Leeds United youngster Sonny Perkins could not put into words how scoring his first professional goal felt on a rollercoaster afternoon at Cardiff City in the FA Cup - though he stated the result was the most important thing.
After falling two down within half an hour on a wet, miserable afternoon in the Welsh capital, goals from Rodrigo - who also missed a penalty - and Perkins salvaged a late draw for Jesse Marsch's men to temporarily pause their FA Cup hoodoo. The game itself was a tough watch for long stretches for Whites fans though pressure began to grow in the second half, and Marsch will be content with a replay where Leeds will now be clear favourites at Elland Road.
For now though, it remains Perkins' moment; the former West Ham United star is yet to turn 19, and the confidence that he can produce the goods in the dying embers will do wonders for his development - though he remained adamant that the 'team comes first' as he looks ahead of next weekend.
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"It’s hard to explain how it feels, obviously it’s my first professional goal and it’s something I’ve worked very hard for but most importantly I’m glad we got it to a replay because it was a tough game coming here today," Perkins said.
"At half-time we said we can get back in the game, we didn’t want to go out in the third round again so everybody is really happy. I think at that point we’d already put ourselves in a difficult position, we didn’t execute how we wanted to play as well as we could have done in the first half.
"For the second half he just said to us we’ve got ourselves in a difficult spot but we’ve got more than enough quality to get it back.
"I was warming up on the touchline when the penalty was missed, normally Rodrigo is very reliable from the penalty spot so it was a surprise, but all the momentum in the second half was with us. We stayed calm and got our reward in the end.
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