Apologies for the lack of posts this week - I've just taken over England duties on WorldCupBlog.org and I'm still working out how to juggle it with my Leeds commitments. Give me a few days, I'll be fine.
Alright, crunch time. Prospective giant-killers Hereford United head to Elland Road tonight in the hopes of adding another big-name notch to their belts, and it will be up to a dramatically weakened Leeds team to stop them.
In Midfield, Leeds are down a host of players: Jonathon Douglas and David Prutton are serving one-match suspensions for five yellow cards each, while Filipe Da Costa is in the middle of a three-match ban after being sent off in Leeds's 2-1 defeat to Bury in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy last week. Ian Westlake is out with a broken toe, while Tore Andre Flo is out with a broken foot.
Midifielder Radostin Kishishev and loan striker Mark De Vries aren't eligible to play since neither was at Leeds when Hereford held the team to a draw earlier this month. The former will only be able to play in the FA Cup if Leeds qualify for the second round with a win tonight.
Shaun Derry has left Leeds on a loan deal to Crystal Palace after Dennis Wise decided that he needs more first-team action in order to regain match fitness for Leeds, and Alan Thompson, although healthy again, still needs to regain match fitness and will probably be on the bench.
On the plus side, Leeds can call on both Jermaine Beckford and Tresor Kandol up front, Seb Carole in the midfield, and all of their first-choice defensive lineup. Hopefully that will be enough to keep them in the FA Cup for another round.