What happened to our fortress? What happened to our pride? We let our guard down and the fort has been breached. Perhaps it happened last summer when our greatest defensive wall, the imposing East stand, was temporarily deconstructed to allow for the installation of executive boxes. Perhaps then was the time that our enemies penetrated our bastion and set up camp within. Whenever they entered, I’m sure they’re appreciating the excellent facilities that the East stand now has on offer…

As gloomy and depressing showers descended upon our once great citadel (forcing the floodlights into a ridiculously early appearance at 2pm in the afternoon), Neil Warnock’s team seemed determined to end the season on an equally gloomy and disheartening note – and they succeeded. Leicester’s teenage debutant Harry Panayiotou touched home an injury-time winner to officially confirm season 2011/2012 as the worst home campaign in Leeds United history.

It must be noted that of the eleven home defeats just five occurred during the first fourteen matches, before the ‘dispensing’ of Simon Grayson. Of those five losses, one was a narrow early-season defeat with 9 men (against Middlesbrough) and one was a single-goal reverse against champions Reading. The embarrassing 5-0 and 4-1 scorelines did, at least, come at the hands of play-off qualifiers Blackpool and Birmingham respectively. The loss to South Yorkshire minnows Barnsley was inexcusable.

Since Bates, Harvey et al declared that a new manager would ‘get the best out of the current squad’, the Elland Road faithful have endured six defeats in nine matches. This included the record breaking match against Nottingham Forest (a night when Leeds shipped seven goals for the first time ever at home) and dismal performances against Brighton, Derby, Watford and Leicester. I am of the opinion, as are many others, that a bottom-half final league position would not have occurred if Grayson was still in charge. Nevertheless, Neil Warnock has the task of rebuilding our fortress and even the ancient Egyptians would agree that he’s probably the best man to take on this particular construction project.

Today’s starting line-up was less experimental than recent weeks and was largely dictated by injuries and suspensions. Paul Robinson missed out due to injury and is unlikely to be seen again with Warnock stating his intention not to sign the Bolton left-back. Danny Pugh filled in for him today, with Zac Thompson earning another start in the centre of midfield alongside Adam Clayton and Michael Brown. The Foxes’ starting line-up was notable for the inclusion of Elland Road hero Jermaine Beckford, who received a warm reception from the Kop and reciprocated by saluting the crowd as chants pertaining to a certain match at Old Trafford rang through the rafters.

The match began in encouraging fashion, with Leeds’ best players (Ross McCormack, Robert Snodgrass and Luciano Becchio) threatening to inspire a rare home victory. Captain Snodgrass had an early chance well saved by the pantomime villain for the day, Kasper Schmeichel. Soon after, Becchio fashioned a chance, only to chip the ball into Schmeichel’s hands. That was about as good as it got, as the match (like the rain) descended into a sloppy, uninspiring affair.

When the manager releases his long-awaited and much-anticipated list of retained squad members on Wednesday it is likely to be heavier in attacking players than defensive ones, and with good reason. Leeds’ season-long defensive frailties reared their head once last time as Danny Pugh pitifully lost the ball to Martyn Waghorn, who cut inside before slotting the ball into the bottom corner to give Leicester a first half lead after thirty-nine minutes.

All the quality of McCormack and Snodgrass on the wings was being equalled by the sheer lack of quality of full-backs Pugh and Connelly. An educated guess would suggest that two new full-backs are top of Warnock’s wish-list.

The second half was largely uninspiring and was not enlivened by the introduction from the bench of Danny Webber and Mikael Forssell, who were both woeful and perhaps are already aware of their absence from the ‘retained list’.

Spirits were raised amongst the twenty-five thousand crowd with eight minutes remaining as a good move resulted in Snodgrass flicking the ball past Schmeichel, with Webber tapping into an empty net from inside the six-yard box (his first, and most likely his last, goal for Leeds United).

With the prospect of a late victory to finish the season and new found optimism of avoiding the unwanted record defeat, the home crowd roared on the players to push for a second goal. Adam Clayton worked his way round the Leicester defence, but his cut-back was intercepted. Another late attack ended as Forssell overran the ball.

As the season entered injury-time for the final occasion, a 1-1 draw was on the cards – a result that would have fairly reflected a hard-fought, low-quality dead rubber. However, as if to hammer a final nail into the coffin of a season to forget, the Foxes produced a late winner as Panayiotou (seemingly offside) deflected the ball beyond Andy Lonergan.

At the final whistle, the fans flooded for the exits. There was no traditional end-of-season pitch invasion, nor did that many people remain for the customary lap of honour. The season was finally, finally over and the masses craved the opium of saying goodbye to the fallen fortress as soon as humanly possible.

They came. They saw. They conquered. And, as is now predictable for a Leeds home display, not much of a battle was fought.

There was only pride to play for today. And we lost.

Warnock had made public his intention to give fringe players an opportunity to impress, and was true to his word. The starting line up featured Charlie Taylor, Robbie Rogers, Leigh Bromby and the cult (or comic) character that is Billy Paynter. Ramon Nunez and Luciano Becchio were dropped to the bench, as Paul Connolly found himself out of the squad completely.

