Another 3 points in the bag, 4 straight victories and into a play off position and all in front of a crowd of over 30,000. So I should be buzzing and very happy, but for some reason today was a bit unsatisfactory. Not really sure why, since we were deserved victors and did play well at times but I am not 100% content. Normally I have a pretty simplistic view of things - if we lose things are bad , if we win things are good. To be honest I think what is bugging me is the fact that even though we were 1 up at half time and they were down to 10 men, we did not go on and give them the hammering I expected - instead we ended up time wasting and putting the ball into the corners with almost 10 minutes to go, and had to get a winner having let them back into it.
Perhaps I am being a bit unfair - their sub keeper was their best player and made one outstanding save plus a couple of other decent ones, Blackstock missed a sitter, Mowatt nearly scored and Rody had a header just wide, whereas. apart from the goal, I can only recall Kenny making one save and that was an easy one. We started brightly and McDermott showed he is a good man manager by keeping faith with Pugh and Peltier who did well last time out but showed he is also a sensible one in bringing back Mowatt for Brown. Not too much happened in the first half hour apart from a cracking shot by Pugh and then Blackstock fluffed a good chance. Then on the half hour a corner was headed back across goal from the back post by Lees and McCormack headed home from close range. I thought we were going to get a penalty from a deliberate hand ball that looked from the Kop to be well inside the box but the ref gave us a free kick just outside. The ref got it right shortly after when the keeper came running out of the box and took Blackstock out of the game . My immediate reaction was 'It's got to be a red, that is a definite sending off" and the ref agreed and off went the keeper. That should have been the key to us romping home in the second half in front of a lively crowd -a crowd who were persuaded into an 11 minute 'O gary gary, gary speed' song as his picture and dates came on the scoreboard on the 11th to 22nd minute to commemerate the 2nd year of his death ( a bit over the top for my taste but each to their own) Second half we did not really get going and a quick break and flowing move from them ended with a good finish and we looked like we could be throwing it away. Thankfully we got back in front fairly quickly when a lovely bit of skill by Peltier was topped off by a great cross that was headed home by Pearce. We came close to extending the lead on a couple of occasions but good keeping and poor finishing kept them in it even though I never really thought we would lose. For some reason we then panicked a bit and with plenty of time to go we started to waste time and twice we took the ball into the corner rather than trying to go for the third. Whether that was the right way of doing things or not we came off with the 3 points and so it was job done. For me the bright points were Marius and Mowatt. Marius looked totally commanding at the back and seems to have a touch of class. Mowatt - get him signed asap and have one of those 'it will cost you £10million to talk to him' clauses in his new contract. He really does look the business - best young player since Fabian Delph (even better than Byram for my money) He is going to be a real star at the highest level. Lees and Pearce also did well putting themselves on the line a few times. Rody continued his current run of good form, and Pugh, Peltier , Kenny and McCormack all did what was expected of them. Murphy was very quiet but did the simple things well. The only one who was below par was Blackstock - I don't see what he offers that we cannot get from Varney, Hunt or Smith. Having said that since he linked up with Ross, Ross has got 7 goals in 3 games. So, despite my slight misgivngs, a good result and a decent performance. I have said all season that if we can stay around the play off places I will judge it as being a success and today has put us into the top 6 so we are where I hoped we would be. McDermott continues to impress as a manager and he has the support of the crowd, a crowd that is slowly coming back in good numbers and who are now backing the team instead of getting on their back. Good times are around the corner (at last) Dave _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] MARCHING ON TOGETHER
