With the trains all being to pot I nearly did not bother today, then seeing we had sold over 6,000 tickets I thought I should join them. For the first time for a while I actually watched the match stone cold sober (with the emphasis on the 'cold' as the hail , snow and sleet came down in a strong wind) I did have to take extra morphine to cope with the pain that the alcohol normally dims but even so I was pretty compos mentis, and I was , for the most part impressed.After the recent drudgery of Bristol and MKDons games this was a refreshing change, a good end to end game with lots of chances and a lot of good football and one in which we were the better team and got a well deserved victory.Walking round the ground pre match had the feel of a home game as all the fans milling about had Leeds scarves and badges etc as the 6,630 fans swamped the place. IN fairness once inside the ground we were outnumbered by Bolton but apart from a hundred young kids to --our right they were mo stly silent.The game set off at a great pace and they created a chance early on but Silvestri saved well. Then we opened the scoring as a great ball by Dallas was well controlled by Doukara who then hammered it home (OK maybe more like stroked it at the keeper who let it bounce over his body) and the Leeds fans went wild. We took control of the game after that with Dave (if we are going for the same as Brentford fans with Diagouraga) especially running the show - very impressive and him and Bridcutt could form a really good partnership and base for our team if we can keep Bridcutt. It also gave Cook a lot of freedom to get forward more although he is not a left winger. For me the MOM was Doukara by a mile -to quote a number of managers he really put in a shift - he really was here there and everywhere and caused them no end of problems, if he can keep this up he really will be hero (some fans still seem against him, not realising the difference in his attitude and play from the second part of last season) We created a few more chances with Bellusci and Dallas both blasting wide. The nearly equalised when we did our usual 'after you, no after you' defending in the box but somehow their forward put it over from 5 yards out. We then got the second our play deserved as a good move ended with Antenucci pulling it back to the onrushing Dave who hit it home from the penalty spot. He did not look like the non scoring midfielder player we had been promised (his first goal since 2013). We also had a real chance to put it beyond doubt - Cook rampaged forward and then, as so often, instead of taking it on and shooting he stopped and put it across to Antenuccis whose shot bound for the bottom corner was brilliantly saved. So off we went to deserved raptuous applause and 2 up, surely we would win this?Second half was similar to the first with Bellusci having a long range free kick tipped over the bar and a couple of other half chances went begging. Taylor es pecially wasting two good opportunities to put it on a plate with bad crosses and Antenucci looking a bit ring rusty. This is being a bit harsh though as we controlled the game and had the fans shouting 'ole' on a few occasions and singing 'we're Leeds United and we're taking the piss'.Another golden chance to seal the victory also went begging as a great move down our left ending with a great cross by Taylor and lay back by Dallas and Wootton blasted it over, he really should have scored. At the other end we defended resolutely when called upon and Bellusci had one great block when he put himself on the line.So 80 minutes and this was great stuff from an exciting and enterprising Leeds team, then with 10 minutes to go we remembered we are Leeds and we do not just win games without a drama. So a corner was not cleared and fell to an unmarked Bolton player inside the 6 yard box and he scored. Oh shit surely we would not mess this up? Well we very nearly did, another Bolton pl ayer was free and turned in the box and fired goalwards. The Silvestri fans will say he pulled off a good save, his critics will say he saved it but instead of pushing round the post for a corner he palmed it back into play straight to a Bolton player who,luckily for us, hit the post when he could and should have sent it to a replay. We saw the 4 extra minutes out with no further drama and got the win we needed and deserved. All 6 thousand of us went home happy. I ended up on the replacement bus to Piccadilly station and saw we were in a convoy of 12 double decker buses given a police escort. The mood on the bus was buoyant with everyone agreeing that Dave was a real find and that this was a very good display. For me Doukara was mom closely followed by Dave, but there were good displays all over the pitch - Bamba looking like the player who was here on loan (worryingly he went off injured before the end), Bellusci made less mistakes than any other game I have seen him play, and Bridcutt went about his business quietly and without fuss. Great stuffSo in the hat for the next round - a real dilemma for me, thinking we would be out by now and not planning on a trip to Brum have organised a cub trip on Sat 20th Feb. So I want a match that the TV cameras will want to change to Sunday (boo) or Friday night (double boo) or one that I do not want to go to. So a nice winnable tie moved to TV pleaseEvans got a lot of stick and criticism when he got the job but his 2 signings Bridcutt and Dave are looking good ones and Carayol (on for 5 mins today) has already shown he has something to offer and was very much an impulse buy who just became available as opposed to someone Evans was after. He is also, at the moment getting so much out of Doukara that no-one else really managed. Add to that we are top 6 based on just the results under him and I think he deserves a lot of creditDave _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected]
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