Carlisle claimed their place in the final of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy with victory over Leeds.

Leeds edged out on penalties at Brunton Park

Carlisle booked their place in the Wembley final of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy after overcoming Leeds 6-5 on penalties. The Cumbrians twice led through Adam Clayton and Kevan Hurst but Leeds staged a fighting comeback in normal time to level the aggregate scores with goals from Robert Snodgrass, Jason Crowe and Mike Grella before penalties settled matters. Carlisle opened the scoring after 33 minutes when Scott Dobie squeezed a pass through to Clayton, with the ball taking a deflection off Lubomir Michalik and falling perfectly into the stride of the midfield man, who coolly slid his shot beyond Casper Ankergren from just inside the area. Leeds came out firing on all cylinders at the start of the second half and were level within two minutes of the restart. Adam Collin produced a diving save to deny Max Gravel but Snodgrass was on hand to nod the ball over the goalkeeper from close range. The visitors were the better side for long periods in the second half but it was Carlisle who eased the pressure after 72 minutes when Hurst got the better of Michalik and turned cleverly inside the area before hammering a shot past Ankergren. Simon Grayson's men refused to give up and Crowe lashed home a left-wing cross to keep the tie in the balance before Grella forced home Gary McSheffrey's left-wing cross to take the game to penalties.