Thierry Henry came off the bench to score the winner on his Arsenal return as the north London side beat Championship (second division) Leeds United 1-0 in the FA Cup third round at the Emirates Stadium Monday.

The 34-year-old Frenchman, on a short-term loan from Major League Soccer club New York Red Bulls almost five years after leaving the Premier League club, ignited a rather flat game when he came on in the 68th minute to a rapturous reception.

Ten minutes later he slid the ball home and rushed over to hug manager Arsene Wenger while the stadium erupted to celebrate Arsenal’s record scorer notching his 227th goal for the club he played for from 1999 to 2007.

“I hope it won’t be the last one,” Henry told ESPN.

“It’s kind of weird, I came back from holiday from Mexico 15 days ago, I never thought I’d perform for Arsenal again or score a winner.

“The feeling I had when I scored was amazing, I rejoined the club as a fan … scoring a goal when you support a club, now I know what some of the guys that played for Man United, Liverpool or Chelsea felt when they scored for the club they support.”

Before it had even kicked off, the match was all about Henry whose loan deal until the end of February had been announced on Friday.

Every time he warmed up, the former France forward was cheered and many fans captured the moment on their mobile phone cameras when Henry donned the red and white shirt and came on for the ineffective Marouane Chamakh 22 minutes from time.

Action on the pitch had been laboured until his introduction as a well organised Leeds side contained their top-flight opponents.

That was all forgotten when Henry met Alex Song’s pass and placed the ball into the far corner to hand victory to Arsenal, who will host Aston Villa in the next round.

Also tonight playing for Arsenal was Nicos Yennaris (photo below) who came on for Coquelin at full back  and put in a good performance and with Arsenal suffering with a shortage of full backs at the moment it could be a chance for him to break into the Arsenal first team. Nicos is comfortable in central defence, right-back or in midfield, the Leytonstone-born teenager is of Cypriot origin his father is born  in the UK  and Grand parents from Kalochorio Lefka and Kalochorio Larnaca his Mother is from China. Nicos’s  father Harry played in the KOPA League with Omonia and AEL.

Also playing for Leeds was Andros Townsend (Photo below) making his second appearance for Leeds on loan from Tottenham Hotspur, he also put up a good display constantly threatening the Arsenal rearguard. His maternal grand parents are from Limassol in Cyprus and on his father’s side Jamaica. Andros’s Father Troy also played in the KOPA League for Ermis.

It was great to see two Cypriot origin players play in such a prestigious game probably the first time  in a FA cup game. These two players are good for the future both England Youth Internationals.

Parikiaki wishes Thierry Henry, Nicos Yennaris and Andros Townsend continued success.