You wouldn’t have known we were two leagues below them

Coleman hails Stanley battlers but hates losing

‘JUST because someone has a bigger house and drives a better car than you doesn’t mean they’ll be better on a Saturday,’ John Coleman said after this. ‘Leeds United are a top team but you wouldn’t have known there were two divisions between us in the first half.’

Accrington Stanley’s long-serving manager does not do hyperbole and was not wrong. They were superb, deserving of a late consolation through teen Leslie Adekoya. Stood behind Illan Meslier, the home ultras, as they call themselves, bobbed and danced in unison.

Even though the tie was long done, Adekoya’s goal presented fair reward for an afternoon that, for a long while, felt as if it might stir something. For over an hour, Stanley were progressive and caused more problems than Leeds might have initially envisaged.

They unsettled Leeds — no strangers to being on the wrong end of cup upsets — and had a couple of things dropped differently Accrington may well have been added to a list of recent giantkillers who include Sutton United, Histon and Crawley Town.

As it was, they were left with Adekoya’s consolation, which gave this more of a realistic look — even if Leeds could have finished with far more once the game stretched.

‘We ran out of steam after an hour,’ Coleman added. ‘We’ve made a few bob out of the cup. We can’t grumble too much, but the day I’m happy getting beat is the day I pack in.’

Jesse Marsch may have wanted more killer instinct from his attacking players, with £36million Georginio Rutter dangerous on debut, yet the most important thing was getting out of here unscathed and refocusing on Premier League survival. That should become more achievable with the expected signing of Weston McKennie from Juventus.

‘We knew it would be a lot of long throws and balls into the box,’ Marsch said. ‘We handled it, we weren’t displeased with the fact it was an ugly game at times. We did what we wanted to do, which was take care of business and now we go on.’

Afforded the finest hospitality that this corner of east Lancashire has to offer in midweek — a seat alongside owner Andy Holt no less — Marsch had taken in Accrington’s extra-time replay victory over Boreham Wood alongside wife Kim. Quite what she did to deserve that nobody knows. Any goodwill vanished once Liam Coyle hammered into Junior Firpo. A tad late, it must be said, but Marsch’s protestations — flying down the touchline, arms enthusiastically waved — did not sit too well with Coleman’s assistant, Jimmy Bell.

Marsch was dealt the sort of volleys that his goalkeeper, Meslier, had earlier been plucking out of the sky from Sean McConville’s testing efforts. Bell jabbed his finger and sent some advice the way of the American, presumably along the lines of you’re in League One now with an EFL referee so please, sir, would you mind trotting back to your own technical area. Or something like that.

Leeds had become accustomed to their surroundings after an early home flurry. The Wham Stadium pitch, which has been a nightmare to keep following heavy snow and frost, was a credit to Ben Kay, the head groundsman who shot to fame during Chorley’s romantically reaching the fourth round two years ago.

It meant the tie flowed, a catalogue of saves and near misses. Leeds started to motor through

midfield with more urgency and that is what prompted their opener midway through the first half.

A quick move found Patrick Bamford just outside the box and he laid into the path of Jack Harrison, who thought nothing of cutting across the ball and fizzing it into Toby Savin’s bottom left-hand corner. He nonchalantly wandered back to halfway at around the same time as news broke that Leicester City had bid £20million for him.

‘All I will say is that I really like Jack,’ Marsch said. ‘Firstly as a person, one of the most incredible people I’ve ever coached. We like him here, we want to keep him and he’s performing really well.’

Accrington kept on coming. Meslier — who fumbled high crosses all afternoon — was alert to stop Aaron Pressley following a sharp break from a Leeds corner, while Shaun Whalley and Harvey Rodgers went close. Rodgers, a Leeds fan, will feel he should have scored from one of his two big chances just after the break.

Savin flung himself to deny Bamford and Rutter but this was done six minutes after the hour. Firpo got it and really should not have been allowed to gallop towards Savin in the way he did. Working possession inside from left back, he eventually collected a genius Bamford scoop to just guide it home.

The air had vacated the balloon and a third soon followed. Two minutes later Luis Sinisterra was stabbing home Harrison’s centre. Coleman conceded that they ‘fell apart’ momentarily.

But then Adekoya had his chance, seconds after coming on. Meslier palmed away Tommy Leigh’s shot but Accrington recycled it and the youngster clipped in.