The Whites began the match with more vigour, verve and vitality than the team has shown for some considerable time on home soil. Both Paynter and Captain Snodgrass were unfortunate not to score within the opening five minutes as Peterborough struggled to cope with the movement of Leeds’ front line.

The attacking quartet of Paynter, Snodgrass, Rogers and Ross McCormack seemed interchangeable in their positions, with Snodgrass and Rogers in particular seemingly having free reign to roam the final third. A sweet first ten minutes was soured, however, when Rogers picked up an injury and (despite the American’s best efforts to continue) he was replaced by Danny Webber. With Rogers’ first appearance for Leeds back in February being cut short by a concussion-inducing clash of heads, the USA winger must be cursing his misfortune.

As Leeds tried to adapt to the loss of Rogers, their attacking prowess temporarily waned. Peterborough began to take a stronger hold on the match and flashed a few shots wide of Andy Lonergan’s goal. The match had become an even contest and goalless first half looked likely until poor defending from Leeds allowed Joe Newell to waltz his way into the penalty area and slot Posh into the lead on thirty-seven minutes.

A recognizable feeling swept through the stadium as the away support found their voice and the home support debated how many more goals would be conceded before the final whistle.

But then… salvation. A turning point on the stroke of half-time. And from an unlikely source.

Snodgrass curled over a left-footed cross which was flapped at by Paul Jones in the Peterborough goal. The ball dropped to the feet of Billy Paynter in the six yard box and he prodded home for only his second ever Leeds United goal. The teams went down the tunnel level, which the balance of play probably reflected.

Paul Robinson replaced Charlie Taylor at the break, but there was barely time to scrutinize the change of personnel as Leeds made a blistering start to the second half. A Rory Delap style long throw from Leigh Bromby found its way to McCormack at the back post, who volleyed home.

Barely a minute later, McCormack was celebrating his second of the afternoon as he slotted into the net following good work from Webber and Clayton on the edge of the area. Leeds found themselves in uncharted territory, 3-1 up after fourty-eight minutes having scored three times in the space of five minutes of football.

With new found confidence running throughout the team, Leeds controlled proceedings from here on in and were further rewarded after seventy-three minutes as Paynter lashed home a low cross from right-back Tom Lees. Paynter had now trebled his goal tally in the white shirt and the crowd were baying for a hat-trick that wouldn’t arrive.

The remainder of the match saw Webber and Paynter squander two chances apiece, before the latter was replaced by Luciano Becchio and left the field to a rapturous ovation. Shortly afterwards, the referee brought an end to the match and the home crowd applauded a much-overdue 4-1 win.

In truth, Peterborough were poor today. Darren Ferguson continues to attempt and fail miserably to live up to his father’s reputation. But the fallibility of the opposition should not detract from a good Leeds display. The day will be remembered, of course, for Paynter’s scoring exploits, but good performances were plentiful throughout the team. Adam Clayton returned from suspension in confident fashion, O’Dea and Bromby were solid (if largely untroubled) and Ross McCormack was once again the shining light. McCormack’s brace took him two steps closer to the twenty-goal mark for the season and his all round performance reiterated his status as Leeds’ best performer in the Warnock era.

It would be easy to blame the first-half sending off of Michael Brown for this lacklustre, forgettable and frankly abysmal defeat to a very average Derby County, but that would be tantamount to dolloping a very liberal amount of rose-tinted paint over the gaping crack that was a truly awful performance from Neil Warnock’s men.

We’ve seen it all at Elland Road this season. The 5-0 reverse against Blackpool and, of course, the inconceivable 7-3 defeat at the hands of Nottingham Forest have made Leeds United a laughing stock on our own patch. However, in spite of previous scorelines, I can honestly say that the match against Derby represents the worst performance I have witnessed by a Leeds team this season. Even the Forest match had some positives – we scored three goals that night! Today, we lacked creativity, intelligence, ability… and anything else that you would associate with a credible performance from a Championship football team.

The atmosphere before the match was subdued, relaxed and somewhat jovial. It is no doubt a measure of just how breakable our proverbial fortress has become that supporters are no longer fearful and apprehensive about the possibility of a home defeat. They simply accept it and expect it.

The starting line up named by Neil Warnock was largely dictated by player availability, with Adam Clayton, Aidan White and (newly suspended) Zac Thompson all unavailable. The only eye-brow-raising selection was that of the much-maligned Ramon Nunez, who has proven largely ineffectual thus far and seems unable to fully adapt to the English game. He is, however, indisputably skilful and received his first real opportunity to impress the new manager before the inevitable end of season clearout. The selection of Nunez did appear to be slightly harsh on Danny Webber and Robbie Rogers, who were both left to warm the bench (though both would later make an appearance).

When the game began, Derby were on top from the very beginning and could (probably should) have taken the lead within the first two minutes as a header dropped just over the crossbar. The visitors continued to pressurise the Leeds defence, with Tom Lees and Darren O’Dea both having to make important challenges within their own penalty area early on.

Leeds were offering very little in the way of attacking threat. Nunez, who we had all expected would play down the left wing, was being utilized as a striker alongside Luciano Becchio. The versatile-yet-surely-frustrated-at-being-played-out-of-position Ross McCormack had taken up a position on the left and, to be fair, put in a relatively good performance. The first 20 minutes of the match followed a very similar pattern as Derby continued to attack without creating any clear chances. Leeds looked vulnerable and seemed destined to lose a tenth home league match of the season, even before the red card shown to Michael Brown for a mistimed challenge in the 25^th minute.

