I watched the first half and like everyone else wondered. 'how is this 1 nil to us' A great start and then we went all defensive for the rest of the half, partly because they got on the front foot and partly because we sat back and let them come at us. Thankfully Silvestri, who to be fair, has impressed as a shot stopper pretty much all season with the odd blip, was really on form. He got the luck that his effort and skill deserved and was backed by some really determined defending, a real 'they shall not pass' attitude that has been sadly lacking in recent seasons. This commitment earned us the good fortune that it tends to bring and coupled with some poor finishing etc meant that I went out at half time to my cub do, ruing Sol's last minute missed header that could have finished them off.My text as I left the house was 'take Bellusci off and bring on Cooper, and that when I came home any result between us hanging on for 1 nil or even extending it to 2 nil right up to a 4 or 5 1 hammering, with the first 10mins of the second half being all important. Then nothing till just gone 2pm when I had a message saying they were down to 10 men but there was 9mins injury time due to a bad injury to one of theirs -then a few minutes later my phone had multiple messages - we had done it, we had hung on and won !A real 'we would not have won this before Christmas' moment. Are the play offs a realistic possibility ? I doubt it but we are almost safe now - 41 pts on the board and 46 to 50 going to be enough. We just need to keep going and see where we end up. IF the plays offs stay in sight then keep playing the same team and formation, home and away - Cooper has to play the next 2 for the suspended Bellusci. If the play offs disapper over the horizon as is likely then we can look to rest Cook, Mowatt, Taylor and Byram ready for next season and give those on loan, Adryan, Cani, Montenegro, Del Fabro etc a run out to see if they are worth keepingWe need to keep going and do enough to let Cook etc think that next season can indeed be our year and that they can make the Prem with us and give us one more year before they go to better places - no-one however much they love Leeds is going to stay when the Prem come knocking, but if we can show them something good is happening maybe we can get them to sign on for one more season - play for us and get promotion rather than sit on a Premier team bench. It could work for a while but not longer than, say next Christmas transfer window - we saw that with Snoddy and Howson etc Still a great result and if Morison can add goals to his game then things can get better still 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
