Dominic Calvert-Lewin endured a nightmare Leeds United debut as his side bombed out of the Carabao Cup.
Daniel Farke’s side made the short journey south to face Sheffield Wednesday in what was a largely cagey affair at Hillsborough on Tuesday.
After a goalless first half, new recruit Calvert-Lewin, who joined on a free transfer only last week, was introduced shortly before the hour mark to try and break the deadlock.
Just minutes later however his side found themselves a goal down to the Championship outfit when a driven Jamal Lowe effort was fumbled into his own net by Karl Darlow.
The Whites nevertheless managed to find themselves an equaliser through substitute Jayden Bogle on the 80-minute mark and, with 10 minutes left, looked as though they were going to find a winner.
And they must’ve thought they’d done just that when Anton Stach fired a low free-kick across the Wednesday six-yard box towards none other than Calvert-Lewin in front of the travelling supporters in stoppage time.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin endured a nightmare Leeds United debut at Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday
But the new recruit at Elland Road somehow got it all wrong, side-footing his effort agonisingly past the post in what was a horror miss.
With just minutes left, Calvert-Lewin was presented the chance to atone for his error when when Willy Gnonto broke behind the host’s defence.
The Italian winger managed to send a delightful ball across the Wednesday six-yard box towards Leeds’s new No 9 who, this time on his right-foot, once again couldn’t send the ball home.
Incredibly, on a night which just kept going from bad to worse – and was yet to reach its low – for the former Everton man, he managed to squander another huge chance before end end of regulation time.
It came in the 95th, and final, minute when a Daniel James flick found its way to the forward in the six-yard box, who was unable to sort his feet out and send the bouncing ball into the back of the net, taking the tie to pens.
After a Joel Piroe miss for Leeds and two scored by Wednesday, Calvert-Lewin stepped up to take the crucial second penalty for his side.
Perhaps unsurprisingly on a night where almost nothing went right for the new recruit, he blazed his spot-kick over the bar before, in what was a dismal shootout display from Leeds, Sean Longstaff also had his effort saved, sending Leeds out of the Carabao Cup 3-0 on penalties.
In his post-match press conference, manager Daniel Farke put the loss down to ‘too many missed chances’, while also revealing the extent of midfielder Ao Tanaka’s injury.
The Japanese midfielder was forced off during his side’s 5-0 thrashing at Arsenal on the weekend.
‘MCL injury, he will also be out for a few weeks,’ Farke said.
”It’s difficult at the moment to say exactly when he can return but also definitely not before the international break so it’s quite a similar injury to Ethan Ampadu’s.’
Speaking about the loss to Wednesday, the former Norwich City manager added: ‘We feel a bit embarrassed that we don’t win such a game and you can just say sorry anyhow because they [the fans] made the trip and wanted to celebrate.
‘Of course we would have wished to have given them a better outcome and also got into the next round.
‘We would have liked to have got into the next round but the reality today is that we sadly missed too many chances.’