Up until the red card incident, Brown (along with McCormack) had been the only shining light, without him Leeds completely lacked any form of midfield presence. Warnock reshuffled the team, with Nunez dropped back into the right wing position and Capitan Snodgrass moved across to fill the central midfield vacancy. For all of his quality, Snodgrass is simply not a central midfielder and it showed.

Spurred on by the feeling of injustice at the red card (as teams often are), Leeds did look slightly more threatening for a five minute period. Darren O’Dea had a header well saved. The impetus was short lived as the opening goal arrived on 32 minutes. Derby midfielder Craig Bryson found a large, unchallenged space on the edge of the Leeds penalty box (usual hunting ground for Michael Brown) and curled a right-footed strike into the top corner.

Derby continued to control the game for the remainder of the first half, though Leeds did manage to threaten when McCormack had a header well saved. If Leeds had gone in level at the break, it would have been undeserved. As the half-time whistle blew, I awaited the chorus of boos… it did not come. Elland Road has come to expect this kind of performance. It is no longer so exceptional and disappointing that it is worthy of an outcry of disapproval. If anything, there was an atmosphere of relief that Leeds were only 1 goal behind.

The second half began in much the same manner as the first was played. Derby largely controlled the match, as you expect of a team playing against 10 men. The Leeds team became unashamedly frustrated at themselves and began to indulge in the kind of fouls that stem from misplaced-passion. Paul Connelly in particular flew into a tackle that could have seen Leeds reduced to 9 men. Frustration on the pitch was juxtaposed with end-of-season joviality in the stands as the fans chanted old songs about the legendary Tresor Kandol.

Ramon Nunez threatened briefly with a well struck shot that could have crept in at the near post. But the game was over on 65 minutes as Steven Davies swept the ball past Andy Lonergan for 2-0. As the game whimpered towards a conclusion, the manager took a chance to cast his eye over a few other fringe players as Billy Paynter, Robbie Rogers and Danny Webber all took to the field. Paynter gave his all, but still seems to lack the quality required at this level of football. Rogers, a winger by trade, was positioned in the Michael-Brown-shaped hole in the centre and applied himself reasonably well for 10 minutes. Webber was full of running, but his appearance will be remembered for a glaring miss when through on goal with 5 minutes remaining.

The stadium was emptying long before the referee brought proceedings to an end. Make no mistake, this match was lost long before Brown left the field. Leeds were devoid of any cutting-edge, any creativity and, seemingly, and real ability. The season is well and truly over for Leeds United and the remaining four games may well be tortuous to watch.

Let’s be honest – sometimes cracking out the full Dirty Leeds package isn’t very useful.

Having watched roughly 187 minutes of goalless drudge from these two sides last season, it was fair to say the realist would’ve said that was probably about the height of the Whites’ ambitions this time around.

As it turns out, the creditably noisy faithful were left to ponder a number of could have beens: if Ross’s shot had been a little to the right, if Snoddy had kept his cool and/or shot anywhere other than straight at the keeper, but mostly, if Mr Thompson hadn’t have flown through a man who was posing minimal direct threat to goal.

Warnock’s tirade following the twelth-minute flattener that effectively saw us territorially on the back foot for the majority of the game was good to see – perhaps he hadn’t actually used the words “teach those Waitrose-munchers a lesson” in his team talk. In all seriousness, though, youth doesn’t necessarily mean idiocy, and we can only hope a player of some promise learns.

It could’ve been worse. Danny Pugh’s lunge on the much-targeted and subsequently injured Jem Karacan just after was definitely worse. Both sides’ sense of righteousness beyond this point turned the spectacle into something pretty ugly – one for the fans of low-level violence and exaggeration.

There were chances first half though, mostly falling for the Home side. Ian Harte teased the defence on occasions and hit the post with a cross, Lonergan well beaten. Frankly, until midway through the second period it was a matter of cringing any time a Leeds player went in for a challenge and waiting for the inevitable, but it was at this point a sudden counter-attacking surge began.

A defensive mistake allowed McCormack to set himself and shoot cleanly for the first time, his shot smashing the outside of the post. This was swiftly followed by a jinking run from the same man, a perfect square for Snodgrass and…a really poor finish that was gratefully saved by Federici.

It looked the effort of a man still adapting to his more of a free role, and it remains to be seen whether he’ll be around to grow into it. There were a few more vague Leeds probes, but after the deflation of a golden chance spurned, it did seem like it was a case of whether we could grind out another of those 0-0s. No such luck.

Defenders of the Dirty Leeds approach may point to the glory days – but the lads in the glory days had the quality, not just the robustness. Bringing it back to the present, the difference between a Roberts and a Becchio, for example, is marked. Both do the hold-up play, just Roberts does it better. Both do the niggly fouling, just Roberts does it more cunningly. I could go on.

In fairness, Paul Robinson was reasonably effective in getting to grips with Reading’s talisman in the main – but his steel turned to mush for their second goal in the 90^th minute as he was muscled off the ball in exactly the kind of place you don’t want that to happen, and Roberts slipped it in for Adam Le Fondre to smash home.

