth-round replay before Jim Magilton's extra-time goal brought their downfall.
No one could argue about the justice of the result. Oxford, second-bottom in the First Division, appeared to be through to meet Chelsea when they led 2-0, thanks to goals by John Byrne and Chris Allen, with two minutes of normal time remaining. With the Elland Road crowd pouring scorn on the home efforts, Gordon Strachan and David White struck, however, to make the extra half-hour necessary.
It merely prolonged the agony and allowed Magilton to apply the final dagger thrust. He took it with an aplomb normally reserved for moments with less riding on them, sprinting on to Mike Ford's long pass before lobbing over Leeds' goalkeeper, Mark Beeney. Where the home centre-backs had disappeared to during this move was a mystery.
The defeat effectively ends Leeds' interest in honours. They have plummeted in the Premiership since just before Christmas from second to seventh and they were dismissed from the Coca-Cola Cup by another First Division side, Sunderland. But after they had come back from 2-0 down in the first match between these sides at the Manor Ground the belief that it might be their year in the FA Cup had thrived.
It proved to be a false hope. 'You go through the wringer,' Howard Wilkinson, the Leeds manager, said. 'Oxford defended terrifically, they ran heroically and were stubborn to the extreme but if you look at the number of chances each side created then the result is a joke. We went into every snare they set.'
The first trap was sprung in the 55th minute when Magilton took a free-kick in midfield and Matt Elliott headed the ball onward. Byrne and Chris Fairclough challenged for the knock-down and one of them - the scoreboard credited the former - got enough of a touch to mystify Beeney. The ball bounced innocuously enough but the goalkeeper hesitated, and by the time he did react it had crossed the line.
If that goal contained an ample sprinkling of fortune, there was nothing lucky about Oxford's second. Allen, galloping in from the left, exchanged a one-two with Byrne that cleaved a huge gap in the Leeds defence. Allen was not at the best of angles but he thumped the ball into the far corner of the net.
An indication of how Leeds' night had gone was provided when Wilkinson chose to remove both his strikers, Brian Deane and Frank Strandli, to pep up the home attack. Jamie Forrester, one of the substitutes, nearly got a goal back but his sliding shot after 77 minutes, which beat Oxford's keeper, Phil Whitehead, slid agonisingly wide off a post.
The crowd thought it was all over, and were leaving in droves when Strachan embellished his 37th birthday with the sort of goal he has rarely bettered. Cutting in from the right in the 88th minute he unleashed a ferocious shot that flew past Whitehead. Then, with seconds of normal time remaining, Strachan put over a corner from the right, a scramble ensued and White volleyed in.
The whistle marking 90 minutes blew moments later to emphasise the harshness of it all to the Oxford players. 'I went on to the pitch and their eyes were dead,' Denis Smith, their manager, said. 'They thought they'd lost it. I told them: 'It's 2-2, you can still win it. Keep fighting'.' Magilton, for one, was listening.
Leeds United (4-4-2): Beeney; Kelly, Fairclough, Newsome, Dorigo; White, McAllister, Speed, Strachan; Deane (Forrester, 69), Strandli (Wetherall, 69). Substitute not used: Lukic (gk).
Oxford United (4-4-2): Whitehead; Robinson, Elliott, Rogan, M Ford; Beauchamp, Magilton, Dyer, R Ford (Lewis, 98); Byrne (Cusack, 109), Allen. Substitute not used: Reece (gk).
Referee: D Elleray (Harrow).
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