Leeds United U23s: Whites topple Newcastle United to seal Premier League Cup progression
Joe Urquhart
Published: 21:25 Monday 25 February 2019
Leeds United progressed into the knockout stages of the Premier League Cup with a 3-1 win over Newcastle.
Leeds United progressed into the knockout stages of the Premier League Cup with a 3-1 win over Newcastle.
Leeds United Under-23s sealed progression into the knockout stages of the Premier League Cup on Monday evening with a 3-1 victory over Newcastle United.
Carlos Corberan named a strong starting line-up for the showdown with the Magpies as Will Huffer returned in goal following his loan spell with National League side Barnet.
United knew that victory would see them top Group H and qualify for the next round of the competition alongside the visitors.
The game got under way after a slight delay to proceedings with United having to swap from their usual White home shirt to their green training tops just moments before the first blow of the whistle due to a clash of colours.
Newcastle lined-up in their usual light blue away strip and it was the visitors who had the opening chance of the evening despite a strong start from the hosts.
Thomas Allan broke the offside trap and found himself one-on-one with Huffer but the winger rounded the goalkeeper and sliced his effort wide of the post.
Leeds made the most of the miss and took a deserved lead through Ryan Edmondson after 25 minutes.
Good work from Clarke Oduor opened up the visiting defence before the winger found Edmondson to his left who neatly placed a shot with the inside of his boot into the bottom corner despite a finger tip from Newcastle stopper Otto Huuhtanen.
United weren't ahead for long, though, as the good start was undone just two minutes later.
Jamie Sterry was given the freedom on the box to turn and shoot with the Newcastle captain seeing his effort take a big deflection which flew in the bottom corner of the goal.
The Whites went close once again in what was a tight affair just before the break as first Bryce Hosannah and then Jordan Stevens tested Huuhtanen once again.
Leeds were back in front just three minutes after the interval as Edmondson struck again.
Mateusz Bogusz was the architect as he won the ball back high up the pitch and drove at the defence before laying off for the striker who produced a lovely low finish into the corner of the net.
Newcastle responded through Allan as the goalscorer struck an effort from distance but it was the hosts who bagged again on the hour mark.
Oduor whipped in a corner which was met by Edmondson but his effort was cleared off the line before Pascal Struijk was on hand to fire the rebound home.
The two-goal cushion was enough to see Corberan's side home as they sealed all three points and progressed into the knockout stages of the tournament.
Leeds United XI: Huffer, Hosannah, Davis, Diaz, Halme, Struijk, Stevens, McCalmont, Edmondson, Bogusz, Oduor. Subs: Male, Haugland, Kamwa, Nicell, Kun.
Newcastle United XI: Huuhtanen, Sterry, Gibson, Watts, Cass, McEntee, Allan, M. Longstaff, Touré, Sørensen, Sangare. Subs: Barrett, Harker, Juanito, Young, Bartlett.
