The Whites of Corberan beat Birmingham U23s on penalties at Elland Road.
Leeds United Under-23s manager Carlos Corberan has hailed the club’s fans after their Professional Development League playoff final against Birmingham City U23s at Elland Road on Monday afternoon.
A tight match attended by thousands of fans ended goalless after extra time and, after two Blues players missed their spot kicks, Jack Clarke stepped up to give the Whites a 4-2 win and ensure the title is theirs.
The first half was a cagey affair with the hosts dominating the ball but the visitors producing the best openings as Adan George, Odin Bailey and Joe Redmond all weighed in with testing efforts.
Leeds’ first chance of the game came in the 53rd minute when Mateusz Bogusz swung a free kick to the back post where Pascal Struijk forced a save from Zack Jeacock while Corey O’Keeffe’s header from a deep Bailey corner was hooked off the line 20 minutes later
Neither side could be separated come full time and after the 30 minutes of extra time, and so it went to penalties, where even though Bogusz missed, so did Joe Redmond and Caolan Boyd-Munce, before Clarke was successful with his effort to give the PDL title to the Elland Road side.
“I think today was a very positive day for our players,” Corberan is quoted by the Yorkshire Evening Post as saying. “They have lived an incredible experience. We came here to play the final full of people, it’s something unbelievable. It makes you feel proud of our club.
“It’s unbelievable how big this club is. They (the fans) have shown they have the Leeds feeling inside themselves. They are going to help the Under-23s. It is something unbelievable and makes us feel very proud. We also feel a higher responsibility because when they come here we want to give them happiness.”
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