Leeds’ Largie Ramazani dashes Harrogate’s hopes of FA Cup history
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If FA Cup victories were awarded for effort, then Harrogate Town would have eased into the fourth round at Leeds. Unfortunately for them, industry only gets a team so far in football and it was the hosts who eventually proved their quality to progress.
![[Toby Sims shows his frustration after missing a chance]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/07e3f146a14a4c0fb81edb46cf0811474c359beb/0_219_5557_3335/master/5557.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Largie Ramazani scored the only goal of the game to send Leeds through against a team 68 places below them in the Football League pyramid. Harrogate could not have given any more, fighting for 90 minutes to keep Leeds at bay and falling just short. There were six full internationals in the Leeds team, while the Harrogate CVs boasted Leek Town, Nuneaton Borough and Kingstonian. If the task ahead was not obvious before kick-off, then it was abundantly clear when the team sheets were compared.
The Harrogate manager, Simon Weaver, had told his players in the build-up to be “all-in” and work for one another. His demands were met and more by his League Two strugglers, who arrived with one win and six defeats in their past eight league matches. Even at their level, the Sulphurites are a defensive team and went to extremes against the Championship leaders.
“I’m immensely proud of the whole evening from our perspective,” Weaver said. “I thought the players were right on it. It’s a massive moment on our journey and we wanted to impress, but with that brings some nerves as well. I wanted them to really embrace the moment. You can want it, but sometimes it doesn’t happen and players can be fazed by it. I didn’t think that at all tonight.”.
