Leeds United Academy claim the extra point after edging past FC Halifax Town on penalties, following a 2-2 draw in normal time.
Halifax made a host of changes for their third tie in the new National League Cup, the squad also included new signing Lui Bradbury who joined earlier in the day.
The first real opening of the game came after fifteen minutes, nice play between the Leeds attackers saw Rhys Chadwick slide the ball into the path of Connor Douglas whose effort was well blocked.
Jack Evans then swung in a free kick which met the head of Zak Emmerson however his effort was easily caught by Rory Mahady.
Halifax once again got numbers forward, this time Adan George found space down the right flank before firing the ball into the feet of Andrew Oluwabori, Angelo Cappello’s overlapping run was then found by Andrew, but his effort was high and wide.
Leeds United academy opened the scoring ten minutes before the break as a long ball over the Halifax defence was not dealt with by Adam Adetoro, this allowed Rhys Chadwick to race through on goal before finishing composedly beyond Nathaniel Ford.
Owen Bray was the first man to head into the book as he scythed down Samuel Chambers.
Jamie Cooke replaced Emmerson at the break and was immediately involved, his run down the left was followed by a powerful snapshot from a tight angle that blazed narrowly over the bar.
Halifax kept pushing for an equaliser and this time it was Bray who had the chance to level, Oluwabori found the 21-year-old with a perfectly weighted ball, but Bray’s off-balance strike didn’t test Mahady.
Minutes later Oluwabori was at the centre of things once again, his tidy footwork gave him space to loft a ball towards the back post however the ball bounced all the way through to Adam Senior on the opposite flank, he himself then delivered, the ball fell kindly to Bray who controlled well before placing the ball perfectly into the bottom left corner.
Lui Bradbury and Florent Hoti were the Towns’ next changes as they introduced fresh legs in an attempt to claim all three points.
Joshua McDonald had Leeds first good effort on goal of the second half which Nathaniel Ford could only parry out into the feet of Joseph Snowdon for a simple tap in to retake the
lead. Following this Jack Jenkins replaced Owen Bray in midfield for the final few minutes of the contest.
The referee indicated three additional minutes at the end of the ninety, Town pushed, and they were rewarded for their efforts in the dying moments of the game. A corner ball created chaos in the box, Adetoro won the initial header, the ball then ricocheted around the six-yard box before Adam Senior smashed home.
The tie went straight to penalties to decide which team would be awarded with the extra point in which Leeds won 5-3
FC Halifax Town:
12 Nathaniel Ford, 5 Adam Senior, 2 Jo Cummings, 27 Adam Adetoro, 11 Angelo Cappello 78 (18 Florent Hoti 78), 6 Jack Evans, 23 Tom Pugh 69 (31 Lui Bradbury 69), 26 Owen Bray 84 (20 Jack Jenkins 84), 19 Adan George, 22 Andrew Oluwabori, 21 Zak Emmerson 45 (10 Jamie Cooke 46)
Subs: 1 Sam Johnson, 25 Ted Lavelle, 29 Billy Waters
Leeds United:
1 Rory Mahady, 2 Louie Dudley, 6 Daniel Toulson, 5 Reuben Lopata-White, 3 Joseph Richards, 4 Alfie Cresswell, 8 Rhys Chadwick, 7 Connor Douglas, 10 Joseph Snowden, 11 Joshua McDonald
Subs: 12 George Kenyon, 14 Coban Bird, 15 Freddie Lane, 16 Oliver Pickles, 17 Harvey Vincent, 18 Jacob Howard, 19
Oliver Boast
Referee: Stuart Morland
Goals: Chadwick 34, Bray 62, Snowdon 80, Senior 95
Yellow Cards: Bray 40, Pugh 66, Creswell 75, Lopata-White 83, Mahady 94
Red Cards: None
Attendance: 471
FC Halifax Town 2-2 Leeds United U21s (3-5 pens)
Read more posts by Finley Carter
