Sheffield Wednesday v Leeds United 26th August 2025 – Carabao Cup round two please log in to view this image Well, it looks like we are in for a very long season and maybe not in the way we wanted. Seeing Leeds lose out on penalties tonight to a very young Sheffield Wednesday side, the worst thing was our penalties, they were disastrous. When the crowd started chanting Patrick Bamford who once skied one over the top of the goal, we had the same memory tonight. Our ninth signing made this week is 27-year-old Englishman James Justin, a defender signed from Leicester City on a four-year deal. Team: Darlow, Byram (captain), Bijol, Harrison, Piroe, Longstaff, Nmecha, Okafor, Aaronson, Gruev, Bornauw. Subs: Gnonto for Aaronson (58), Calvert-Lewin for Nmecha (58), Bogle for Byram (71), Stach for Gruev (71), James for Okafor (84). Subs not used: Perri, Rodon, Gray, Gudmundsson. Leeds drew the game 1-1 with Bogle equalising for us. The tie was decided on penalties which Sheffield Wednesday won 3-0. Attendance: 7,801 with 3,700 Leeds fans. The low attendance was due to the game being boycotted by their fans due to their battles with their owner Chansiri. Referee: Rob Jones. Booked: No Leeds players. The first half was a going through the motions game which didn’t set it alight. With so many changes in the side it told, as we were given a chance to see how our new signings would play, and I was right when I thought Sam Byram would be made captain for the game. Although Leeds had a lot of possession, their keeper saved a few shots, and they had a chance that went wide just before the break. The second half saw Byram’s header cleared off the line, but the game only really sprang to life when we made our first subs. From an attack towards the Leeds fans, Wednesday counter attacked and before we knew it the ball was in the back of the net with an own goal awarded. Darlow made the initial save but the second shot went through his legs deflecting off his foot. We stepped up the pressure with their keeper once again showing he wanted to keep us from scoring, with a double save from Okafor then Gnonto. Ten minutes after Bogle came on, the pressure paid off when he scored the equaliser after good play between himself and Gnonto in the penalty area. Sheffield Wednesday fought as if their lives depended on it, to keep us from scoring a winner in the second half. As our set pieces normally don’t clear the first man, it was good to see a low free kick from Stach which looked as if Calvert-Lewin was putting the ball into the net for the winner only to see it go wide. As the minutes ticked down to full time, my son sent a message asking if we had any good penalty takers, my response was, do we have any penalty takers? He said the minnows always win penalty shoot outs which proved to be the case. Piroe and Longstaff saw their keeper make the saves, whilst Calvert Lewin blasted his penalty over the top of the goal, so we didn’t score any! After the way the Leeds fans ended the game at Arsenal, it was a total contrast tonight as the team came to clap the fans. They were met with boos and lots of angry fans as once again we had been put out of a cup competition by a lower team and a young one at that. If we had put pressure on from the start of the game instead of taking an hour, I feel we would have won the game comfortably. I was just resigned to it at the end of the game, thinking here we go again. It’s not that I don’t care that we lost, but after the game everything paled into insignificance on hearing my friend John Redmond, one of our long-standing Irish fans, had lost his long battle for life tonight. My thoughts are with his friends and family at this sad time and puts things into perspective for me. I’ve no idea which players we will still have or who will be on their way by the time the transfer window ends, or who our strongest team will be, but the Newcastle game on Saturday will be a big test for us. It is still early days so I only hope that we can pull something out of the bag then. See you at Elland Road, LUFC - Marching on Together! https://www.followmeandleedsunited.co.uk/ Sponsored by Clearwell Pest Control https://www.clearwellpestcontrol.com/ please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
An awful night culminating in the passing of John. I didn't know him personally but he had many friends in the Galway Whites and they spoke very highly of him. RIP John
