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The magic, the glory and the shock of the English F.A. Cup has once again proved legendary. Historically one of the most intense rivalries in English football had taken a back-seat due to the now infamous downfall of Leeds United Football Club which witnessed them plummeting two relegations with the help crushing debt. The Roses rivalry hadn’t taken place in nearly 6 years, yet the hatred didn’t calm. The much anticipated War of The Roses was reignited on January 3rd 2010, as Lancashire side Manchester United battled against West Yorkshire rivals Leeds United in the F.A. Cup 3rd Round at Old Trafford.

The atmosphere inside Old Trafford was electric (for once), with the Manchester United prawn sandwich brigade unable to make the trip, the fans of old were seemingly filling in, making for a special rare occasion. Despite just over 67,000 Manchester United fans helping to provide an intimidating atmosphere, the huge away following of 9,000 Leeds United supporters were not to be belittled, proving their worth with deafening effects.

It’s the F.A. Cup tie everybody has been talking about since it took place, and for good reason. The spirited atmosphere most certainly boosted the players on both sides, with a high tempo and even higher intensity, it made for excellent viewing. In this day and age of the professional footballer, seeing such passion and commitment isn’t always possible, which made the match that bit more special. While Fergie’s Manchester United side are suffering from a lack of form coinciding with a complete injury list of crocked defenders, their rivals Leeds United have been flying high in their respective Coca-Cola League One, topping the table with kudos to Jermaine Beckford’s 20 goals so far this season. Despite the gap in the divisions, rivalries have a tendency to produce unpredictable results…

The deadlock was broken just 19 minutes into the Old Trafford battle as man of the moment Jermaine Beckford put Leeds United in front thanks to some abysmal marking courtesy of Wes Brown. The home fans stunned into silence as Beckford sucked the life out of Old Trafford while the Leeds fans jumped in hysterics. The lack of communication between Manchester United makeshift centre-back pairing Wes Brown and Johnny Evans was beyond shameful, as Beckford almost had a field day at their dispense. Going in at half-time 1-0 down, United fans were no doubt hoping for the hair-dryer treatment, the tempo of the first-half must have left everyone wondering not if there was going to be another goal, but who was going to get it.

With the second-half underway and no immediate changes made, the pressure started to mount on the shoulders of the Manchester United players. This was certainly evident as the tackles became feistier and the crowd more raucous. Wes Brown’s frustration growing as he lunged into tackle after tackle - despite already being booked - he was somewhat lucky in the sense that each tackle the ball was won, no matter how hard challenge was. Fergie soon introduced the reinforcements of Ryan Giggs, Antonio Valencia and Michael Owen in a bid to successfully penetrate the admirable stronghold of the Leeds United defence. This however was seemingly a distant hope as the efforts of the entire Leeds United defence, especially Patrick Kisnorbo and goalkeeper Ankergren infuriated Manchester United.

Leeds substitute Snodgrass almost finished the home side off upon coming on with a wonderfully whipped free-kick which shook the woodwork, along with every fan inside the ground. The latter stages proved predictably stressful as several chances were squandered, including golden opportunities which fell to Michael Owen, and subsequently Wayne Rooney. Not to mention a counter attack which left Jermaine Beckford one-on-one with Tomasz Kuszczak, unfortunately for Leeds, Beckford pulled the ball wide by inches. In the end though this didn’t matter as Leeds United provided the big shock of the F.A. Cup 3rd Round, by knocking out Manchester United in their home territory.

The last time Leeds United had won at Old Trafford was over 28 years ago, until now of course. Which begs the question, can Manchester United pull through this unthinkable slump in form, do the current players have enough backbone to succeed?