'Better than we thought' - Jesse Marsch on 'unlucky' Leeds United loss at Wolves and new quartet

Marsch made ten changes to his side for the Wednesday night third round clash at Molineux and gave debuts to young trio Mateo Joseph, Sonny Perkins and Darko Gyabi plus 32-year-old keeper Joel Robles. Leeds began well and peppered the Wolves goal but ultimately fell to a 1-0 defeat after an 85th-minute strike from Boubacar Traore after chances for both sides.

Marsch also handed just a third outing to 19-year-old striker Wily Gnonto as a second-half substitute and the Leeds head coach was full of praise for the lesser seen players and felt his side had played well enough to merit going through.

Marsch told post match media: "Cup matches can go a lot of different ways but we knew we put a lot of young players out on the pitch, a lot of young players that we believe in, and I think that they performed really well against a good opponent, against an opponent who played a lot of guys who have played a lot of first team minutes, a lot of Premier League minutes.

"I thought we had a really good performance and we were a little unlucky not to come away with more. I would say that Mateo Joseph was very good on the day, a little bit unlucky in the action that he is in on goal that he can't find a way to get something on frame. I thought that Sonny Perkins also played really well.

"We used him in a couple of different roles but I thought he was really intelligent and found a lot of good spaces, was also dangerous and was really good defensively. And then I thought Darko really grew into the game.

"I think he found the game a lot, I think he was very confident on the ball, I thought he started to initiate things, he won some balls in the midfield and then Willy Gnonto comes on the pitch too and is also a big spark for us. We like our young guys and you can’t mimic, even in the 21s, you can't mimic what the intensity of a game like this is and to see them perform like that I think was great.

"I think overall, good performances from every guy on the pitch. I thought Joel Robles also showed real presence, played really well. We played better than we thought and if we were to play that well, before the match if you were to ask me I would say okay we would have won. A little bit unlucky."