The game was pretty much over with Reading and Le Fondre’s first just minutes before – breaking the back of some more measured resistance from Leeds somewhat ragged-looking line-up. The breakthrough was simply an 11 v 10 goal, back post header directed at the spare man for the most unmissable of headers. Since Reading’s overwhelming territorial dominance hadn’t converted into better chances, it was difficult to work out whether it was a deserved lead or we were hard done by.

A few other observations: the average nature of all our cadre of defenders means that whoever comes in makes little difference, no-one seems highly convinced by Lonergan, and when we actually get the ball down and have a go, we look like a half decent outfit.

Some may argue there was a certain brutal glory in this defeat – I wouldn’t. It was a game we could’ve won with a full complement of intelligent fighters, but as it is, Le Fondre’s double is the definitive au revoir for Leeds’ fairly torrid season.

As “we’re Leeds United – we don’t give a ****” rang out loud and proud in the closing minutes, you could only reflect that it’s a good job that’s the case.

This incredible epidemic of optimism, so uncharacteristic of Leeds United fans, had certainly lessened since 33,000 turned up to see us play West Ham United, but the majority of those that remained were still clinging on to hope.

Perhaps mercifully, the wake-up call came early. It didn’t take long for everyone inside Elland Road to realise that the players had given up hope and that the 2011/12 season was officially over.

For me, that realisation came the day Simon Grayson was sacked. It’s hard not to be cynical when no investment is forthcoming and your manager is sacked as the January transfer window closes, with no replacement in place despite the proverbial writing being chiselled into the wall weeks previous.

That doesn’t make it any easier to see hope sucked out of your fellow fans however. It’s like watching innocent people being tortured for repeating the same mistakes time and time again, never learning that the rules simply haven’t changed – there’s only one winner in this game.

Who knows, perhaps change will take place this summer? Maybe the thousands upon thousands of fans that are now refusing to play the game – by not turning up to Elland Road – have forced the hand of the controlling powers? Maybe Neil Warnock is a new variable – one that can force  the rule changes we so badly need to see this club successful (ie. investment).

Personally, I’m not convinced. I’ve become far too cynical of Ken Bates and his ulterior motives over his painful 7 year reign that I simply refuse to play again until I’ve seen evidence of change.

I’ve seen an extremely capable League One squad stripped apart and sold to the first bidder, or simply cast aside as their value increases and their wage demands become (allegedly) unaffordable for a club with the fifth highest ticket prices in the country.

I’ve seen different managers all confronted with the same problems, I’ve seen ticket prices rise and a whole host of absolutely pointless building work erected around Elland Road. I’ve heard excuse after excuse after excuse, yet seven years later the reality is, this is the worst Leeds United side I’ve ever seen.

And that’s not really surprising when the entire squad was assembled for peanuts and our wage bill stands at around one third of our turnover – less than any other side in the division.

It’s not that this side is totally devoid of quality, but I strongly suspect that the truly gifted players will follow in the footsteps of their predecessors and head elsewhere (probably Norwich). Meanwhile, we’ll be given the same excuses we hear every time – that they want Premier League football and are unwillingly to show patience. And who can blame them? We’re not making any progress, and they don’t believe a team constantly selling key players and replacing with frees will get promoted any more than I do.

We’re stood still and the rules haven’t changed. The players are going through the motions, the fans have now given up hope completely and Neil Warnock is already demanding investment as he starts to come to terms with the grim reality of the situation. Warnock has already set out his stall. Bates will either offer the investment this club has desperately needed for the last seven years, or our new manager will walk. He’s not about to become another excuse for Ken Bates’ failures.

What’s more worrying than Warnock walking away is that Snodgrass, McCormack, Becchio et al and another 4,000 fans – myself included – will follow. No one wants to play this game any more, we want to take part in one that we have a chance of winning.

Until I see evidence that we’re being given a fair shot at success, I doubt I’ll be returning to Elland Road. I didn’t renew for next season for various reasons, but one of the biggest was that I simply don’t enjoy it any more. That’s never been the case before – even when relegated, it was part of the “ups and downs” and the defiant nature of our support spurred me on.

On Saturday, I was at the bar after 30 minutes of the first half and paid very little attention to the second, eventually leaving early because it was absolutely dismal. I was bored to tears. Football is supposed to be entertaining, not a weekly ritual I take part in out of habit.

Ken Bates is right that supporters aren’t investors in Leeds United, we’re customers that pay to be entertained. Soul-destroying hoof-ball is not what I had in mind. I’m not being entertained any more, and I can no longer stare at the pointless vanity projects money is being wasted on whilst the quality of football on display continues to deteriorate. It angers me, and I’m far too young to be wasting my life getting wound up by this nonsense. It’s irrational – I’m paying ridiculous sums of money for something I very rarely get any joy out of these days.

I made the decision in January that it’d be away games only next season, but after completing a round-trip from London to Leeds to witness the woeful display we put on against Watford, I’ve decided to bring that forwards and am seriously reconsidering whether I’ll bother with any games at all next season. For now, instead of wasting my bank holiday weekend at the Majeski and then travelling to Leeds for the Derby match, I’m going to jump on a plane to Italy with my girlfriend and have some fun, whilst also saving myself the pain of watching our massively underfunded team be humiliated.

