00:01Leeds United manager Daniel Farker was under no illusions about the magnitude of the scare.
00:07His side survived at St Andrews. Following a dramatic 4-2 penalty shootout victory over
00:12Birmingham City, the German boss admitted that the hosts were the superior side in a
00:17physical opening half, noting that Leeds were out-muscled before a tactical shift at the
00:23break allowed them to regain control.
00:26Yes, it's always difficult. This is the reason why so many Premier League sides are not
00:30in the competition anymore. We are through. Yeah, also sometimes the underdog wins even
00:37in the away game. Today we were of course a bit the favourite but we didn't expect an easy
00:43game. So we played a really good championship side with a red top form, eight games on beat
00:48and run. It was for them of course a bit like a game of the season so far. For us
00:52we have
00:53rested also a few players, rotated a bit more and yeah, it's a difficult game. So
00:59Birmingham, you have to be honest, they were by far the better side in the first half.
01:02Out-muscled us a little bit. We changed the set-up at half-time and step-by-step we won
01:07momentum back. Went in lead, well taken goal by Lucas Metzger but yeah, it's football.
01:11Sometimes even in the 90s minutes you can concede with a deflected strike and yeah, then we
01:17found a way also to show resilience to deal and get on with this sucker punch and had the
01:22chance also to decide the game in extra time but if it wasn't we then we wanted to use
01:26the penalties and I'm happy for the boys that they are through to the next round.
01:31Lucas Metzger's 49th minute strike appeared to be enough to see the whites through but
01:36a spectacular 89th minute equaliser from Patrick Roberts forced a tie into a gruelling extra
01:42time period. Frank reserved special praise for goalkeeper Lucas Perry whose fingertips saved
01:47on to the woodwork in normal time and decisive penalty stop from Tommy Doyle proved the difference.
01:54The manager also hailed the nerves of steel shown by Sean Longstaff who returned from a
01:59calf injury to play the full 120 minutes and slot the home with the winning spot kick.
02:05Of course also excellent in the penalty shootout. Yet not the easiest start to life here due to his
02:11injuries and the recent weeks anyhow but today he fully deserves to be in the spotlight deserves all
02:17the praise and he's such a such a smart intelligent human being he deserves also such a good day today.
02:24I want the full packed Ellen Road anyhow miss lots of supporters so so happy for our away support today
02:30was again second to none and I'm happy that we can spoil them perhaps not the better with the best
02:34football
02:35game but with the top result and they can cheer about this result but would be great to have a
02:40home game
02:40anyhow that we have a full packed Ellen Road and can hopefully then experience all together.
02:46Farker is now shifting focus to the fifth round draw from the fight for Premier League survival
02:50as Leeds are continuing their form and the hosting at Ellen Road has been almost impeccable
02:56throughout the season.
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