HARRY Kewell answered his manager's prayers with a wonder goal which lit Leeds United's path to the last 16 of the UEFA Cup.

David O'Leary had a heart-to-heart with the Australian whizz-kid ahead of last night's tie with Grasshoppers Zuruch after Kewell had only shown flashes of his outstanding ability this season.

The player responded with a stunning goal which will rank as one of the greatest the famous Elland Road stadium has witnessed.

Although the Swiss outfit refused to roll over and held Leeds to a 2-2 draw, United's 4-3 aggregate progress was relatively comfortable.

An attacking Leeds line-up which featured Alan Smith on the right, Robbie Keane on the left and Kewell floating behind Mark Viduka had done little until Kewell's explosive contribution after 19 minutes.

United cleared a corner at the South Stand end to the edge of their box where Olivier Dacourt cleverly switched the ball to Kewell in space on the right.

Although he was 75 yards from goal there was only one thing on his mind as he set off like white-shirted lightning past two Zurich defenders before lifting his shot over the advancing goalkeeper Peter Jehle.

It was a memorable goal to decorate a low-key game in which Leeds didn't knit as a team but showed flashes of individual brilliance.

Kewell almost made it 2-0 ten minutes after his wonder goal when he cut in from the right and smashed a 25-yard drive against the bar.

The half ended in bizarre fashion when United's defensive trio of Rio Ferdiand, Danny Mills and Nigel Martyn got in a bigger mess than Leeds railway station and allowed Richard Nunez to lob the ball home for a soft goal in injury time.

Swiss celebrations were short-lived as Mills played in Keane who rifled home a fine right-foot shot from 20 yards to put Leeds 4-2 ahead on aggregate.

Leeds, mindful of Sunday's trip to Blackburn on Sunday, went through the motions in third gear after that and were unable to put enough daylight between themselves and Grasshoppers to be completely safe.

Martyn made a fine leaping save to his right to tip away a fierce shot from Luca Ippoliti to spare United an anxious last seven minutes.

But Grasshoppers did make Leeds pay for more slackness in the final seconds when Nunez tucked away a short into Martyn's bottom right-hand corner. But by that time Leeds were already safely through to next Wednesday's draw.

This season's UEFA Cup has rarely seen Leeds in top gear but they are likely to show more urgency when the competition resumes in February.

Updated: 12:46 Friday, December 07, 2001