I just can’t waste any more time, effort and money on a hobby that I no longer enjoy. MOT

As an aside – If any season ticket holder is interested in writing home match reports for The Scratching Shed next season (and the remainder of this one) please email me. 

The biggest question for me was whether the team had allowed their heads to drop after a couple of early mistakes, or whether they were simply too tired from the efforts against West Ham to keep up with Nottingham Forest? To put it another way, did Leeds United lose psychologically or was it a physical problem?

The reason I felt this question was key is because the psychological problems of playing at Elland Road have been evident all season. It’s been a truly awful place to watch football for much of this campaign with a crowd full of self-proclaimed experts moaning relentlessly at every single player on the pitch. it’s not unusual for the collective volume of sighs to totally drowned out any chants.

For now, it’s a question that will remain unanswered however, because playing away from home offers an incredible contrast to the atmosphere at Elland Road. The sighing is replaced by a “chin up” “get in to them” mentality, and the players respond to that accordingly, which is why today’s result came as no real surprise – even if the manner in which that result came about was far from predictable.

The first half was one to totally forget. Seriously, nothing happened. Nothing at all. Passes were constantly misplaced – Michael Brown the biggest culprit for Leeds – no one seemed remotely interested in trying to get the ball down and play it around, and the only thing keeping the fans awake was the exchange of “pleasantries” on the terraces where Millwall were their usual classless selves, constantly taunting the Leeds fans with the deaths in Istanbul.

Quite why The FA seem so determined to keep Millwall in English football is beyond me? Their only claim to fame is a pathetic hooligan element which consists of thirty odd year old blokes that need to grow up and get a job, mixed with a younger generation of Chav’s who the English education system has clearly failed. It’s true that no one likes Leeds United, but at least our side has made a mark on English and European football. The same can’t be said of Millwall, they’re a pointless team with no history that attracts the absolute lowest class of football supporter – no one likes them, and no one cares.

Anyway, the second half remained just as scrappy, but improved in terms of goal-mouth action and controversy if nothing else. Leeds took the lead through Ross McCormack after excellent work from Robert Snodgrass, only to see Millwall head straight up the other end and have an equaliser ruled out by the referee who had already blown for a penalty.

This was Millwall’s third penalty shout of the afternoon. One was denied due to the most pathetically theatrical dive I’ve seen in some time – with the referee quite rightly booking the offending player – whilst the other would have been incredibly soft if given.

Nevertheless, those two previous shouts had turned the Millwall fans against the referee and in his eagerness to award the penalty, he’d failed to spot Millwall’s clear advantage and had no choice but to rule out the equalising goal and bring play back for a penalty – a penalty which Andy Lonergan quite brilliantly saved.

Millwall went on to strike the bar in a passage of play that was reminiscent of Leeds United’s own bad luck against Southampton earlier in the month, but for those of us watching on there was absolutely no sympathy for our opponents. It was almost like karma was conspiring to teach them a lesson.

Statistically speaking, Leeds United were the better team with more attempts on goal and a greater slice of possession, but in truth, the game was quite evenly balanced. Ross McCormack had a chance to kill things off for The Whites, missing from close-range by hitting his shot straight at Maik Taylor, but it didn’t matter. The game remained scrappy and with a one goal lead, Leeds United had no intentions of changing that, holding on for the remainder of the 90 and (a quite frankly ridiculous) 7 minutes of injury time to record a much needed victory and a fourth consecutive clean sheet on the road.

On and on…

Having matched and even bettered the first, third, fifth and ninth placed teams in the league under Neil Warnock, Leeds went into Tuesday night’s game in a confident mood. This couldn’t be said for Forest, with one fan predicting:

I can’t see beyond a Leeds win. The manager is a cheating whingebag, the chairman is an obnoxious old man, the supporters are scumbags, and Revie’s teams won all their trophies by cheating. Everything about the club is vile. The forces of evil are too strong.

After Saturday’s 33,000 Leeds lined up in front of significantly less.

Leeds have a record of starting quickly under Neil Warnock, yet it was Forest who took the initiative with a good attack within the first minute. Chants of “Neil Warnock, is a w-****, is a w-****” were taken in the spirit by the gaffer, and as the chants subsided Ross McCormack made a run, drawing a foul off Guedioura. Robert Snodgrass stepped up on six minutes and converted the penalty coolly. 1-0 Leeds. Forest fans’ fears were beginning to look well-founded.

But Leeds were almost immediately pegged back. Guedioura got hold of the ball on a counter almost while Leeds were still celebrating. He shot a stunner from 30 yards out to leave Leeds shell-shocked. 1-1.

After half an hour Leeds had had the majority of possession, yet it was Forest with the chances, while Clayton and Brown struggled to get into the game. Paul Robinson then picked up a yellow – a danger given the pace within the Forest squad.

And with a few minutes to go for half time, Andy Lonergan was lucky to get away with spilling the ball from a corner.

Nevertheless, Leeds looked to put the pressure on in injury time, with two good attacks. But it was Moussi and Guedioura who built a counter-attack, resulting in a Moussi goal. 1-2 Forest. Half time.

