Leeds United’s fate will be decided in just six games as the 2009-10 League One season that promised so much, stutters to a finish. After leading the League table by a sizable margin, things went totally off the rails for Leeds United after Christmas with a run of eighteen games producing just eigtheen points.

The silver-lining may finally have arrived for the Whites though. Some improvement in play, didn’t bring an improvement in form against Swindon Town and Norwich City, but on Easter Monday things finally started going our way and Leeds earnt a valuable three points courtesy of a Richard Naylor brace at Yeovil Town.

If you thought we had things bad though, spare a moment for this weekends visitors Southend United who are clearly a club in turmoil. Steve Tilson’s side have had a torrid time of it this year and have not managed to pick up a single point on their travels. Both Steve Tilson and captain, Adam Barrett point to the clubs faultering financial situation as the underlying cause of the problems with wages being paid late and the players minds elsewhere.

Adam Barrett told the BBC that;

“I’ve got two kids and a wife, so it’s extremely difficult. I’ve never been in a situation like this. “You can’t solely concentrate on your football because of it. There’re too many off-field things happening.”

A lot has been said about the confidence of Leeds United’s players. Jermaine Beckford undoubtedly needs a goal to reignite his own personal form, whilst the rest of the team need to string a couple of wins together to restore the belief. This weekend should provide an opportunity for both.

Of their eight games away from home in 2010, Southend United have lost them all, conceding 21 goals and managing just 6 in reply. If ever there was a silver-platter moment for a whitewash, this is most certainly it.

With the likely return of Luciano Becchio and a possibility of involvement for Ben Parker – who got a rare goal in the reserves this week – things might just be starting to work out for Leeds United again. The players can be under no illusions that it’s now or never and many of them will know they’re playing for not only their own job, but Simon Grayson’s future too.

It’s going to be a tense few weeks and you can bet your mortgage it’ll go right down to the wire, but things with Leeds United are seldom easy and it shouldn’t really have surprised any of us that we find ourselves in this situation. All we can do is ‘keep fighting!’ On and on…