Teenager striker Alan Smith polished off minnows Rushden & Diamonds to book Leeds United an FA Cup fourth round tie at Portsmouth.

The ambitious Conference side stunned a near 40,000 Elland Road crowd by taking an early replay lead, but two class pieces of finishing by 18-year-old Smith and a goal from Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink ground down the brave Diamonds resistence.

After Carl Heggs had scrambled in Rushden's shock 11th minute goal, Smith took centre stage by latching on to Hasslebaink's faint flick to steer the equaliser past giant goalkeeper Ian Feuer, but it was not until

Rothwell-born Smith struck his second after 51 minutes were Leeds able to relax.

Harry Kewell fed the ball from the left, Hasselbaink laid it back and Smith smacked a crisp half volley into the Rushden net.

De Souza and Heggs then had a chance to draw Rushden level, the latter after Nigel Martyn flapped at a cross in the swirling wind, but spooned his shot high and wide. Within seconds Leeds were on the counter attack with Kewell, who had a storming second half after a poor first, racing deep into the Rushden half before delivering the ball to Hasselbaink to squeeze a shot beneath Feuer.

After that it was Leeds v Feuer as the American stretched his 6ft 7in frameto keep out a barrage of shots, none better than a swirling, dipping effort by Lee Bowyer heading for the top left hand corner.

As Rushden ran out of steam, Leeds efforts on goal hit the 30 mark, but could not emphasise their superiority on the scoresheet.

Manager David O'Leary said he was delighted the way his players did not panic after Rushden took a shock lead.

Miquel de Souza scorched past Lucas Radebe on the right and his cut-back into the box created an almighty scramble in the box which ended with former Northampton striker Carl Heggs shooting against a post before curling the rebound beyond Martyn in front of 5,000 Rushden fansin the South Stand.

Rushden enjoyed a fine opening 20 minutes in which they kept possession well, and, in de Souza had enough quality and pace in attack to make life difficult for United's defence which surprisingly included both Radebe and Jonathon Woodgate.

Both were rated by O'Leary as doubtful starters, so the 90 minutes for Radebe, despite a booking was a bonus.

The other major plus factor for Leeds was Smith's stunning finishing. Once he slipped in the equaliser the pressure increased on a Rushden defence in which former York City man Darren Bradshaw and ex-Elland Road triallist Jim Rodwell excelled.

Diamonds deserved a hugh amount of credit for contributing greatly to a fine tie in which it took Leeds 141 minutes to get their noses in front.

In the end everyone seemed to go home happy - Leeds for having avoided embarrassment and Rushden for the manner in which they conducted themselves on and off the pitch.

In a nice final touch Rushden boss sent on Chris Whyte, who had won a Championship medal with Howard Wilkinson's Leeds, to greater roar than greeted the final whistle a minute later.

He said: "The reception I got was really warm. It really touched me, although it would have touched anyone.

"It meant everything to me to come on for the last few minutes, but to be perfectly honest, I didn't know I was going to go on.

"My ideal dream would be for Rushden to win promotion and Leeds to win the FA Cup. It will be hard for both teams and if I had to settle for one, then it would definitely be for Rushden.

"Leeds have a lot of young players and it may be a year or two, or even three, before they will mature and gain the experience they need to really be up there challenging. The future looks good for them."

The little Northamptonshire town are now even more firmly on the map after multi-millionaire Dr Martens owner Max Griggs thrust them into the limelight with his takeover and development of the club.

There was certainly no disgrace in their defeat. Whyte said: "We've emerged from these two games with a lot of credit.

"I think we have done everyone proud throughout the whole club and the whole of Rushden. We can hold our heads up high."

Leeds now head for Portsmouth a week on Saturday, but will be missing Radebe who will be on international duty with South Africa, and two-goal Smith, who is suspended along with Alf-Inge Haaland and midfielder Lee Bowyer.

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