Well what a cracker - after the mediocrity and disappointment of Charlton and Birmingham , this was a performance and result to savour. We were excellent throughout and played some good flowing football. Surprisingly White was right wing in front of Byram, Peltier was left back (and had a great game) Brown was recalled in centre midfield (was my joint man of the match - he was everywhere) and Varney was paired with Diouf as Becchio was rested (dropped?). To date Varney had done nothing to impress and it was no wonder he has not really featured since the opening few games but last night he really proved the doubters wrong. He was my other man of the match. He could (perhaps should) have had a hat trick - he missed from a yard out as he slid in on the end of a Diouf cross 'Becchio would have scored that' was the main comment around me, he then intercepted a back pass winning a 50/50 with keeper but was unlucky to see the ball come back off the corner of the post / crossbar, then in the second half he cut in from the corner flag beat his man but failed to beat the keeper from a tight angle. It was sods law for him that Becchio came on and scored a pen with his only touch. Varney did make up for those misses with an all round great performance - he was winning things in the air and beating players on the ground. His extra mobility and pace (compared with Becchio) made it easier for Diouf up front and we created a lot of chances. It was fitting that he laid on the first goal when he beat the full back and played it accross for Diouf but it was intercepted and fell to Tonge who hit a good low shot through the crowd and into the net 1-0 and a very deserved 1-0. It stayed that way right till the last few minutes when a great surging run by Ausitn, he picked it up in his own half and ran through 2 half hearted tackles and into the box where he unleashed a shot that the keeper could only parry into the path of Diouf for a tap in. Game over we thought and I moved from my seat to stand near the exit , I was just finding somewhere to stand when I saw the ref had given us a penalty - up stepped Becchio ( I thought I know you will miss sooner or later, everyone does, so this would not be a bad one to miss) and he buried it into the corner - a great pen. I texted my absent ST holding mate and he wanted to know why we kept on putting on the style in this cup but serving up crap in the league - I had no answer Even the crowd was decent 17k - same as Charlton- but was made up of lots of different people, I did not recognise any of the faces near me whereas for a league game I 'know' just about everyone around me 2 good chants "who needs Van Persey when we've got Luke Varney" and to Amarillo tune "sha la la Diouf diouf, (repeated 3 times) El Hadj will spit on you" (and marie who waits for me) So a great night all in all and for me Varney should keep his place up front for Friday night - he won more headers than Becchio normally does, was quicker and more mobile, and can beat a player and cross a ball - having said that Becchio can score from 2 yards out (Sky are taking the piss out of Varney on ssn this morning)
Dave _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] PETE CASS (1962 - 2011) Rest In Peace Mate
