All's well that ends well pretty much sums up this game from our point of view. Compared to Watford it was a classic, and to be honest it was a decent enough game with lots of good football on display and it was a game that ebbed and flowed with both teams looking dodgy at times and very much in the ascendancy at others. We started well - with Gradel replacing Sam as the only non enforced change, and one that seemed harsh on Sam. Becchio had a decent chance thwarted by a great last ditch tackle \ block and then put an easy header well wide and over - a bad miss. Things were looking good for us until a fairly aimless ball over the top caught Naylor in a bad position body wise and he fell over in his attempt to clear it and it ran through to the forward who scored. I thought he finished it well but there were those around me who felt that Kasper would have saved it. Whatever the truth Higgs certainly 'redeemed himself' and showed that he is an excellent back up keeper with a great one on one stop and then a diving tip round the post as we were given the run around by a lively Swansea team for the next 20mins or so. Watt looked totally out of sorts, he neither helped out the midfield as part of a 5, nor gave Becchio support as part of a front two. On one occasion he was so easily outstripped by the Swansea player it looked like he was jogging on the spot. Johnson has replaced Doyle as my sons 'pet hate' - I think he has been taking lessons from RW and once you start picking on a player it is easy to find fault since most of them make more errors than they do good things at this level. Johnson was fairly poor and is definitely a weak link and whilst one surging run and tremendous shot that cannoned off the bar brought applause from most in the crowd my lad shouted -"it's still a miss Johnson". At half time some morons even booed the team off - incredible. We all felt that changes had to be made very quickly if things were to improve and the general consensus was 'bring on McCormack for Watt and Sam for Johnson" 10mins in and SG did make a change taking off the hapless Watt and bringing on Sam. this allowed Gradel to get further forward, which he did to great effect. Up until then Gradel had been over-complicating everything, taking on too many players and being too slow to pass \ cross the ball, but that all changed, and Sam looked a class act on the wing. We upped the tempo and passion and soon a cross from Gradel was well met by Naylor but was straight at the keeper who parried it to Johnson who lashed it into the roof of the net - cue abuse aimed at my son. About 10 minutes later Gradel got to the byline, looked up and pulled the ball back to Sam (who had failed to shoot in a similar position a few minutes before) who shot well but again the keeper parried, this time it fell to Kilkenny whose mis-hit shot was going nowhere until it ricocheted off Howson and fell to Becchio a few yards out and we all (RW inc) know he is deadly from that range. Becchio celebrated like a huge weight had been lifted. A ball over the top then found Becchio but it bounced off him and became a 50/50 between him and the keeper. Becchio went in, possibly late and studs up but I thought he had every right to go for it - the keeper took great exception and hurled the ball right into Becchio's face from a yard away and then rolled on the floor in agony. A few players then got involved in handbags. Gradel went to the lino and imitated throwing the ball and the lino nodded and said he had seen it and went to speak to ref. The ref booked Becchio and then turned to the nearly dead keeper still writhing on the deck with 2 broken legs and a few cracked ribs. Got to be red, got to be red we all agreed, but the ref bottled it and pulled out a yellow card, a yellow card with magic properties since it cured all the keepers injuries ! We were not amused and it is that sort of play acting and indefensible refereeing that taints the game. McCormack came on for Kilkenny and showed a few good touches and excellent movement and at the end a totally knackered Becchio was replaced by Somma who also looked decent in the few minutes plus 5 added on that he was on the pitch. So a 2 -1 win and the half time boos replaced by cheering. Bessone is still a liability, Johnson not good enough and Naylor making too many errors, but overall we looked good at times. Unlike Rich I like Connolly and Collins, both no nonsense safety first old fashioned defenders. Watt will need to play a lot better if he is to keep his place in the team, and Max and Sam will terrorise defences when they are on form. Grayson again proving he is the man for the job. 2 big game coming up and lots of selection headaches coming his way Looking forward to Tuesday and the mass influx of Leeds fans into Barnsley (6,700 sold ) Dave _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected]
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