Jesse Marsch fumes at his Leeds players for not taking Cardiff ‘seriously’ after their FA Cup tie draw

Leeds boss Jesse Marsch groaned his players didn’t respect Cardiff or didn’t take the FA Cup seriously enough in the first half.

The Premier League side needed a last-minute equalizer from 18-year-old Sonny Perkins to force a replay at Championship Cardiff after the Welsh side led by two goals.

But he said his teams’ performance jeopardized their Cup run with a lackluster performance. Leeds have won just two of their last 16 games.

Jesse Marsch accused his players of not taking Cardiff “seriously” after the 2-2 draw

The Bluebirds were trailing 2-0 after half an hour but were unable to maintain the win in Cardiff

“I’ve never lost as a coach in the cup against a lower division team,” said Marsch. “Part of it is that I require my players to take it seriously.

“We didn’t do that in the first half and put ourselves in danger. Our young group now needs to learn how to be bigger winners, manage moments and understand what real games are all about. “We can use this as a stepping stone.”

The American praised young hero Perkins and said his introduction from the bench was more than just giving a young player minutes in the FA Cup.

“With Sonny, we were delighted to bring him to the club,” added Marsch of Perkins, who came from West Ham and also played for Leyton Orient as a child. “We tried to get him into the first team a lot and push his development.

Rodrigo (right) scored the goal for the visitors after 65 minutes

“Since we came back from the World Cup break I’ve been adamant with him about what we can improve on. He has developed incredibly well in the last two or three weeks.

“To be honest, we said on the bench: ‘He’s one of those guys who could score the goal’. I have to thank the fans, I don’t think we would have gotten back in the game without them behind the goal – so many of them.”

Cardiff boss Mark Hudson kicked a number of water bottles in frustration during the equalizer but says his overriding emotion is pride.

“The prevailing feeling is that I’m proud of the performance we put on against a top Leeds team,” said Hudson. “We got it right tactically, we frustrated them and scored two really good goals.

18-year-old Sonny Perkins then equalized in the third minute of added time

“We knew we were going to suffer in the second half. It’s not bad if you can get Rodrigo off the bench!’

‘(The red card defender Joel Bagan received for a handball on the line) shows what all the guys showed today: a willingness to put their body on the line – literally!’

The rerun takes place either a week from tomorrow or on Wednesday at Elland Road, with the date yet to be confirmed when the BBC and ITV make their broadcast selections.