The Match

Pre-Match
United boss Kevin Blackwell counted himself fortunate to only be forced into making the one change following the 2-0 win over Burnley in midweek.

Rob Hulse, Shaun Derry and Liam Miller had all been doubts for the game, but had recovered sufficiently to keep their places, and in the case of Miller, special dispensation was granted by the referee for him to play with a cast on his fractured wrist.

Skipper Paul Butler was absent though whilst he served a one match ban. His absence gave Sean Gregan the chance to come in and stake a claim for a more permanent recall to the starting XI.
The Match

David Healy wore an armband in respect of George Best, his fellow Ulsterman who the Leeds striker regarded as one of his big heroes in the game.
The game itself, like the East End weather, had a cold start.  It wasn't until the 12th minute that anything of real note in the game when Rob Hulse nearly charged down a clearance from the rookie keeper, Colin Doyle, forcing him to mis-kick.

Three minutes later though Leeds began a spell of possession which would see them dominate the game without getting the goals to show for it.

Working their way around the Millwall penalty area, Healy fed Miller, the midfielder then spread the ball out wide to Hulse on the right and his cross met Eddie Lewis on the left of the penalty area where the USA international saw his shot come back off the post and hit the cornerflag before going out.

Two minutes later Healy let fly with a left-footed shot that struck the same post that Lewis did from just inside the area.   United were desperately unlucky not to have taken the lead.

On 23 minutes Sean Gregan body-checked Hayles as the striker prepared to get past him and ended up picking up his fifth booking of the season. Gregan, only coming into the side in the place of the suspended Paul Butler, now faces a one match ban - ruling out his chances of holding onto his place.

Just before the half hour Healy robbed Millwall centre-half Ady Williams and was unlucky that in doing so the ball went just far enough ahead of him for the keeper to come out and save.

Shortly afterwards Blake put a ball across the face of the area and neither Healy, Hulse nor Liam Miller were able to get a foot to the ball which Williams cleared behind.

Millwall meanwhile had not managed to get a shot off on goal, the furthest upfield they got was when they won a corner on 35 minutes which came to nothing.

United suffered a blow eight minutes before the break when Shaun Derry was forced off after the midfielder picked up what looked to be a hamstring injury.  Jonathan Douglas came on in his place.

Douglas went through on goal just before the break but he was halted by the keeper and his tame effort went wide - any claims for a penalty would not have come to anything with the referee having spotted the offside flag but allowing play to continue after he saw Douglas's shot was going nowhere.

At half-time Leeds knew they should have been at least one goal up, if not two.

A minute into the second half and Eddie Lewis was brought down two yards short of the penalty area by fellow American Zak Whitbread in a challenge that earned the on-loan Liverpool man a yellow card.  Matthew Kilgallon met Kelly's free-kick but couldn't direct it on goal.

Jonathan Douglas became the next Leeds player to earn a suspension when he too collected his fifth booking of the season for a foul on Alan Dunne ten minutes into the half. 

From the free-kick Millwall had their first chance of the game but wasted the opportunity with their captain Paul Robinson heading wide from six yards out at the back post.

Another good chance for Leeds after the hour mark saw Miller cross into the middle of the penalty area and Lewis looked set to break the deadlock but his goalwards header was blocked.

Rob Hulse was brought down for a free-kick five yards out from the penalty area and a debate began amongst Blake, Miller and Lewis as to who would take it.  Miller won the decision but shot straight into the wall. Liam Miller was then the third Leeds player booked for a foul on Hayles.

Hulse then latched onto a good through ball from Healy with 16 minutes left but put his shot wide of the advancing keeper and the goal.  An offside flag went up belatedly but Hulse would have normally been expected to have hit the target. 

Leeds could have lost the game in the last eight minutes when the ball fell to Hayles some 12-yards out, his shot was on target but Neil Sullivan pulled off a great save - really the first time in the match he had been given something serious to save.

Two minutes later Rob Hulse appeared to be bundled over inside the area as he chased a free-kick into the box, but no penalty was forthcoming from the referee.

The save of the game though came from Millwall keeper Colin Doyle, Kelly's free-kick went loose inside the area and Blake met it with a fierce right footed strike that was heading for the back of the net until Doyle somehow got a hand to the ball to turn it away.

The threat from Leeds wasn't over though but came to an embarrassing end when Hulse turned but lost his balance and swung a boot at the ball without making contact.

Healy could have won it just into injury time when he hit a low drive goalwards only to see it blocked almost on the line by Rob Hulse! 

Leeds looked destined to miss out on another chance to record a third straight win but in second minute of injury time the ball broke for Healy on the left of the penalty area and his shot cannoned off the helpless Millwall substitute Ben May past Doyle into the back of the net.

