And then there were three....That's how many competitions we're still involved in having being beaten - in rather controversial fashion - yet again by a battling Leicester City side, following a penalty shoot out: the scores goalless after 120 minutes of play.

We started the game in confident fashion, totally dominating the first twenty minutes. O'Leary decided on a formation that has served us well in European away games this season, with Bridges playing a lone role up front. This appeared to confuse the three Leicester centre backs for the opening minutes of the match, who weren't sure who to mark, with Kewell causing all sorts of problem at the back.

Kelly tested Flowers with a rare shot on target as early as the tenth minute, then only brave l

Leicester defending stopped us taking the lead, as we forced three corners in immediate succession.

Unfortunately - and rather mysteriously - Batty was forced to leave the pitch after 20 minutes, which had a major effect on the rest of the evening's action. A couple of minutes later, with the home team starting to edge their way into the game more, Heskey showed characteristic pace and power before unleashing a 20 yard shot just wide of Martyn's right post.

Bridges played a great ball up to Kewell, in the Leicester. However, Harry appeared to use his upper arm in an attempt to glance the ball into the goal...and, as a result, was booed thoroughly for the remainder of the match.

On the half hour mark, Radebe was booked for a single tug of Heskey's shirt and, from the resultant free kick, Walsh should have given Leicester the lead. They were now starting to get the upper hand. Moments later, the United Captain mistimed another tackle as the home fans bayed to get him sent off.

As the half time whistle blew, Leicester had got themselves much more into the game but, in truth, Martyn had hardly had a save to make. It was in midfield where the real battles were taking place.

A couple of minutes after the restart, a rather casual back pass by Radebe almost embarrassed Martyn, as he delayed his kick rather too long. Then, on 51 minutes, a beautiful through pass by Harte found Kewell running into the box. Finding himself momentarily one on one with Flowers, he needed to lob him in a single movement. However, under pressure, he skied the effort and the chance was gone.

The opening fifteen minutes were all congested into the midfield area, the only real moment of note coming from an appalling booking for Lee Bowyer: receiving a yellow card despite cleanly winning the ball and with the linesman standing only a few feet away.

The rest of the second half saw us being pegged back more and more by some powerful Leicester play in the centre of the park. Harte and Bowyer both started giving g the ball away a little too easily as we started to rely on rare counter attacks to ease the pressure.

With just three minutes remaining, a dubious free kick against Harte led to Jones clearing=earing heroically off the line, then Radebe blocking the rebound. It only seemed a matter of time before Leicester would score.

Right on the stroke of full time, Radebe was again the hero, blocking a Heskey effort brilliantly. However, just a minute later, the two players would be involved again it was the game's most controversial moment. Radebe ran across the path of Heskey as he raced into the United half, only for the Filbert Street front man to throw himself to the ground like a rather muscle-bound dying swan. Despite the fact that television replays clearly showed that an injustice had been done, the Leeds Captain was given his marching orders - and the game turned dramatically in Leicester's favour. Duberry came into the action - with Bridges the sacrifice. Kewell was now up front alone.

To our credit, we actually played the more constructive football in extra time with Kewell in particular a real star. In fact, despite all the Leicester pressure over the second half of the evening's entertainment, it was Harry who almost had the final say - beating three or four Leicester defenders as he weaved his way into the box, only to skew wide when it looked like he had done the hard part. Bowyer was also in space had harry bothered to look across.

As penalties loomed ever closer, you got the feeling that O'Leary would settle for them, given the evening's drama. When they came, they were to prove our undoing. Although Zagorakis missed Leicester's third penalty, both Kelly and Bowyer missed spot kicks for us. All this meant that if Izzet put away the fourth of Leicester's penalties, there would be no way back for us.

And so it proved to be. As the Leicester bench and players celebrated a big result for them, we were left to ponder what might have been. It was a pity that the game had turned on such a bad refereeing decision - but the Leicester jinx continues, especially in the Worthington Cup. Some might say that it's a blessing in disguise to be out of the weakest of the competitions we're competing for. However, the fact is that it remained a likely source of silverware this campaign - especially with so few top ranked teams still left in the draw. Leicester must now be favourites to go back to Wembley and win the cup once again.

United Star Man: Lucas Radebe ( despite being sent off!)