Leeds United Chat • Accrington Stanley v Leeds United U21 - EFL Trophy - MATCH THREAD
Tuesday 8th September 8.00pm | EFL Trophy | Wham Stadium
Leeds United U21s will compete in the EFL Trophy for the first time on Tuesday evening following the granting of Category One status for the academy by the Premier League. Sixteen academy sides enter the EFL Trophy at Round One and for the 2020/21 season Leeds United are one of those sides. Drawn in group G our young players will compete against Barrow, Blackpool and first up Accrington Stanley at the Wham Stadium.
To fulfil the rules Leeds must have at least six of the starting eleven players who were aged under 21 as at the 30th and no more than two players who are aged 21 or over and have made 40 or more appearances in a First Team. The new strike force of Charlie Allen and Joe Gelhardt will certainly be a handful whilst the defensive pairing of Oliver Casey and Charlie Cresswell and a midfield potentially featuring the likes of Jordan Stevens, Alfie Mccalmont and Stuart McKinstry will be keen to impress and show they are capable of making the breakthrough to the first team.
Leeds United do have some recent history with the EFL Trophy, back in our League One days. It wasn’t a particularly successful competition for Leeds though and crowds as low as 8,000 turned out at Elland Road on cold Tuesday nights to watch. At their first attempt in 2007-08 Leeds lost to Bury in the quarter finals, in 2008-09 they were knocked out in the second round to Rotherham whilst in 2009-10 they beat this seasons opponents Accrington Stanley before losing in the Northern final on penalties to Carlisle United.