It was a huge slice of luck but had Leeds not won this game there would have been an inquest, especially after dominating the first half so much.

The Match

Pre-Match

United boss Kevin Blackwell was able to name an unchanged team following on from Saturday's win over Hull City.  It meant Richard Cresswell and Robbie Blake continued their partnership upfront with David Healy and Rob Hulse still on the bench.

The Match

Leeds are never quite at their best under the glare of the Sky cameras and the game itself didn't quite produce the excitement the TV executives may have hoped for from the opening quarter hour.

That didn't stop the United fans from enjoying themselves in the stand behind Neil Sullivan's goal after a six hour drive from Leeds. They were up waving their shirts over their heads from the start and at least gave the game a decent atmosphere.

Early action points saw Eddie Lewis deliver a corner straight into the keeper's arms, then at the other end Matthew Kilgallon was at full stretch to turn the ball away from Scott Taylor inside the area.

Kilgallon had been excellent in the derby game with Hull two days earlier and the England under-21 international was to be found in good form again.

Leeds first real chance came after ten minutes when Jonathan Douglas, fresh from his double striker against the Tigers, looked to turn provider with a cross behind the Plymouth defence that Robbie Blake came within a whisker of meeting but in the end the keeper collected comfortably.

Neil Sullivan's only real test was to hold onto a low drive from Plymouth's Hungarian midfielder Akos Buzsaky.

Midway through the half Stephen Crainey took a battering at the hands of Mickey Evans when they both went up for a header together, and the Scot required a bit of treatment.

The Whites, some 16 places ahead of The Pilgrims, began to play with the assuredness of a team towards the top of the table but still couldn't trouble Plymouth keeper Larrieu with any real chances.

It looked promising after another Lewis corner eventually saw Derry burst into the box with the ball at his feet but he could only win another corner as a fair tackle went in to take the ball away from him.

Leeds kept pressing on the edge of the Plymouth penalty area and gradually the chances started to come. Liam Miller played a pass quickly to Cresswell and the striker had a clear shot on goal but took too long and the tackle took the chance away.

The first effort on target came from Cresswell's clever back-heel after he met Lewis's cross inside the six-yard box, but the ball was plucked out of the air by Larrieu.

Just before half-time Robbie Blake's shot deflected off Jarrett and only just went wide of the right hand post.  Plymouth were starting to live dangerously and Leeds will have been disappointed not to have punished them for it at the break.

Neither side made any changes at half-time and it was Plymouth who had the first real chance of the half.  A cross was placed perfectly for Micky Evans but the striker didn't get enough power behind his header and Sullivan will have had fewer easier takes this season.

Miller's low drive into the box created all manner of problems for the Plymouth keeper who couldn't hold onto it and conceded the corner from which Leeds eventually got the opening goal.

It came on 53 minutes as another half-cleared corner fell to Eddie Lewis on the edge of the area who fired the ball back into a crowded penalty box where Cresswell just got a slight touch to turn the ball in.

Right on the hour it was 2-0 as Eddie Lewis produced exactly the sort of cross that Kevin Blackwell brought him to Elland Road for.

The cross was right across the face of goal and behind the defenders for Blake at the back post to hammer home. Larrieu got a hand to the shot but there was nothing he could do to stop Blake from claiming his second goal of the festive season.

It was well deserved for the former Birmingham City man, who had done everything he could but score in the previous game against Hull.
 
Blake had two more good chances almost stright afterwards to really kill off Plymouth's hopes of a comeback.

First Cresswell knocked it back towards him at the back post again and Blake tried to hook it back to goal with the ball slightly behind him, but it looped onto the roof of the net.

Then Good work from Lewis saw the American win the ball back for Leeds down the left and find Blake making the run forward.  He came close again as his shot across the face of goal skimmed the far post.

Ten minutes before the end and Leeds fashioned another good chance for themselves, again for Blake.

Liam Miller robbed Djordic in midfield and threaded the ball for Blake who cut inside and just didn't put enough power behind his curling drive to trouble the goal.

Wotton could have made the game more interesting had his shot gone from the edge of the area found the target, instead it nearly cleared the stand behind Neil Sullivan, a bystander in the second half.

Liam Miller was hacked down inside the penalty area by Kouo-Doumbe with five minutes remaining and Rob Hulse, who had only just replaced Robbie Blake, was given the task of putting away the spot-kick.

He stepped up and hit an unstoppable drive past Larrieu to score his first goal since October.

