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LEEDS UNITED: Leggy Whites have plenty in reserve
The depth and calibre of Leeds United's squad has been a regular topic of discussion this season, but the resilience of their players will undergo a stringent examination at Northampton Town tonight.
The attention of the club will revert from their league campaign to knockout football this evening with a place in the second round of the FA Cup at stake, but the strain of a League One derby with Huddersfield Town is threatening to weigh on Leeds tonight.
United have had little more than 48 hours to recover from Saturday's
2-1 defeat to Huddersfield and reorganise themselves for an FA Cup first-round replay at Sixfields, and manager Gary McAllister admitted signs of fatigue were appearing among his players for the first time.
McAllister would prefer to avoid wholesale changes for a televised match which Leeds have a strong incentive to win, but a number of alterations may be unavoidable after Saturday's intensive derby.
Leeds fielded an unchanged line-up at Elland Road after running Derby County close in round four of the Carling Cup last Tuesday, but McAllister admitted a number of his substitutions against Huddersfield were made earlier than planned as a result of increasingly tired legs.
Jermaine Beckford was introduced after 63 minutes and Jonathan Douglas and Fabian Delph were withdrawn with 14 minutes to play, the latter at the end of what could be the first of three appearances in four days, culminating in a possible outing with England's Under-21s tomorrow.
The physical pressure on Northampton's squad is comparable after their 1-0 defeat to Oldham Athletic on Saturday afternoon, however, and McAllister insists his players will not be allowed to forego the chance to reach round two of a competition he won as a player with Liverpool seven years ago – and in which Leeds have not won a match for five seasons.
McAllister said: "We look forward now.
"It's a quick turnaround but we've got a chance to progress in the FA Cup.
"I thought there were little signs against Huddersfield of tired legs so we flipped things round and made some changes earlier than I would have liked. But everybody's got to get their heads right for tonight.
"A few of the players looked leggy but we've got plenty in reserve.
"We had a strong bench on Saturday – and some strong players who didn't even make the bench."
United will benefit financially from Setanta's decision to televise this evening's replay live, as the satellite broadcaster did for the initial tie at Elland Road which ended in a 1-1 draw.
And both clubs have the enticement of a visit to non-league club Histon in round two which ITV have already decided to screen live on November 30.
The drawback of Setanta's coverage was the rearrangement of the first-round replay for tonight, giving Leeds a short period of time to gather their thoughts after Saturday's loss.
But the two clashes against Northampton will be worth a total of 112,500 in television money to Leeds – with a game at Histon guaranteed to bring in a further 80,000.
"We'd prefer if it was on Tuesday or Wednesday rather than Monday because Saturday to Monday is a big ask for the players," said McAllister.
"But it's for TV and we appreciate that. Finances come into it as well.
"We'd much prefer an extra day's break but so too would Northampton."
McAllister and his players were a picture of frustration after Saturday's defeat to Huddersfield, frustration which was apparently shown by a brief quarrel which took place between Neil Kilkenny and Andy Robinson during the post-match warm-down but was promptly diffused by Frazer Richardson.
But Northampton are without a win in five matches and lost their unbeaten home record after a 1-0 defeat to Oldham Athletic at the weekend.
Stuart Gray's side survived their first-round tie at Elland Road despite playing an hour of the game with only 10 men following the dismissal of midfielder Giles Coke.
But Gray pulled no punches after Oldham's victory at Sixfields, saying: "Players do have off-days but we are a team who needs nine or 10 players at it.
"We probably had six or seven players who weren't at their best."
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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