By Ryan Stewart,
It’s been a couple of days since Leeds United were left in dismay as their superior run of form, having only lost one match in their previous nine games, came to a devastating end as Jamie Collins spot kick sends National League side, Sutton United into the last 16 of the FA Cup.
Modern football is often criticised due to how much the game itself has changed over the years, but one aspect of the game will never change, the thrill of the underdog of any sporting event muscling through and stealing the win off the favourites remains one of the greatest sights in sport.
Speaking recently with some fans of Leeds United, who attended this fixture, are still shell-shocked that such an unknown team has managed to knock their club out of the FA cup. Some of the fans blame manager Garry Monk for making ten changes to the side that defeated Nottingham Forrest which resulted in defeat and many fans share the opinion the Garry should be deeply annoyed with himself and mostly embarrassed by his team’s showing in London.
Match attendee and Leeds united fan, Timothy Gregg believed that “Garry Monk should feel ashamed, he sent out a group of kids that hardly see the pitch. I bet Garry had to google to find out where this team even played, we all did. I take nothing away from Sutton they played decent football but we (Leeds United) are challenging for the title and it’s embarrassing not being able to explain why we aren’t playing Arsenal in the next round.”
16-year-old Michael Shields believed that maybe it was for the best, “Obviously as a supporter, you never like seeing your team lose, especially after how long the journey was down to the match. But there’s a part of me that’s kind of, in a way, happy we were beaten. We can focus on playing good football in the league and bring ourselves back up to the premiership.”
Some like to say that te FA cup isn’t what it used to be and that too many managers have played it down as a small cup. Try telling the Sutton fans who bombarded onto the field after the match to celebrate with the players. If seeing 4,500 fans overjoyed with their team’s performance rushing onto a field doesn’t warm your hearts, then what they are planning to spend their winnings on will.
A tweet sent out by Sutton United confirmed they would spend the majority of their money on mundane repairs throughout the clubs ground, the tweet contained a photo of a black bucket gathering the water that has to manage to leak through into the bar area.
With Mother Nature doing her worst right now, today means so much to this club #leakingroof pic.twitter.com/SsTdzrOVya
— Sutton United FC (@suttonunited) 29 January 2017
Leeds fans left upset and confused as the club itself now only has the league to worry about, while Sutton ready themselves to welcome premier league side Arsenal as they aim to kill another footballing giant.