Roofe nets hat-trick to help Leeds through.
Carabao Cup Round 2
Leeds United 5 (Roofe 44, 49, 65, Saiz 78, Vieira 89) Newport County 1 (Labadie 33)
Leeds United forward Kemar Roofe fired a hat-trick as the Whites thrashed Newport County to progress to the third round of the Carabao Cup.
The Whites made a good start to the game with debutant Eoghan Stokes combining well with Madger Gomes, the latter then fired at goal from range, but his effort was narrowly off target.
Newport almost took the lead inside ten minutes, Sean Rigg broke into the area after some good play by Lamar Reynolds, but his effort was denied by a super save from Rob Green.
Leeds had another good opportunity midway through the first half, Kemar Roofe did really well to break into the Newport box, he squared it to Gomes, and with the ball just behind the midfielder he tried a back heel, but couldn’t get the better of Joe Day in the Newport goal.
County almost broke the deadlock through Shawn McCoulskey, he fired a volley from a corner and Leeds had Vurnon Anita to thank, for heading clear on the line.
Luke Ayling went close on the half an hour mark, he fired a thunderous effort from 30 yards, which went just wide of the top left corner.
Roofe then did well to create space for himself in the Newport box and get his shot away, but he couldn’t beat Day at his near post.
However it was Newport who made the breakthrough in the 33rd minute, Joss Labadie tried his luck from long range and his deflected effort found the net, Green got down to it, but couldn’t prevent the ball from looping back over him and in.
Leeds leveled the scoring a minute before half time from a corner, Conor Shaughnessy headed at goal but was denied by Day and the ball eventually fell to Roofe who turned and shot, finding the bottom left corner.
Half Time: Leeds United 1-1 Newport County
After the break, Roofe netted his second goal to put Leeds into the lead. Stuart Dallas did superbly to get to the byline and Newport could only clear into the path of Roofe who volleyed home.
Reynolds almost hit back for Newport, he charged up-field past Anita, before firing low from the edge of the box, but his effort was just off target.
In the 63rd minute Roofe almost netted his third goal, he attempted to lob Day from 30 yards and was only denied by the crossbar.
Two minutes later, Roofe grabbed his hat-trick, Luke Ayling crossed and the forward superbly found the back of the net with a bicycle kick, becoming the second Whites player to score three goals in a match in the Carabao Cup this season.
12 minutes from time, substitute Samu Saiz added a fourth goal, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson put in a low cross and the ball came out to Saiz who struck first time and found the bottom left corner.
Dallas then tried to float an effort into the top corner, in search of United’s fifth, but his attempt was just off target.
A mistake from Borthwick-Jackson allowed Joe Quigley to go through on goal, but he could only fire wide for the visitors.
Ayling made a goal-line clearance, before Ronaldo Vieira wrapped up the win to send Leeds into the next round of the Carabao Cup in style.
Full Time: Leeds United 5-1 Newport County
Leeds: Green, Borthwick-Jackson, Shaughnessy, Ayling, Anita (Cooper 60), Klich, Vieira, Roofe (Alioski 78), Gomes, Dallas, Stokes (Saiz 66). Subs not used: Cole, Butler, Bennett, Bittner.
Newport: Day, Pipe, Labadie, White, Willmott, Dolan, Reynolds (Quigley 66), McCoulsky (Nouble 54), O’Brien, Rigg (Tozer 71), Demetriou. Subs not used: Phillips, Peacock-Farrell, O’Connor, Wilks.
Referee: R. Joyce
Booked: Gomes, Vieira, Klich, Dallas, Cooper (Leeds), Labadie, O’Brien, Dolan, Quigley (Newport County)
Venue: Elland Road
Attendance: 17,098 (631 Newport)