There’s good news and there’s bad news on the injury front, as we prepare to face Histon.

The good news is that Rui Marques and Alan Sheehan are both back the squad for Sunday's FA Cup tie, after both completed 90 minutes in a behind-closed-doors friendly at Thorp Arch earlier this week. And they we could do with the pair of them not only being fit but returning to their best form to bolster our flagging defence, as Telfer and Parker have both being looking dodgy during our recent defeats. 

The bad news is that Jermaine Beckford will not only miss this game with his torn hamstring, but will also be out for the next month as well. Gary McAllister told the Yorkshire Post "he's got a slight tear in his hamstring and we're giving it a week to settle before he has any scans but at the moment it's not looking good. He's a fit lad and that's a big thing, but I would think it is a minimum of three or four weeks."

Leeds have a couple of options as to which formation to adopt in the big man’s absence, but I would guess that we will go with Robinson and Snodgrass as specialist wingers on the two flanks, and play Becchio as a lone striker. Then if things aren’t going to plan (as they may not!) we can put Showumni and/or Christie on as additional strikers. 

Despite our recent problems and the prospect of an upset, Macca was sounding quite chipper when he spoke to the official site. "We're going to go and enjoy it. We know it will be a tough game. They are flying high in the Conference. I've watched them, I've seen DVDs and they are getting good results and are a confident side. But my concern is Leeds United not Histon. We're playing some good stuff. Our results could be better, but we're looking forward to Sunday. I want to go there and play at a good tempo. Of course we're favourites for the game and we'll go there and be positive”.  

Histon are currently top of the Conference and their recent form has certainly been very impressive, as last weekend’s convincing 5-2 win against Oxford was their seventh successive victory, and they reached this stage of the competition with a 1-0 home win over our League One rivals Swindon in the first round.

Their current manager is ex-Cambridge United player Steve Fallon (pictured above) but a lot of the pre-match publicity has centred on their coach John Beck, who almost took Cambridge into the Premier League in the early nineties with his extreme long-ball tactics. Amongst other crimes against football, Beck gave the ballboys towels to wipe the ball down so that his long throw specialists could get a better grip to launch the ball into the area, and he would order the groundsman to let the grass grow long in the corners so that the ball would hold up once his players had hoofed it down the wing. By all accounts we can expect an aerial bombardment on Sunday, so an anti-aircraft battery in the heart of our defence would probably be more use than Paul Telfer, as well as being more mobile. 

 Fallon sounded quite optimistic when he spoke to the Yorkshire Post. "We're really looking forward to the Leeds game and we feel we've got an outside chance. We know we could easily get well turned over, but we also know we could spring a surprise. We watched Leeds in the first round when they beat Northampton and they're obviously a very, very good team. But we might get them on an off day and that's what we're hoping for. We can hurt them if we get enough balls into their box. Their defence is not the strongest at this moment in time." 

And of course the ‘Stutes’ defender Patrick Ada  was keen to tell the paper that this is the biggest game in the club’s history, even though Leeds aren’t famous any more. "As a player you just want to test yourself against the best sides possible.  Leeds are the biggest team outside of the Premier League. It is the biggest game of my career so far, it is any player's dream to play live on national television." Histon have a couple of injury problems of their own, as winger Antonio Murray faces a late fitness test, while midfield players Jamie Barker and Josh Simpson are also doubtful. 

Leeds have never lost to a non-league side in the FA Cup, but I must admit I’ve got a bad feeling about this one. As Steve Fallon has said, in recent matches our defence has been appalling at marking at set pieces and have frequently been beaten in the air. So we’re not best equipped to cope with their primitive style of football and at the other end we won’t have Beckford to bail us out of trouble. I’ll be happy if we can come away from the ‘Glassworld Stadium’ with a draw, and I’m going to predict a 2-2 scoreline.  

Photo: Action Images

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