Daniel Farke hailed Harrogate’s defensive resilience “in the game of their lives” after Leeds reached the fourth round of the FA Cup with a 1-0 win at Elland Road.
Largie Ramazani settled the first-ever competitive encounter between the two Yorkshire clubs by heading home a second-half winner to ensure promotion-chasing Leeds avoided an upset.
Farke said: “That’s the main thing in a cup competition, to progress into the next round.
“It’s never easy because obviously for them it’s the game of the season, for some of them perhaps even the game of their lives.
“A packed Elland Road and they’re excited, and for us it was important to use this game to rest and rotate a few players, to give minutes away and bring players back in after injury.”
Farke made eight changes after last week’s 3-3 draw at Hull, with only captain Ethan Ampadu, Joe Rothwell and Manor Solomon retaining their places.
The Leeds boss added: “You also have to respect the quality of the opponent, a professional football side, and it’s never easy.
“They defended very well and deep and with a knife between the teeth.
“Well done to Harrogate. I think they played an excellent game today in terms of defending.”
Farke feels his squad is strong enough this season to embark on a long cup run while maintaining their promotion challenge.
He added: “Well, we are top of the league, the only team on a two-point average (per game) and we’re through to the next round. It looks good.
“But we have to prove this each and every day. We know we have a squad together which is capable of winning games and being successful.”
Harrogate boss Simon Weaver said he was proud of his side and hopes they will resume their battle to retain Football League status with renewed confidence.
Weaver said: “I’m immensely proud of the whole evening from our perspective. I thought the players were right on it.
“There were a lot of emotions in the build-up to the game. It’s a massive moment on our journey and we wanted to impress.
“After 15 minutes I thought, ‘yeah, they’re digging in.’ It’s sink or swim moments in players’ careers and they swam tonight. I’m so proud of each individual in our team.”
Leeds dominated possession and although Mateo Joseph’s low shot struck a post in the first half and Solomon’s curling effort skimmed the crossbar after the interval, Farke’s side found it difficult to carve out clear chances.
Weaver added: “We can take so much from tonight. It’s great to come to an arena like Elland Road, fantastic wall of noise, it makes all the graft worth it.”