Sporadic boos greeted the half-time whistle as Leeds had every reason to be disappointed at half time. Danny Webber came on for Aidy White, and the second half begun.

It was a start to forget, as Forest almost immediately bagged a third. Reid produced a long pass, Blackstock connected, and made it 1-3.

Within a couple of minutes Robert Snodgrass found some space, found Becchio via a deflection, and Becchio coolly finished to put Leeds back in with a shout. 2-3 Leeds. Could fans dare to hope?

Almost straight away, Paul Connolly put a pass in, and Michael Brown scored a great goal from the edge of the box to make it an unlikely 3-3. The players had not played well, but had shown good character to get back into it.

And the 3-3 was indeed unlikely. Within a couple of minutes McLeary again scored as Forest found a fourth from nowhere. Leeds simply couldn’t deal with the pace of Forest’s players and the tempo of the game. 3-4.

And it only got worse. Andy Reid managed to dispossess Robert Snodgrass and wasn’t challenged, put in a cross, and found McCleary for his hattrick. That made it 3-5 Forest after an hour.

Leeds got a slight breather, but were reeling. On 66 minutes Danny Pugh came on for the booked Paul Robinson. But it couldn’t stop McCleary from using his pace to grab another. The ball came over the top, McCleary came inside Pugh, and scored another good goal. 3-6 Forest, and Leeds were fighting for some semblance of respect.

Leeds didn’t really get back into it and the game died off. Paynter came on on 80 minutes for Luciano Becchio. It was scripted for Billy to get an unlikely hattrick and bask in the adoration of the fans. But unfortunately Forest hadn’t read the script.

Dexter Blackstock scored. Again. 3-7 Forest. And the referee practised some sadism with four minutes added time. Fortunately Forest were more than happy with seven, and the game ended to a chorus of boos from the Elland Road faithful. In truth, they’d done well to wait until the final whistle.

Speaking after the game, Neil Warnock said:

To be fair, I thought in the first 10-15 minutes one or two of our key players were struggling fitness-wise. I was going to ask Becchs to come off at half time, but I asked him to give us a bit more. But he was running on empty. I think three or four were like that.

Without going into detail I’ve told the players [who made errors], but you’ve got to keep that inside I think. But they were poor goals.

You learn more about your team in defeat.

I thought there were one or two who kept going all night. I thought Snods and Brown were super, Clayts and Becchs were running on empty. I’m disappointed in one or two players.

You also look at what happened tonight in certain areas and you store it. If we’re going to win promotion you can’t mentally go under, and I think one or two players mentally went under.

I think I need to give one or two players with fresh legs opportunities, if I can.

Nevertheless, despite a shocking reverse Leeds are in the same place as they were after the draw at West Ham, with Hull’s 2-0 loss to Southampton and Middlesbrough’s draw with West Ham keeping Leeds within a stone’s throw of the playoffs. It would, however, take a brave man to bet on a playoff-push now. The fans have been left understandably upset with such a poor result, but we should remember that rumours had it the squad’s fitness levels were not what they should be when Warnock took over, while the new Leeds style has been aggressive, tireless and high-tempo. Tired legs was always a danger, and perhaps it is better that Warnock found the lads’ limit today rather than next season?

One positive is that this result will give Neil Warnock the freedom to chop and change without the pressures of a promotion-chase and will give some of his as yet unused players a chance to come on and try to perform without any added pressure.

FT: Leeds United 3 – 7 Nottingham Forest

“I can’t ask any more, they’ve given me everything. […] We’ve dominated two of the best sides in the league and got one point.”

That sums up the mood. We’ve come away without the results we needed for a very improbable playoff-push, but we’ve been easily good enough to match the best teams in the division this year. And you’d have been confident if we had got a play-off spot!

There was a plethora of positives to take away from the match. Leeds began the sharper side yet again, winning the first corner of the match within the first five minutes. The pressure told as Rob Green mis-kicked a clearance for a throw, and West Ham’s fullback mis-passed inside the box and almost played Ross McCormack in.

Both sides played relatively defensively and had one eye on organizing a defence even as they attacked. What ensued was a scrappy, wholehearted battle with both teams effectively cancelling each other out.

And The Whites made mistakes, too. Lonergan mis-hit a clearance at the head of Maynard, a West Ham pass would have been given off-side, but ballooned up off a defender, and would have been collected by a West Ham player wide open had Leeds not been quick out of the traps to get to the ball first – while West Ham were left flat-footed and indecisive. And Maynard used his agility to play a one-two, turning past Tom Lees and out-barged Paul Robinson to be through on goal, only for Lonergan to scuttle out, make himself big, and wrap his body around the ball.

That’s all a part of football and to say the defence was poor would be ridiculous. Tom Lees had another solid game, O’Dea did his job well, Connolly defended and linked up going forward very well, and Paul Robinson put another fantastic shift in for Leeds.  It was Paul Robinson who really fired the fans up in the second half.

