Wednesday 26 October 2016 23:37, UK
Leeds head coach Garry Monk is dreaming of a home quarter-final against Premier League opposition after his side edged past Norwich 3-2 on penalties at Elland Road in a thrilling EFL Cup tie.
Monk confessed he did not watch the shoot-out after Leeds had twice come from behind as goals from Marcus Antonsson and substitute Chris Wood cancelled out efforts from Alex Pritchard and Nelson Oliveira in a 2-2 draw after extra time.
"I would love to get a Premier League side here," said Monk, who won the League Cup as a player with Swansea in 2013. "Can you imagine a full-house here and that type of game? We'll see what the draw brings."
Leeds goalkeeper Marco Silvestri, one of eight changes in Monk's starting line-up, was the hero as he saved spot-kicks from Pritchard, Steven Naismith and Robbie Brady before Ronaldo Vieira scored the winning penalty.
"Marco is one of the best shot-stoppers I have seen - but I didn't see them because I don't watch penalties," Monk said. "So I turned away and didn't see them. I watched the crowd for the reaction.
"What this can do for the club who knows, but we are a young group and you can see what progress we are making."
Leeds, who had used all three substitutes, played the whole of extra time with 10 men after defender Lewie Coyle limped off with a knee injury in the 90th minute.
But they forced the shoot-out and, despite Kalvin Phillips seeing his effort saved by Norwich keeper John Ruddy and Matt Grimes firing over, Vieira held his nerve to clinch Monk's side a place in the last eight.
"It was a proper cup tie, it had everything," Monk added. "They were the better team for sure in the first half, but in that second half we were excellent and could have won the game. We were much more like ourselves.
"We then suffer a bit of adversity with Coyle having to go off in extra time and we are down to 10 men and then go 2-1 down, but that character and belief that we showed was something else."
Norwich boss Alex Neil also made eight changes but defender Ryan Bennett, handed the captain's armband, said they had enough quality in their side to have held on to their lead.
"It's hard to take," Bennett said. "We dominated large parts of the game, but unfortunately for us the result didn't end well.
"To lose on penalties is always disappointing, but we should have seen the game out and we didn't do that, so we can concentrate on the league now and that's what we need to do.
"We need to get back to basics, get back to the training field and make sure we get promoted this season."
Less than 8,500 had watched Leeds beat Blackburn at Elland Road in the previous round, but the majority in a crowd of 22,222 helped lift the hosts when Norwich were on top.
"One hundred per cent," added Bennett. "I think you've seen that, especially in the first half.
"We dominated the game early on but they had a five-minute spell and you could hear the crowd getting hyped up and it's good for them when that happens and not so good for us.
"Our job was to keep them quiet and we did for large parts but they had their little spells and that's going to happen."
