Leeds Sunday Alliance Premier Division Cup
Leeds Maccabi 1st 2
Banstead United 3
Leeds Maccabi 1st collapsed to an embarrassing defeat against nine-man Banstead United after squandering a two-goal advantage.
Ian Selwyn’s men appeared to be cruising into the next round after an own-goal and Dave Woolman’s eighth strike in three games had given them a 2-0 lead.
But Leeds were knocked out of their stride by Banstead, who finished the game with nine men after having two players sent off following a mass brawl.
With just a minute remaining of the first-half, Gidi Amar gave away a penalty which allowed Banstead to halve the deficit.
And the visitors levelled just seconds after the break, capitalising on a defensive mix-up in the Leeds penalty area.
With the wind in their sails, Banstead pushed forward and were rewarded with 20 minutes to go as a stunning free-kick broke Leeds’ resistance.
There was still plenty of time for drama as a brawl broke out with just ten minutes remaining, resulting in two Banstead players being shown the red card.
But despite hitting the post and the crossbar in a desperate final onslaught, Leeds were unable to muster an equaliser.
“I can’t really explain it,” said boss Selwyn.
“We’ve just got to take it on the chin and move on because we need to bounce back.
“We didn’t have a good feel about the game and we didn’t really have great preparation, but we probably got what we deserved.
“They’re a poor side and we were two goals ahead, so I’m not really sure how we lost it.
“But we’ve still got to play them twice in the league and I’d expect to take six points off them.
“Now we have to make sure we focus on Batley in the Leeds and District Cup next Sunday.”
Elsewhere, Leeds Maccabi 2nd went down 3-1 at Queenswood with Louie Fisher on target for the visitors.