Leeds United beat Blackburn Rovers 1-0 in the EFL Cup this evening.
Leeds United’s Chris Wood celebrates
Leeds United are through to the last 16 of the EFL Cup after beating Blackburn Rovers 1-0 at Elland Road, and Noel Whelan has offered his view on the game to BBC Radio Leeds.
The Whites beat Luton Town in the last round, and having seen off Fleetwood Town in the first stage of the competition, they were tonight faced with Championship opposition in Blackburn Rovers.
Garry Monk’s men only beat Blackburn a week ago in the Championship, with Chris Wood and Kyle Bartley scoring in a 2-1 victory – and Wood was on the scoresheet again tonight.
General view inside the stadium before the game – Elland Road
Wood didn’t start the game, but came on as a substitute for Marcus Antonsson after 71 minutes, and popped up with just five minutes to play as he headed home from a scuffed Kemar Roofe shot at the second attempt.
It wasn’t particularly pretty, but Leeds picked up another win – a third in a row in all competitions – and are now in the hat for the last 16 draw, to be made on Wednesday evening.
After the final whistle, pundit Noel Whelan spoke to BBC Radio Leeds about the game, and suggested the win was thoroughly deserved for Monk’s side.
General view inside the stadium before the game – Elland Road
Whelan hailed the Leeds defence after keeping a second consecutive clean sheet, suggesting that Blackburn rarely troubled a ‘strong’ Leeds back line this evening.
Finally, Whelan drew attention to the impact of summer signing Pablo Hernandez, who he feels made an impression after coming on as a substitute – but thinks Leeds can’t afford to rely on their man players for too long, and other players have to step up too.
Nottingham Forests’ Henri Lansbury in action with Leeds United’s Pablo Hernandez
“Thoroughly deserved, the second half was pretty much all Leeds,” said Whelan. “Only at times did they really get behind our back four and cause us any problems. At the end of the day, we’re in the hat for tomorrow’s draw.”
“I think we coped with them pretty much all the way through the game. Defensively I think we’ve been pretty strong this evening, limited them to not may chances whatsoever. Very scarcely did they trouble us, but we seemed to up the tempo in the second half, and I think that was the difference.”
“Hernandez showed his trickery once again, getting in behind people and taking people on; we just looked a little bit sharper in the second half and I think that was the difference. We do have strength in depth, but we’re still relying on the main players to come on and make that difference, that’s the thing – can those players make the difference themselves and not have to rely on Wood or Hernandez coming on,” he added.
What did you think of Leeds’ performance against Blackburn?
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