Leeds United boss Daniel Farke not dreaming of Wembley but relishing chance to add to club's history
Daniel Farke admitted the competition was not a priority for Leeds United this season, but wants his team to go as far as they can in the FA Cup after launching a possible run with a 3-1 victory at Derby County.
The Whites manager was also delighted with the way his fringe players stepped up to stake their claims for regular starting spots in a dominant performance that could have seen a much bigger winning margin.
They were able to go through despite Joel Piroe seeing a first half penalty saved and another effort unluckily hitting the post.
United trailed 1-0 at half-time and thoughts were turning to another defeat in a long line of cup disappointments for the club, but two quickfire goals after the break by Willy Gnonto and Ao Tanaka – who have both been substitutes in recent weeks – turned the game on its head and James Justin's first for the club in added time sealed their deserved success.
"Congratulations to my players for progressing against a Derby side who was competitive and showed a good performance,” said manager Farke.
“I was sure it was 50-50, of course you're the favourite but Derby have shown against top sides at Championship level that it's difficult to be successful here.
“We had to rotate a bit today, they had no midweek game. I think we needed 20 minutes to adapt to their aggressiveness and once we accepted it and were ready for the battles and duels our quality was shining through.
“If you miss this amount of chances, a penalty, hit the post and they score from one situation it's always tricky.
“It was important to not run into counters, keep going with the same processes. I said stay cool, the goals will come and they were taken in an excellent way. Very mature second half, well deserved.
“The win is good for the confidence of those who came in. Also a reminder that everyone has to stay on it.”
On the prospect of a rare cup run for the team, Farke explained: "I'm a big believer in cup competitions. Some see it as a distraction from the league but I'm a big believer.
“We have just the league, it's not like we had too many games in the League Cup, so we want to go as far as possible in the FA Cup. Otherwise I would have sent a different squad.
"We didn't want to take any risks for Joe (Rodon), there were some red flags with Gabi (Gudmundsson) after he played so many minutes in recent weeks, but otherwise we had our strongest squad.
“We're not the favourite to win the FA Cup but competitions like this are made for fairytales. I don't want to speak about Wembley but we're in the next round and if we can progress into the next round and next round, I'll take it.
"It would be great to write another chapter of big history for this amazing club.
"But right now, I'm still calm and am not dreaming about Wembley – I'm just dreaming about a few points against Fulham."
Farke made eight changes for the cup tie, but the Leeds side still had a strong look about it and was full of attackers with Gnonto and Jack Harrison handed starts in wing back positions and Piroe and Noah Okafor supporting central striker Lukas Nmecha.
Some of the defending in the first half suffered maybe as a result, but once United got a foothold in the game they showed some fine attacking intent, eventually managing 22 efforts on goal to their hosts' seven.
The best of the efforts in the first half-hour saw Piroe's powerful shot from a tight angle hit the post after Nmecha had been put through by a fine Tanaka pass, but had been tackled in the area.
Soon after an even better chance presented itself when Nmecha raced onto Piroe's through ball and was brought down by goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom as he tried to go round him.
Referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot and Piroe stepped up only to see his penalty superbly saved by the impressive Zetterstrom.
Piroe was to endure a frustrating afternoon as he was still left looking for his first goal of the season, but his performance was impressive as he found space in his number 10 role and used it to good advantage.
Unfortunately for him his penalty miss gave Derby and their fans the boost they needed and within three minutes they went ahead as Ben Brereton-Diaz took advantage of hesitant defending to shoot his side ahead.
Leeds continued to look an attacking threat, but had to wait until the second half to finally get their rewards with a goal of top quality.
Ilia Gruev and Tanaka combined smartly in midfield, Jaka Bijol then produced a telling pass, which was dummied by Piroe to allow the ball to roll to the unmarked Gnonto who hammered the ball past the home keeper.
Within four minutes Piroe was again denied by Zetterstrom after he fired in a shot from the edge of the box that was well saved. Tanaka was onto the rebound quick as a flash, however, showing a striker's instinct to score from close range to make it 2-1.
Zetterstrom continued to keep his side in it with more saves, including an acrobatic effort to keep out Nmecha's header.
He could not prevent United's third goal, however, late on as Nmecha raced onto Sean Longstaff's pass and squared the ball for Justin to score from 12 yards out after he had made a lung-busting run from his own box to get on the end of the forward's assist.
Derby County 1
(Brereton-Diaz 35)
(Gnonto 55, Tanaka 59, Justin 90+3)
Sunday, January 11, 2026
FA Cup, round three
Attendance: 21,741
Derby: Zetterstrom; Ward, Langas, Batth, Forsyth; Brereton-Diaz, Fraulo (Adams 45), Travis (Ozoh 63), Blackett-Taylor (Brewster 63); Clark (Eames 73); Salvesen (Agyemang 73).
Leeds: Darlow; Bornauw (Justin 45), Bijol, Ampadu; Gnonto (Byram 86), Gruev (Longstaff 73), Tanaka, Harrison; Piroe (Stach 89), Okafor (Aaronson 89); Nmecha.
Referee: Anthony Taylor