It was all too comfortable for Leeds in the end and they wrapped up a fantastic festive period with 12 points out of 12, also the first time they had won four consecutive games for nearly five years.

The Match

Pre-Match

After threatening to make multiple changes for this cup game, Kevin Blackwell instead made just the one - and it hardly weakened the team.

Rob Hulse returned for his first start in six games at the expense of Richard Cresswell, and that was it.  The cup may have come at an inconvenient time - just as United's league form had taken off again - but it was clear Blackwell was taking it seriously.

Wigan meanwhile had made eight changes to the side that lost 2-0 to Birmingham City.  With no Jason Roberts, who tormented the Whites in the Latics two victories over Leeds, nor African Cup of Nations bound Henri Camara, Paul Jewell's side appeared at first glance to be less of a threat than had been expected.

The Match

Leeds had two great chances in the opening ten minutes, both of them falling to a man who began his career less than 20 miles away from the JJB Staadium, United's loan signing from Blackburn Rovers, Jonathan Douglas.

The first of them came from a strong run by Eddie Lewis that eventually saw Stephen Crainey swing the ball in, Hulse flicked it on and Douglas was in the clear but the ball was just too far ahead of him to beat Wigan keeper John Filan, who managed to get his body in the way at the expense of a corner.

From it Douglas had another opportunity with the ball being cut across the face of goal by Liam Miller to the penalty spot, but the midfielder had to lean in to get his shot away and put it well over the bar.

Before then it had been largely all Leeds, and they might have done better when Blake found Lewis and the cross was swung into the six yard box but the keeper was just able to get there ahead of Hulse.

Wigan's best chance during the opening exchanges saw Matt Jackson's header plucked away by Neil Sullivan, otherwise Leeds had dealt comfortably with most things thrown at them, Paul Butler and Matthew Kilgallon looking particularly solid.

The home side had another decent one just before the half-hour mark when Alan Mahon's cross was met by Lee McCulloch 10 yards out, but his header was well saved by Sullivan.

Five minutes later it was Leeds who stepped up the pressure and began to threaten again. Kelly's chip into the box was well collected by Blake, but as the striker attempted to side step his man the challenge came in from Jackson and he went down looking for the penalty. He's have had more luck finding a pot of gold at the end of Wigan Pier.

A few minutes before half-time Eddie Lewis was taken out by a late challenge from Ryan Taylor that earned the Wigan man a yellow card. Lewis was fortunately able to continue after some treatment.

Leeds came out after the restart looking to be in deterimed mood and quickly fashioned a great chance. Lewis's cross deep into the area was missed by McMillan but fell perfectly for Blake who instinctively unleashed the volley - only to see his effort blocked by the defender who could have known nothing about it.

Wigan made United pay dearly for the miss as they broke and opened the scoring with a simple move.

Despite the attention of a few defenders, McCulloch managed to get a low cross into the six yard box that was simply turned home by David Connolly.   It was rough on Leeds but Wigan just showed some of the ruthlessness that has served them so well in the Premiership.

The home side were brought to life by the goal and only Eddie Lewis on the line prevented Connolly from getting his second goal.  They were forced into a change just before the hour when Alan Mahon limped off injured and was replaced by Gary Teale.

Leeds were not prepared to head for the FA Cup exit doors just yet, they produced a decent fightback and had Blake managed to connect with Lewis's flighted ball into the box, they would have been level.

David Healy made his entrance into the tie on 68 minutes, replacing Robbie Blake as Blackwell looked to freshen up his attack.

The Whites were seeing plenty of the ball but just not finding a decent finish, Miller shot over from a good position and Healy had one from a narrow angle charged down.

The United defence had been relatively untroubled by the Wigan forward line but all that was to change with the introduction of Jason Roberts.  Graham Kavanagh, another experienced campaigner, also came on. Wigan had therefore used all their substitutions and were left scuppered when Ryan Taylor went down injured and was unable to continue.  It meant they had to see out the last quarter hour with only ten men.

Leeds had a clearer shout for a penalty five minutes before the end when Cresswell was brought down four yards out but referee Graham Poll waved it away.  Paul Butler also appeared to be caught with an arm in the build-up.

With less than two minutes of normal time remaining Leeds got their lucky break and the equaliser.

Lewis took the corner, Kilgallon got a touch with his head and the Wigan defence failed to clear before Hulse, five yards out at the back post, swivelled and hammered the ball home.

Lee McCUlloch booked for a cynical foul with Butler that left the Whites skipper dazed and needing treatment. McCulloch could have won it deep into injury time but he shot straight at Sullivan.

United did more than enough in the end to earn a replay out of this game, and that will take place at Elland Road a week next Tuesday, 17th January.