LIVERPOOL FC RULES-YNWA

Lauri Dalla Valle and Tom Ince were both on target as Liverpool's youngsters booked their place in the fourth round of the FA Youth Cup with a 2-1 win at Leeds United.
he Reds dominated throughout a one-sided contest but looked like they would be made to pay for wasting a series of gilt-edged chances after Michael Whitwell cancelled out Ince's spectacular opener.

However, Hughie McAuley's men continued to probe and finally got what they deserved on 58 minutes when Dalla Valle guided home.

The Reds had made an enterprising start to the proceedings and could have taken the lead inside 60 seconds, but Ince failed to connect with David Amoo's clever flick-on and the opportunity went begging.

It set the pattern for the remainder of the half as Liverpool created chance after chance without finding the finishing touch to put the game out of sight.

Indeed, Hughie McAuley must have wondered how his side went in level at the break after an attacking performance that had seen them run the Leeds defenders ragged at times.

First Amoo and Alex Kacaniklic were thwarted by timely interceptions before Lauri Dalla Valle showed a lack of composure when he drilled wide after surging clean through on goal.

Ince then forced a fine save from Leeds stopper Ryan Jones with a fizzing 25 yarder as the home side struggled to come to terms with wave after wave of attack.

The forward was clearly enjoying himself in a central striking role alongside Dalla Valle and capped a fine individual performance when he gave Liverpool the lead by curling a sublime 25 yard free-kick into the top corner on 14 minutes.

It was no more than Liverpool deserved and they could have doubled their advantage on any number of occasions with Jones having to thwart both Christopher Buchtmann and Amoo with smart saves.

At this point it looked like being a rout, but with just the one goal in it, Leeds continued to battle and grabbed a shock equaliser with their first attack of the game on 25 minutes.

A corner from the left was whipped deep into the Reds' six yard box and when no-one picked up Michael Whitwell, the midfielder rose well to glance home.

It was a brief respite for the home side and had Dalla Valle made the most of an exquisite move on 35 minutes, the hosts would have gone in at the interval behind.

The Finnish striker exchanged a sublime one-two with Ince in what was undoubtedly the move of the match, but after racing clear and rounding the keeper he fired his effort wide of target.

It was developing into a lively contest, and despite having to compete with the sporadic fall of snowflakes, both sides continued to try and play their football.

The second half began in a similar fashion to the first with Daniel Ayala wasting another glorious chance when he planted a free header straight into the arms of Jones before Dalla Valle followed suit by guiding Buchtmann's cross into the stand.

It looked like being one of those nights for the 17-year-old but he kept plugging away and finally showed his quality just shy of the hour mark when he flicked Adam Pepper's corner into the far corner of the net.

If the sparse crowd inside Elland Road thought Liverpool had finally found their goal-touch then they were mistaken as Kacaniklic joined the growing list of culprits when he miscued his shot after good approach play by Ince.

With time running out Leeds tried to muster a late rally, and although substitute Sam Jerome almost carved out an equaliser, the three-times winners held on to claim a deserved place in round four of the competition.

Liverpoolfc.tv Man of the Match: Tom Ince. A superb display by the winger turned striker, who capped the night with a sublime opener.