By Keith Ingham
Leeds were dumped out of the cup this weekend, a 2-0 defeat at Elland Road by Millwall meant dreams of a walk down Wembley Way will have to wait for another year or three. It wasn’t a surprise that Daniel Farke used his ‘B’ squad as we all knew that just around the corner were trips to Watford and our nearest, not dearest challengers for promotion Sheffield United and a home clash with Sunderland.
But back in the 60’s and 70’s it was so different the FA Cup had real prestige. Leeds visited the old Wembley four times, in 1965 losing in extra time to Liverpool, drawing with Chelsea in 1970 before losing the replay at old farmyard (Old Trafford) before finally Billy Bremner lifted the old silver cup from it’s stand in 1972. They returned the year after, but in one of the biggest cup final shocks they were beaten by Sunderland. Montgomery and Stokoe et al.
Since those years the fare has been... shall we say, very thin. The year after, the Sunderland with Britain on a three day week due to power cuts lost at home to Bristol City, one year on Dickie Guy saved a Peter Lorimer penalty in the last minute to send them to Wimbledon for a replay. Johnny Giles finally breaking the ‘Wombles’ hearts.
It was in 1976/77 we reached our next semi final losing to those in Salford 2-1, they went on to beat Liverpool in the final. Next one was ten years later, in a run that saw second division Leeds beat QPR 2-1 before heartbreakingly losing 3-2 at Hillsborough to Coventry City who went on to beat Spurs at Wembley.
Recent times have seen under strength Leeds teams dumped out by Hereford at home, Rochdale, Histon , Sutton United and Crawley Town when even a ‘B’ lister actor joined in the fun as we lost 3-0.
There was one cup run that never will be forgotten, 2009/10 season beating the scum in their own backyard 1-0, the first Division One side to do it when Jermaine Beckford scored a great goal in the scum s#%thole ! They even took Spurs to a replay with a last minute penalty from Becks to take them back to Elland Road. Unfortunately Spurs won the replay 3-1.
There has been other notable wins and performances, but not as many as we would have liked. Maybe one day before I’m too old to travel, in a season where promotion or relegation aren’t the first priority, once again we will walk down Wembley Way and see another captain in the white of Leeds raise that trophy one more time.
MOT
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