How unlucky is that? Redfearn bemoans Leeds’ 1973 replay

A vastly-changed United side, which saw Luke Murphy and Casper Sloth emerge from the cold and handed starts, along with Brian Montenegro and debutant Dario Del Fabro, produced a spirited and much-improved second-half performance, which was almost crowned with a late leveller.

Liam Cooper, stand-in captain for United, soon his stoppage-time header hit the post, while Leeds had appeals for a penalty turned down when Charlie Taylor went down under pressure from Seb Larsson in the second-half.

But ultimately, Leeds paid the price for an inhibited first-half, which saw Patrick van Aanholt blast in the only goal of the game on 33 minutes.

Redfearn said: “I thought we played really well and in the second half I thought we were the better side by a fair stretch.

“We spoke at half-time about making it a cup tie; about getting closer to people and pushing us up the field 10 or 20 yards.

“(Rudy) Austin and (Luke) Murphy bossed it in midfield and I thought Sunderland struggled..

“We hit the post and with Adryan’s chance and the penalty appeal, we could have had more than one goal. It looked like a penalty to me, but the referee’s made a decision.

“We turned it into a cup tie, we got after them and they struggled. We were really unlucky.”

Redfearn made seven changes to the side who lost out 2-0 at Derby on Tuesday, with the sole survivors to the starting line-up being Austin, Cooper, Mirco Antenucci and Marco Silvestri.

Young talents Alex Mowatt, Lewis Cook and Sam Byram were all handed a breather and were not even named on the bench.

The promotion of Murphy, for his first taste of United action since October 25 and first start since the Captial One Cup loss at Bradford was a particularly surprising development, but Redfearn still believes the £1m midfielder could yet have a future at Leeds.

Redfearn paid tribute to the attitude of the former Crewe schemer and also that of Austin and Sloth after they were restored to the starting line-up.

He added: “The changes were needed. Three of the players who were left out are three from the academy - Sam Byram, Alex Mowatt and Lewis Cook, and we’ve got a duty to look after those players.

“It’s important in their development that we don’t burn them out.

“It’s unlucky that some of these seniors have found themselves out the picture, I have to say that their attitude in training while they’ve been out has been exemplary. You can see that from the way they came in and performed.”

On Murphy having a Leeds future, he added: “I don’t see why not. If you play well you get in. That’s got to be the message. We’re not in a position where we can turn people down when they play well.”

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