I went with very little hope, enthusiasm and optimism and came away with even less. Once again in an attempt to find the right formula Brian made changes, this time White and Tonge after impressive cameos on Saturday came in from the start, the hapless Warnock replaced the hapless Pugh and Wooton came in as right back so that Byram could move further forward at the expense of Stewart. To be fair we actually started quite brightly and although the 17k crowd was one of the smallest of the season they were right behind the team and made a decent amount of noise. We had a couple of good moves - a lovely ball by Ross gave White the chance to cross but he hit it into touch, another cross just failed to meet the head of Smith and then the best chance of the half a great ball by Ross was brilliantly controlled by Tonge a couple of yards out, all he needed to do was hit the target but he blasted over. At the other end we gave them too much room and let them pass it around under no pressure and allowed them a few long range shots which all went straight to Butland. Butland did make one diving save but not sure it counts since the ball was going well wide and he gave away a corner - he even seemed to admit to the fans behind the goal that he thought it was going wide. So the first half came to a close and we had done ok - more of the same second half and we would win, wouldn't we ? Smith was replaced by Hunt at half time and to be honest, he did run around a lot and put in a lot of effort but 90% of it was to no purpose.He seemed to think that shouting with the keeper over time wasting showed his commitment to the cause. Then came another match changing moment, Ross bet his man and let loose a thunderbolt that the keeper just turned onto the post and out ..if only.... Our passing was getting more and more ragged by this stage, each pass not quite where the man wanted it or at a bad height etc, other passes just totally awful, Charlton were growing more confident and their passing was crisp and to a man in space (not that they were any good). Then came the move that decided it all, they got the ball sprayed it across the park and found their left winger who cut inside Warnock and curved it into the net - a good strike but bad defending and it was a goal we knew was coming 4 or 5 passes before that. We then took off the largely ineffective Wooton (he is not a right back) and brought on Poleon who was welcomed by the crowd as if he was the answer to all our prayers. Sadly he was not, he got the ball deep in our half and looked like he was aiming to run the length of the pitch, but 3 Charlton players chased him down and that was the sum total of his 20plus minutes on the pitch. We did have a few scrambles and then came our best chance of getting something from the game, a bit of melee led to the ball falling to White on the edge of the box , as he strode purposefully forward he was pushed in the back and went over, clear penalty for my money. They argued, the lad who committed the foul lay on the floor 'injured' and generally delayed things. Always a bad sign. Ross had the ball under his arm the whole time - injury time pen on his 150th appearance, surely he would score said my heart - he is going to miss said my head. As you all know he hit it OK but the keeper dived and pushed it out - so that chance went begging and with it the chance of any points at all. The crowd who remained silent about both McDermott and Cellino did vent their spleen on a couple of occasions. David Haigh is a wanker rang out a few times, the SS singers did their 'turn your back on GFH' song. "you're not fit to run the club" "F off to the GFH" echoed around the ground the later song the back drop to the exodus at full time
A real drudge back to the buses and train station with fans agreeing 50points was the accepted wisdom for staying up and we have 47 - where can we get 3 more points? Surely we can manage that in 6 games but if so where ? So doom and gloom all round. Any admin will certainly mean relegation this season now and even without it , have no doubts we ARE in a relegation fight. It may all come down to beating Barnsley at Oakwell and we know how well we have done there in recent years Leeds United - beyond a joke Dave _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] John 'Grampa' Sykes Rest In Peace old lad 28th Oct 1938 - 12 Nov 2013 MARCHING ON TOGETHER
