Leyton Orient 0 Sheff Utd 1: Early strike enough for Blades to enjoy another London trip

Michael Higdon leaps to score Sheffield United's winning goal at Leyton Orient. Picture: Martyn Harrison.

It was the club’s second successful trip to London in the competiton, coming after their victory over West Ham United in the previous round.

Blades started brightly with Jamie Murphy winning a corner within the first 30 seconds and, although that was cleared, he soon made a telling contribution, supplying the cross for Higdon to climb above the Orient defence and plant his header firmly past Gary Woods in the hosts’ goal.

Murphy almost doubled the lead shortly after but his shot flew over the crossbar, with the home side then beginning to settle down and exert some pressure of their own in front of their own fans.

Firstly, Jobi McAnuff fired straight at Blades’ goalkeeper Mark Howard from the edge of the box, before Jay Simpson’s effort flew menacingly across the six-yard box.

The next time the Blades threatened came around the half-hour mark, Murphy cutting in from the left flank to fire in a shot, although it was comfortably dealt with by Woods.

At the other end, David Mooney showed neat skill to work some space for himself to force a save from Howard.

The first chance after the break fell to United’s James Wallace, who won possession before pressing on to force Woods into another save.

The home side die retaliate and enjoyed some mplenty of possession, although Howard was able to deal comfortably with a header from Simpson before Elliott Omozusi’s shot deflected off Ryan Flynn Flynn and clipped the outside of the Blades’ goalkeeper’s post.

In an attempt to force an equaliser, Orient boss Russell Slade brought on striker Darius Henderson and the hosts remained the more offensive side, but clear chances were hard to come by. Omozusi again tried his luck from range but Howard watched the effort all the way and collected, whilst McAnuff fired over, Blades hanging on to edge through to the next round.

Leyton Orient: Woods, Omozusi, Vincelot, Cuthbert (Pritchard, 11), Baudry, James, Mooney (Henderson, 69), McAnuff, Clarke, Petrasso (Cox, 62), Simpson. Unused substitutes: Batt, Bartley, Dagnall, Grainger.

Sheffield United: Howard, Alcock, Harris, Wallace (Doyle, 67), Flynn, Murphy, McGinn, Collins, McGahey, Higdon (Porter, 77), Reed. Unused substitutes: Scougall, McNulty, Davies, McEveley, Turner.

Referee: James Adcock.