ATOMIC BAM’
1 3 Accrington no shams but it’s Patrick’s day
Savin ............................................... 6 Astley .............................................. 7 Tharme ........................................... 6 Rodgers ........................................... 7 Longelo ........................................... 7 Coyle .............................................. 6 Whalley ........................................... 6 Hamilton ......................................... 6 McConville ...................................... 6 Leigh ............................................... 6 Pressley ......................................... 6
Pickles (Tharme, 80) Quirk (McConville, 80) Nolan (Longelo, 81) Adekoya (Pressley, 81) Woods (Whalley, 86)
Meslier ........................................... 6 Kristensen ...................................... 6 Koch ............................................... 6 Wober ............................................. 6 Firpo ................................................ 7 Sinisterra ........................................ 7 Roca ............................................... 6 Greenwood ..................................... 6 Harrison ......................................... 8 Rutter .............................................. 7 Bamford ......................................... 8
Rodrigo (Sinisterra, 71) Llorente (Koch, 76) Perkins (Rutter, 76) Aaronson (Bamford, 77)
WHEN Jesse Marsch folded Patrick Bamford into a huge bear hug 15 minutes from the end of this cracking tie there was a significance far beyond FA Cup progress.
The Leeds manager knows that a fit and firing Bamford is a huge asset and one which few clubs at the wrong end of the Premier League possess.
Marsch called his forward a “weapon” and not in the derogatory sense.
A fifth-round tie in the cup offers an elusive thought of Wembley glory, but everyone at Elland Road knows it is topflight survival which will define the future of the club.
And here, against a robust Accrington Stanley, Bamford offered a glimpse of the weapon which keeps teams up.
His subtle touch and elusive movement provides not only space and time for the Leeds forward line, but a constant goals threat too. Bamford created two here and was unlucky not to have a couple himself.
“There was a big hug for him [Bamford] because we finally got him physically to a point where he was exhausted because he put so much into the match,” said Marsch.
“He looks like himself again, which is gigantic for him and us after what he’s been through in the past year.
It’s a huge step for him. It gives us the chance to really start to push Patrick and be the player we know he can be.
“That certainly gives us more of a weapon. We have weapons now, some big weapons in the team and we are ready for some big challenges now.”
Accrington were always a pace behind Leeds at the crucial moments, their defence so wary of Bamford’s touch and baffling movement, they stood too far off him.
Bamford set up Jack Harrison’s brilliant opening goal with a deft lay-off — even though the midfielder jokingly questioned whether it was simply a clumsy touch — and exquisitely delivered a second for Junior Firpo, his first for the club.
Rutter, 20, on his first start after a €40m move from Hoffenheim, benefited from the space Bamford created and showed “not just his pace, but his power too” according to his manager.
Goals are the key currency in a relegation scrap and with 19 year old Wilfried Gnonto also offering a glimpse of that rare quality, Leeds may suddenly have enough fire-power to shoot (right)
Deft
their way out of a bottom three ambush.
Yet they will need grit too and Harrison provides that. His goal and assist for Luis Sinisterra to wrap up the game showed a player committed to his team, despite a potential sale to Leicester.
And Marsch made clear his views on whether the midfielder should be sold by the Leeds board, saying: “All I’ll say is I really like Jack. We like him here. We want to keep him.”
The odds were not just stacked against Accrington, they were piled higher than the hills which loom menacingly over their impressive Wham Stadium.
In the end, the aristocratic visitors from across the Pennies ran out easy winners and could have scored many more, but Stanley emerged with more than just pride from their FA Cup fourth-round adventure.
It is worth at least €400,000 to a club that has slowly built a solid foundation for a town that prides itself on its football league status, after years without a professional team.
Manager John Coleman, who admits to admiring the great Leeds teams of the 70s despite being a Liverpool fan – “I wasn’t supposed to like them!”– says his team can be proud but more importantly, can take much in their fight to stay in League One.
“They’re a top team Leeds aren’t they? And yet you wouldn’t have known there were two divisions between us in the first half.
“We held our own, gave them a real contest,” he said.
“Don’t forget, we played 120 minutes in the [third round] replay against Boreham Wood on Tuesday night, so it was always going to be hard for us against such a quality team.
Tired
“Their quality showed when we tired in the last 35 minutes, but we look at it like this: if we play like we did in the first hour for the rest of the season, we will have a good chance of staying up.”
Stanley also got a goal to round off an historic afternoon, with the BBC cameras there to record 18 year old substitute Leslie Adekoya score his first senior goal and become the youngest scorer in this season’s competition.