Leeds United hit with FA sanction after admission on Barnsley Carabao Cup incident

The Elland Road encounter was played in the spirit of a Yorkshire derby but exploded in the second half when players from both teams got involved after Cody Drameh tangled with Tykes defender and former Whites player Liam Kitching behind the play.

Leeds centre-back Leo Hjelde reacted to a shove on Drameh and barged in to push Kitching away as the incident drew a crowd from both sides.

The end result was a trio of yellow cards, for Drameh, Hjelde and Kitching, but the FA charged the two clubs after the game. Leeds won the game 3-1 and progressed to the third round and a visit to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Speaking after the game Jesse Marsch commended his players for sticking up for each other.

"Loved it,” he said.

"To be fair, they all stood up for each other but didn't cross the line. It's really important that everybody has each other's back. Cody did nothing to deserve the reaction, but Cody stood up for himself and the team stood up for him, but no punches were thrown, nothing stupid was done in the process. It was just a group showing total solidarity and commitment to each other. So this kind of stuff for me is important. And I know there's these mass confrontation things and referees are trying to avoid all this. But for me, part of being a team is making sure you have each other's back. So I thought that was great.”

Leeds have been fined £25,000 and Barnsley £7,500 for respectively breaching FA Rule E20.1 and admitting that they failed to ensure their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion during the 67th minute of the fixture.

An FA spokesperson says both clubs admitted a non-standard charge and requested a paper hearing, where the fines were imposed by an Independent Regulatory Commission.

The news comes in the same week that the FA charged Marsch over his red card in Saturday’s defeat at Brentford and an alleged breach of FA Rule E3. Marsch has until Friday to respond. The American left his technical area to remonstrate with an assistant referee and dramatically encouraged referee Robert Jones to visit his pitchside monitor to review a challenge on Crysencio Summerville that went unpunished.

Former Premier League referee Mark Halsey has since insisted that Marsch was right to be frustrated with the officiating but did not condone the Whites head coach’s behaviour.

Halsey told the YEP: “I can understand his frustrations but I don't condone his actions because he's got responsibilities and examples to set.

"Everyone watches the Premier League, even young kids. It's the most watched league in the world. I'm sure he wouldn't want these children behaving like that.

"Leeds can feel aggrieved but you've got to conduct yourself in a better way on the touchline."