The referee, Peter Walton, showed he was far from a home-banker early on when Adam Clayton had his ankles clipped by Kevin Nolan, got straight up and made a decent tackle, and got penalised. Nolan continued to put the boot in every bit as much as you’d expect from Michael Brown, and the referee seemed never to see it as Nolan inexplicably escaped the match without even a card, though he had a bit of banter with Neil Warnock on the touchline…

It was to the background of this ostensibly biased referee that Paul Robinson turned Elland Road’s volume up to the highest I remember it since May 2010. Robinson single-handedly built an attack, tackling one to keep the attack going, and then Noble made a long slide for the ball which was matched by Robinson. Robinson tackled well and kept the ball and was promptly yellow carded. You couldn’t believe it. Clearly anything resembling an athlete taking part in a sport is too much for football’s modern bureaucrats! Moments later, after chants of “the refs a w-….”, he showed the ref what he thought with a tough and clean tackle on the edge of Leeds’ box, before a crunching (and clean) tackle to put the ball out of touch. The crowd loved it, while an FL official had a nose-bleed and began hyperventilating. Okay… I made that bit up. But 30,000 Leeds fans suddenly found their voice.

The noise didn’t have the desired effect, but unlike in previous matches for many a year, this wasn’t a case of the players freezing. Becchio’s belief couldn’t be questioned when he blazed an ambitious volley over from a way back, and when West Ham redoubled their efforts and found themselves with a corner, the Argentinian looked suspiciously like Diego Maradona in the Leeds box, (though he didn’t get to the ball)… At the other end, Luci! At the other end!

And later in the second half Leeds got one of the best chances of the match. Aidy White was great again today. He looked a constant danger when he got the ball, with every run gaining a free-kick, a throw-in, or resulting in a cross. And when he gained another free-kick, Ross McCormack floated the ball in from the left, to the far post. Paul Connolly’s head met it and Rob Green pulled off a fantastic save for West Ham – showing perhaps why he’s a capped England keeper.

After 80 minutes, though, it looked like the match would play out for a scrappy 0-0. Carlton Cole had come on after about 60 minutes and looked twice the threat of Maynard. Cole had bullied Tom Lees a little bit in August from set-pieces (with the lad playing right-back that day); that wasn’t the case today, but Cole still carved out a couple of chances for West Ham. Leeds had matched West Ham on every part of the pitch, though, and neither side had found many chances. Although I felt the game had drifted very slightly from us in the second half, it was Leeds who looked to get the winner.

Jack Collison came off with ten minutes left. The lad had been very good in West Ham’s midfield, and his replacement – Scum Academy product Ravel Morisson – had an immediate effect. His first action was to give away a throw in from an attacking play. In the resulting run Webber (on for White) won Leeds a corner. The corner was taken by Snodgrass from the left, and was floated into the near post. It was cleared but only as far as Becchio, who passed it back to Snodgrass. The cross found Paul Connolly’s head and Connolly found the crossbar. It was Luciano Becchio who scored a real poacher’s goal as he threw himself into the path of the ball, and nodded it into an empty net. Elland Road erupted.

With a victory against West Ham, who could possibly beat us? But there were still five minutes to survive.

Deafening chants of Marching On Together cheered the lads on as they got their foot in to break up plays. West Ham had made a few mistakes today, and it was a mistake that ultimately gifted them a goal. George McCartney got in a cross; like most of West Ham’s final passes today it was mis-hit, yet Lonergan was forced to tip it out for a corner. Leeds had struggled with West Ham’s corners last summer, and yet again West Ham found a relatively easy header to equalize.

And after a couple of minutes that was it. The fans a little deflated, but a great performance in which our supposedly mid-table team once again equalled, and at times bettered, a top Championship club – this one on Premiership wages.

The defence did well as I said. But it was a thorough team effort. At one point Robert Snodgrass slid in to tackle a West Ham forward, and Ross McCormack shepherded it out for a Leeds goal kick. That summed the team up for me. Becchio constantly came back and battled for possession along with Adam Clayton who was like a dynamo in midfield showing not only his good attacking sense but getting stuck in as well. I’ve felt him bypassed sometimes when Leeds haven’t had the time on the ball to play it, but today he showed an excellent all-round performance and looks to be a fantastic centre-mid in the making. Michael Brown did his job well again, and Aidy White was always a threat when he had the ball, with McCormack and Snodgrass as good as ever.

And this will be the headache facing Neil Warnock. He wants to improve the team, but is there a single player we could drop?

On the Leeds side you could have a few man of the matches. Lonergan pulled off a great save in the first half and did his job well when called upon. Paul Robinson got stuck in and galvanized the fans. Paul Connolly passed well, headed well going forward, and was solid at the back. Aidy White played well when he had it. Adam Clayton looked a proper little midfield general, Snodgrass’ trademark mazey runs were on display again, and McCormack got stuck in well.

But my man of the match has to be Luciano Becchio – a lad I’ve said I didn’t think could play in the Premiership last year. With the change of style under Neil Warnock, he’s looking absolutely excellent. He got stuck in in the midfield, he is benefitting from more realistic passing to him, and held the ball up well, and got the goal again. The lad has looked to be giving it his all since returning from injury and my highlight of the match was during a conflagration and more crowd cries of “the ref’s a w-….” when Becchio got properly stuck in and channelled his inner “This is Sparta!”

In my personal opinion, that’s probably the end of our playoff hopes with a couple of results not going our way and two points dropped. But it was a great performance in front of a Leeds crowd of old. If only Neil Warnock had been here from the start of the season!

