Kabba strike sees Sheffield through to semis

FA Cup Quarter-final

FA Cup Quarter-final

Sheffield United 1 Leeds United 0

Steve Kabba fired Sheffield United into their second semi-final of the season to complete a glorious double over a languid Leeds side.

The FA Cup was Leeds' last hope of salvaging some pride from a wretched year which has seen the club encounter difficult times both on and off the field.

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But Leed's lack of heart was alarming and instead it was the Blades who wrote another glorious chapter in what has a been a remarkable season for Neil Warnock and his players.

Leeds goalkeeper Paul Robinson was rarely tested in the first half and the swirling conditions and bumpy pitch were hardly conducive to entertaining football.

Such factors, though, cannot be offered as excuses for the glaring misses Leeds made in the opening 45 minutes.

Mark Viduka, Harry Kewell and Alan Smith all combined in a passing move around the Sheffield area but Smith's curling effort was met by Blades 'keeper Paddy Kenny.

Worse followed in the 29th minute. Kewell raced through and was left with Kenny to beat, but the goalkeeper blocked the shot. Kewell then blazed the follow-up over the bar from just three yards out.

It was effectively Kewell's last action of the game as he was substituted at the break after sustaining a recurrence of a back injury.

Robinson was forced into the fray early in the second half when he tipped over a crisp Kabba drive, and after Viduka and Johnson had fired shots into the arms of Kenny, Sheffield United then struck.

Michael Tonge managed to work an opening inside the Leeds area, only to see his 15-yard left-foot shot blocked inside the six-yard box by Danny Mills. But the ball fell to Kabba and he hit it first-time beyond Robinson into the bottom right hand corner.

PA