Leeds United were knocked out of the FA Cup by Fulham as they fell to a 2-0 defeat at Craven Cottage.
Here’s the winners and losers from the tie.
Winners
Georginio Rutter
It wasn’t his night in front of goal, but his outing at Craven Cottage was probably his best showing in a Leeds shirt to date. He looked confident on the ball and on another night he could have scored his first United goal.
Read more: Leeds United player ratings as Georginio Rutter impresses in unlucky Fulham defeat
Rutter had the ball in the back of the net early, poking home after Marek Rodak could only parry a deflected corner into his path, but the goal was ruled out for a Weston McKennie foul on Harry Wilson. The forward then managed to hit the woodwork with a header, directing Wilfried Gnonto’s cross onto the base of the upright.
He was a threat in the second half, too, before being replaced by Patrick Bamford in the 63 rd minute.
Archie Gray
It’s been some time since we’ve seen Gray in a match day squad at any level, but he was a surprise name included on the bench in west London. The 16-year-old made four appearances for the Under-21s at the start of the season before a freak injury, fracturing his toe in an accident at home, saw him ruled out in the autumn.
That injury highlighted an issue with his ankle and Leeds have been careful not to push him too hard since. As such, he has spent the last five months on the sidelines, but he was considered fit enough to travel on Tuesday night. He didn’t get on but, he’ll just be happy to be back in contention.
Losers
Tyler Adams
The midfielder committed the error that led to Fulham’s first half goal from Joao Palhinha. Leeds struggled to win the midfield battle in the first half, with Fulham pushing high up the field and it was that pressure that brought about the opener.
Stepping up well, Palhinha got his foot on what should have been a routine pass from Adams to Marc Roca. The midfielder then curled an effort beyond Illan Meslier from around 25 yards.
It was a wonderful goal but it was certainly avoidable from Leeds’ point of view.
The Cup run
The wait to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals goes on. Leeds last reached the last eight of the competition in 2003 and they’ll have to wait at least one more year to do it again.
Leeds were in the game throughout and created heaps of chances and managed 13 shots, but they just couldn’t find the back of the net. Fulham, on the other hand, scored two stunning goals from range and that was enough to progress to the next round of the competition.
United will be able to focus entirely on retaining their Premier League status over the next few months.
Javi Gracia
The Spaniard suffered his first defeat in the Leeds hotseat. He’ll be happy with elements of his side’s performance at Craven Cottage but improvements are needed as they gear up for a big Premier League clash on Saturday at Chelsea.
Gracia was never going to be judged on how far Leeds went in the cup this season with survival the main aim, but he would have liked to see his side move to within one win of Wembley. He’ll be hard at work at Thorp Arch over the remainder of the week to ensure his side take the necessary strides in the Premier League this weekend.
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