Talk about frustration! It was men against farm livestock out there but we just couldn't break down a solid 11-sheep defence ... until the 80th minute. Ruud robbed Sakho of the ball just outside the area, tapped it to Gazza Nev. He sent in a perfect cross :-O and there was the man with the magic hat to nod it past Robinson. Relief. Sheer relief, as a commentator once remarked.
With three times as many goal attempts as Leeds and with 57% of the possession, we never looked like losing but we lacked the cunning to make the decisive breakthrough. Too often we were content to slow it down and let Leeds get back when we should have been a bit faster on our feet. (Admittedly, Leeds didn't have to get back very often as they were usually already there.) There were also the odd moments of overconfidence from us as we too often tried to thread the ball through clusters of 4 or 5 sheep when there just wasn't the room. But, ya can't argue with an away win, especially against our good friends from Yorkshire. Cough! Excellent performances from Keano, Scholesie and Phizza Nev though, surprisingly, they were given a bit of work to do by the arthritic goat, Batty. No real threat from Leeds up front. Alan Smith, whose haircut made him look like a demented woodpecker, was busy and mouthy as always but generally played the role of a defender like the rest of his team. Viduka was on the pitch physically but mentally he was playing in La Liga on a warm summer's day in Barcelona. The Leeds fans were tame, obviously saving their voices for the Nationwide. JohnO looked shaky again. Rio, Mikky and Gazza (usually) were comfortable enough. Ronnie didn't do himself any favours by diving a couple of times though early on it looked 50/50 that Kelly had brought him down. If the kid had stayed on his feet, he might have done better as a shooting opportunity was definitely there. Fletcher looked a bit overawed by it all though Fergie persisted with him till the 60th minute when he brought Diego on. Keano gave the blowtorch treatment to both JohnO and Fletch; you could see the skin peeling off their faces. Ruud and Scholesie clocked up plenty of chances, especially later on. Ruud didn't have a good game by his own gallactic standards but as it was his challenge that led to the goal, it can be argued he did enough. Most of Scolesie's shots were blocked. We could have had 3 or 4 if Leeds' tactics hadn't consisted in lining up eleven farmyard animals along the goal-line. Although Leeds are in steep decline (not steep enough!), any away win there is a very good result so we can be content today with our performance, especially in the generally slick passing we showed at times. Let's hope we can carry on against Rangers in mid-week. Terry ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Rent DVDs Online - Over 14,500 titles. No Late Fees & Free Shipping. Try Netflix for FREE! http://us.click.yahoo.com/Tq9otC/XP.FAA/3jkFAA/GtUolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Subscription info WWW http://red11.org/list Reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] = subscribe to the list. [EMAIL PROTECTED] = unsubscribe from the list. Post message [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
