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United stunned as Histon make history
Not bad for a village team. So read the banner hung proudly at one end of Histon's stadium.
But for Leeds United, it was desperate. The one-time FA Cup winners and Champions League semi-finalists took their pride and reputation to Cambridgeshire, and a record of having never lost to non-league opposition.
They exited an obscure corner of English football with their scalp removed, their tails between their legs and their manager answering questions about his future.
Histon will talk about their second-round victory over Leeds for ever and a day, or at least until Swansea City visit Bridge Road in round three. United will remember it as one of the most humiliating defeats the club has ever suffered, a result which will never be lost in the vast archives of the FA Cup.
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Forty-three league places divided the clubs pitted against each other yesterday, a smaller gap than existed when Leeds at the height of Don Revie's tenure were humbled by Colchester United in the same competition, but the experience 27 years on was similarly bitter.
Leeds were put in a position to be embarrassed yesterday, and Histon's victory did exactly that. Worse still was the sound of Gary McAllister defending his reign as a whole, rather than explaining an individual loss. These are pivotal times for the Elland Road club.
Histon threw everything they had into a rare opportunity to reach the third round of the FA Cup, fighting with the hope and belief that non-league clubs acquire naturally in the country's most prestigious tournament, and their victory is a glorious addition to the massive list of upsets.
Their sensational triumph deserved and received more national attention last night than United's defeat, secured by a first-half header from postman Matt Langston. And the majority of the viewing public treated to the tie by ITV will not have wept for Leeds.
Histon's players were a credit to themselves and their club. In West Yorkshire, however, a post mortem is required. The sorry scoreline completed a bad week and, if the truth be told, a very ordinary month.
Beaten by Northampton Town on Tuesday in circumstances which posed searching questions of McAllister's squad, their defeat to Histon was another humbling experience from which no credit could be drawn. United were unable to rise above the horrible conditions. Pouring rain swamped the pitch – and aided Histon's cause.
Histon's clean sheet relied on two huge strokes of luck during a classic second half full of mud and frantic effort, but their desire was apparent in excellent defending when the pressure came to bear, and they did nothing to make United's experience of Bridge Road any easier than it should have been.
McAllister knows his side are capable of demolishing teams like Histon; on a better surface, they might have done that. But Histon played yesterday's game and played the elements, hanging on desperately to a lead they had no intention of giving up.
For Leeds, the effort existed in abundance but their clinical instinct did not, and their more influential players made too little impact.
Their downfall – again –was a defence which cannot keep clean sheets, however lowly the opposition may be.
The return of Rui Marques to the centre of defence was one of four changes to United's line-up, and by far the most significant.
Tuesday's defeat was perhaps the final straw in terms of the back line with which McAllister had been persevering without success, and with several options clearly open to him, the manager made use of them.
Marques replaced Paul Telfer and Alan Sheehan took the left-back position from Ben Parker, changes which became increasingly likely last month. Northampton's victory confirmed the need for fresh thinking; it did not have the desired effect at Histon.
Jermaine Beckford's absence with a hamstring strain was one factor which gave favour to the possibility of the upset that ITV were paying to see. The other was the fine rain that swept across Bridge Road before and after kick-off. By the time Neil Swarbrick unleashed the game, the narrow pitch was so badly soaked that every kick of the ball threw up splashes of water.
Brought up to Football League standard for the tie, Histon's stadium was hardly an eye-opener, and the weather did a more effective job of pulling the clubs to the same competitive level. The difficult
conditions were exposed by Sheehan's firm pass in the 15th minute which stopped dead 10 yards in front of him.
Histon, who eight years ago were some five divisions further down the English pyramid, have done more than make up the numbers in the Blue Square Premier this season – they were leading the division until Burton Albion crept above them on Saturday – but their squad is a true collection of semi-professionals: postmen, carpenters and a London Underground official. Midfielder Mat Mitchel-King has a lucrative sideline as a Rio Ferdinand lookalike. They are the reasons why the FA Cup is so unique and so popular.
It is unsurprising that, with John Beck as their coach, Histon have acquired a reputation for the direct tactics associated with his previous clubs, but the rain did not lend itself to much else. The first half was a messy battle of stamina in which Luciano Becchio should have scored and Langston did.
Becchio's 24th-minute opportunity was the product of the only convincing attack mounted before half-time by Leeds, who committed themselves to patient tactics but were fighting constantly against the state of the surface.
United's players struggled to reach their forwards inside Histon's box, but Robert Snodgrass stretched the hosts for the first time by tying their right-back, Lanre Oyebanjo, in knots and crossing towards the penalty spot.
Becchio met the delivery with a timed run but swung his foot casually at the ball and sliced it over the stand.
The action either side of that chance was little more than dogged endeavour, but as treacherous as the conditions were, there was nothing unpredictable about the goal conceded by Leeds six minutes before half-time. It was a re-run of so many of the concessions that McAllister has witnessed this season.
Histon worked themselves a corner on the right, and Gareth Gwillim – a player renowned more for his long throw-ins than his corners – flighted the ball into the area where Langston glanced a header inside an unguarded back post.
The goal from United's perspective was lamentable, a word which aptly describes their defending this season. That area of their squad is slowly defining Leeds' campaign and bleeding dry their momentum, and the loss of a place in round three of the FA Cup is an expensive punishment for a problem which has been apparent for weeks.
At a stroke, Langston's effort put Leeds in desperate peril, at risk of the humiliating upset which no-one at Elland Road had dared to imagine and which McAllister insisted he did nor fear or expect.
Becchio's chance had been the clearest opening before then but United's attempts to work their way through Histon's back line saw precious little success. The pressure placed on Danny Naisbitt, the home keeper, was extremely limited and the first half was a warning to Leeds that considered football would not be the order of the day.
When the gaps did appear towards the end of the tie, the FA Cup waved its wand over Histon's goal.
Lubomir Michalik crashed a shot against the post and, with seven minutes left, watched Antonio Murray appear on his goal-line and head away his blistering shot which was flying for the top corner of Naisbitt's net.
Four minutes of injury-time brought no salvation, and Leeds were soon greeted by the crushing sound of Swarbrick's whistle which left Histon as happy as pigs in mud. Not bad for a village team; not at all good for the team from Yorkshire's biggest city.
Histon: Naisbitt, Oyebanjo, Langston, Ada, Gwillim, Barker, Mitchell-King, Simpson, Knight-Percival, Wright, Midson. Subs: Welch, Pope, Okay, Kennedy, Andrews, Reeves, Murray.
Leeds: Lucas, Richardson, Marques, Michalik, Sheehan, Delph, Douglas, Snodgrass, Robinson, Becchio, Hughes. Subs: Ankergren, Prutton, Kilkenny, Howson, Parker, Showunmi, Telfer.
Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire)
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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