I think the French is 'plus ce change' The first half could have been any Leeds team with any manager over the last X years - we were awful, second best to everything as they looked quicker, sharper, more composed and better in all areas.As the lad behind me said they are 'ping, ping, ping; with the ball' and we could get nowhere near them In the pub beforehand the talk was "what the f88k are we doing in here on a Sunday?" and surely we have all got better things to do with our time and money. We all agreed when talking team selection that Roofe and Alioski have come to the end of the road, permanently in Roofes case and for at least the time being for Alioski (albeit one mate would be happy if he never played again) Early in the season it was a case of go a goal down and we were done, in more recent times it has been a case of wait till the game was beyond us and then start playing - Millwall, Cardiff spring to mind. In Hecks first game we were a goal down in 152 seconds and were awful till the second half and today almost followed that pattern. We had one decent attempt at 0 0 , a decent move ended with Ekuban laying it on a plate for Dallas to shoot, which he did, but the shot was well saved and for the first half that was it. We did go 4 4 2 for once with Anita having the right back slot behind Dallas, with De Bock and Hernadez on the left, Forshaw (impressive again) and O'Kane in the middle behind Ekuban and Lassogga. Then we were undone with simple attacking play - a long throw flap by the keeper and 01 down. A bit later and another long throw, another failure to clear our lines and 0 2 . Bristol had a couple more chances (Felix made one cracking save) to put the game out of sight but failed to capitalise on things So 0 2 at half time and Hecks home debut led to the dejected players being booed off at half time and everyone with chins on the floor Then suddenly from nowhere, we proved why Leeds is special and why our fans are the best in the country. Lots of fans when away from home really get behind their team when 3 or 4 down, making the most of a day out - been there a few times with LUFC, but this was different I am not sure if it started as sarcastic or not but the crowd suddenly broke out into MOT, champions of Europe etc with all 4 sides of the ground, twirling scarves and really going for it - something I genuinely believe no Prem side could do in this sanatized football supporting audience. The players responded and it was game on- Lassogga got on the end of a great ball from Pablo and it was game on. Then Roofe came on and converted from close range from a corner - not sure about the fingers in ear celebration , was it a complaint about the boos earlier on or to show how loud the crowd had got ? We then had ten minutes to turn certain defeat into an impossible victory, and we came ever so close- first the last sub, Phillips could not quite keep his header down and then with almost the last kick of the game Lassogga met a good cross and saw his header come back off the bar - so near and yet so far The team booed off at half time went off to a standing ovation and raptuous applause, but again, too little too late - as per Millwall this was a game that was almost one for the history books but instead will be remembered as yet another game when we gave it all away early on with barely a whimper and then when it was all too late, we gave it our all. This time though it was the crowd who deserve all the praise - we were responsible for the two goals and the comeback - most teams in front of most crowds would have lost this one 3 or 4 nil , but for whatever reason the fans did not let that happen and we gave them 100% backing and proved that football support is not all dead So another two points dropped (albeit one point gained in the way it played out) and the play offs get further away. Heck now needs to sort out his team , formation etc ready for a real go next year - we need to build on this season not start from stratch as we so often have in recent seasons So a Sunday afternoon when we started with the question 'why are we here' and ended with the 'so glad I was there to witness this" DavePS - not seen any of this on TV and the extra hour (from 3pm to 4.30) did mean an extra pint ! _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: https://mailman.gn.apc.org/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected]
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