'Difficult as possible' - Plymouth Argyle boss sends Leeds United rallying cry ahead of FA Cup replay

The Pilgrims arrived at Elland Road for the second time this season, initially offering little resistance during a first half in which Leeds controlled possession and enjoyed the lion's share of the chances, which eventually culminated in Anthony opening the scoring.

Goalkeeper Conor Hazard was called into action on several occasions, denying Leeds a second before Adam Randell slotted underneath Illan Meslier with 15 minutes of the match remaining. United threw caution to the wind, introducing Patrick Bamford and Mateo Joseph from the bench, as well as the in-form Junior Firpo, but were unable to force a decisive goal.

As a result, Leeds will travel to Argyle in the coming weeks to replay their Fourth Round tie, during a month which already features a trip to Home Park in the league, as well as away fixtures against Bristol City and Swansea City. "It was your good old fashioned game of two halves," Foster said at full-time. "I take responsibility for the first half performance, maybe the language I used around our out-of-possession strategy wasn't clear. We made it clear at half-time and were much better.

"We dug in, stayed in the game when it was very difficult, but the transition from first half to second half was really pleasing.

"We needed to get up to Leeds, paid them too much respect in the first half. They are a wonderful team, with the best home record," Foster added, before applauding the performance of his goalkeeper.

"Conor's done well for us but you have to. You come to Elland Road your goalkeeper has to play well. In the second half I was really pleased with us, if one team was going to win it in the second half, it was us."

The Pilgrims' newly-appointed boss has only been in charge for four matches and was without experienced ex-Leeds midfielder Adam Forshaw for this game, as well as England youth international duo Darko Gyabi and Alfie Devine, the latter pair having joined on loan from Leeds and Tottenham Hotspur, respectively, this month.

Despite this, there was nothing to separate Argyle from their hosts on the day. Posed with the question of the replay, Foster had a warning for Leeds: "We're in the hat, Home Park is a difficult place to come for anybody and if we play like we did in the second half there, we fancy our chances.

"We'll make it as difficult as possible when they come down."