15th February 2026. FA Cup 4th Round.
If I forget about getting soaked on the way to and from the ground and an interminable delay getting us through the turnstiles before the game, that was an enjoyable game!
All credit to Birmingham, they were superb in the first half and gave us a bit of a roasting. Possibly not surprising in that we had an XI that had not really played together this season, but so did Birmingham – both managers making six changes from the XIs that started their previous league games.
I was impressed with the Blues; they really gave it a go, and the stats reflect their first-half performance. They posted 56% of the possession, eight shots to our three, got four on target to our solitary one and forced a much-improved-looking Lucas Perri into four fine saves.
One in particular, tipping a Jay Stansfield shot onto the post, was world-class, and I didn’t think I’d be saying that about Mr Perri any time soon. The Blues were pacey and, in difficult wet conditions, were more accurate than we were with their passing.
Leeds had to change something at halftime, and I doubt anyone was surprised that Daniel Farke hooked Facundo Buonanotte. As one of my mates just joked, I featured more on TV in that first half than Facundo did! (Insert smiley emoji at this point!!!!)
Farke decided to bring on our 'Captain Fantastic', Ethan Ampadu, and immediately, everything we did looked more structured. It took just four minutes of the new half to make the breakthrough. It was simple enough, a strong header forward by Jaka Bijol into the path of the marauding Noak Okafor, who set off towards the Blues’ area before pushing the ball forward to Lukas Nmecha. Lukas rode a tackle and got the break of the ball, but then he cut inside cleverly and absolutely (s)creamed a shot inside the left post. When he does things like that, you can easily understand why Farke thinks he’s one of the best strikers to come out of Germany in recent years.
Leeds were much better in the second half, and there wasn’t much between the sides, certainly in the stats, although the Blues still bossed the possession. Leeds had ten shots in the second half (nine for Birmingham), but seven of them were well blocked by the heroic home defence.
Thankfully, the Blues’ shooting wouldn’t win them any awards, and six of their shots missed the target altogether. I thought we’d done enough as the clock ticked over to the 89th minute, but I should have remembered, Leeds don’t’ do straightforward – as Phil Hay once famously said, and I paraphrase, 'if there is a simple path to take, we’ll manage to stray into a minefield'!
Once again, credit Birmingham: it was a fine, powerful, long-range shot by substitute Patrick Roberts, but it deflected off James Justin's head, giving Perri no chance of stopping it, otherwise it was straight at him, just a bit of Leedsy bad luck, really.
Both sides had half-chances to win it in added time, Kanya Fujimoto's shot blocked by Bijol after another substitute Ibrahim Osman struck the woodwork, and a Dominic Calvert-Lewin shot that was half-blocked, sending it looping over the bar. Ampadu then tried to hook a high –bouncing ball at goal but ballooned it over the bar. Extra-time it would be.
Chances were few and far between in extra-time – Osman meeting a Stansfield low cross at the far post, but also putting it over the bar and a low drive on the angle by DCL that was well saved. Penalties would have to separate the teams.
I wasn’t confident! I’ve seen too many shambles of shoot-outs by Leeds over the years, and memories of Hillsborough in August came flooding back. But, for once, we were perfect, four great penalties from Joel Piroe, Calvert-Lewin, Brenden Aaronson and finally, Sean Longstaff.
The key moment, though, was another superb save by Perri, diving full length to his right to push away a decent enough effort by Tommy Doyle; Lucas enjoyed that even more than his earlier superb finger-tipping effort! Roberts, who’d earlier fired that cracker to equalise, blasted his penalty over the top and that was that. Leeds United were in the velvet bag for the 5th round draw! Who do you fancy, Leeds fans?
Premier League survival is still the big prize, of course, and the next round of the cup looks as if it will come only days after a vital Premier League game at Elland Road against Sunderland; it’s not going to be as convenient as this one today in that respect. Birmingham, too, have eyes on a greater prize as they sit only a couple of points outside the play-offs. Good luck to them, they are a decent side.
Emirates FA Cup
Birmingham City 1 (Roberts 89’)
Leeds United 1 (Nmecha 49’)
Leeds United win 4-2 on penalties.
Birmingham: Allsop (GK), Klarer (C), Doyle, Gray (Osman 46’), Solis (Betteka 114’), Vicente (Roberts 74’), Osayi-Samuel (Fujimoto 83’), Stansfield, Priske (Ducksch 74’), Wagner, Panzo (Neumann 90’). Subs not used: Beadle (GK), Mayo (GK), Burrell.
Leeds: Perri (GK), Gudmundsson, Longstaff, Nmecha (Calvert-Lewin 68’), Bijol, Okafor (Bogle 82’), Tanaka (Piroe 78’), Bornauw (Rodon 91’), Justin (C), Gnonto (Aaronson 68’), Buonanotte (Ampadu 46’). Subs not used: Darlow (GK), Byram, Gruev.
Venue: St. Andrew’s
Attendance: 28,035
Referee: Paul Tierney
Booked: Solis, Vicente, Klarer (Birmingham)