Adam Clayton grows his hair a bit and becomes a lot more like Scott Parker. Darren O’Dea dons a bandage and becomes a lot like vintage Kisnorbo. Michael Brown sees Neil Warnock and remembers that he used to be Michael Brown. It’s a world of transformations and rediscoveries at Leeds right now.

The agent of change has evidently been the rediscovery of back-to-front chasing, harrying and discomforting, via the Championship’s pass master at that old game.

Solidity had returned in a way we haven’t seen in years before this fixture, and throwing the grizzled warrior Paul Robinson in for his debut didn’t exactly suggest we were about to get less hard to beat. So it proved.

Every inch a ‘Warnock side’ from the first minute, played out to belting noise from an also-rejuvenated terrace choir, Leeds also managed to make light of panic in some quarters about whether we were ever going to score a goal again.

Great work from Aiden White, clearly getting used to being a right-sided midfielder, set up Snodgrass to bang home the first, a powerful but straight right-footer past a frankly horrid attempt at goalkeeping.

No-one was fooled that his right peg, that you’d be forgiven for thinking may someday wither away and die due to underuse, has transformed into the clichéd ‘wand’.

The goal, though, was no less than Leeds’ play deserved in the opening exchanges, which had seen much threat but not quite a magical touch from the impressively position-revolving Becchio, McCormack and Snodgrass.

Very little attempt should be made to fix whatever O’Dea has done to his head. After being flattened by Jutkiewicz, the man that allowed both Ipswich and Celtic fans to have a hearty laugh at my expense post-signing and has done little to let me have the last laugh since, transformed into the bandaged leader of a barricade that Boro barely had a sniff of smashing.

In fairness, this may not be solely bandage-related: this transformation has been coming, as illustrated by our meagre concessions in recent games, but what looked on paper a testing afternoon was pretty much nulled. Emnes was kept quiet – a quick route to killing the entire team it seems – and without calling the fates out, we seem to have quickly lost the panic and Keystone Cops elements that have plagued all efforts at progress in the last three years.

A gift from Justin Hoyte, via McCormack’s persistence, quickly provided the second and last goal of the match. It would be fair to say that in recent times, Ross may well have been tempted to take on the shot from a silly angle after breaking clear on the left of the area, but today it was all head-up, do the right thing. After that, it’s a cinch: Becchio stabs in an archetypal Becchio goal.

Luciano may well have transformed back to the player he transformed out of when he cut his hair the first time, with first-rate hold up play, some nice touches and the goal, inevitably slightly dented by a few too many of those back-in-and-dive-unconvincingly moments he favours. But hey, Becchio is Becchio. Some things just don’t change.

The second half saw Middlesbrough get a bit more motivated in their typically empty stadium, but other than a header into the side-netting, an uncharacteristically Rachubka-esque fumble by Lonergan in the 96^th minute and a few probing escapades from their brilliantly-named and handy-looking sub Bartholomew Ogbeche, they didn’t look like bothering the boys in blue.

The change in commitment at the club was epitomised by how Adam Hammill was dealt with, as compared to horror-shows in very recent history when he was a Barnsley player. Allowed the freedom of Yorkshire then, he was today denied a millimetre to work anything; his neutering typified by him shooting out for a throw mid-second half.

Boro were reduced to ten when Barry Robson unsuccessfully tried about four times to elbow Adam ‘Scott Parker in his head’ Clayton in the face, but it didn’t really alter how doomed any hope of a comeback was. Leeds still had chances, albeit largely from range, and the full-press never let up. The fans seem convinced, with the most vociferous Only One Neil Warnock yet bellowing out towards to death. ‘Colin’ is well and truly winning the battle for some of the most suspicious hearts and minds in the business.

Make no mistake – this was a pretty rudimentary victory against an apparent automatic promotion-chaser. The better side won, and Middlesbrough are flattering to deceive as much as they were when they were swarming with second-tier Brazilians.

But hell, we’re Leeds, so we need something to worry about. Erm, well you can hold on to the threat that our Executives’ dithering with Redfearn for four games could see us fall agonisingly short again, even if this turn-about continues. But if you can keep the natural tendency towards doom at bay for a bit, it just might be worth keeping on believing.

Despite a positive response to Neil Warnock’s first couple of games, and despite an understanding that Neil Redfearn’s spell meant promotion was pretty much impossible this season, the moaning returned from a section of our support.

It seems the “honeymoon period” for Leeds United managers is precisely three games long. It’s strange when you consider Warnock has had no time to make any serious changes – what else were people expecting? Since Ken Bates decided to leave the hunt for a new manager three weeks, we missed the January transfer window and are, by and large, playing the exact same team – a team that fans should understand by now, isn’t good enough.

It’s not far off in all honesty, but ‘not far off’ doesn’t get you promoted. It leaves you mid-table. Had we kept Max Gradel, Jonny Howson and Bradley Johnson we’d probably be in a much stronger position, but we didn’t, and Neil Warnock has been left to pick up the pieces.

The biggest issue for the last two seasons has been the defence. Two clean sheets away from home, and beaten by a solitary goal at home to the league leaders Southampton – who we absolutely battered – should be taken as a huge positive.

No football team scores the way we were and keeps such a strong defensive record, it just doesn’t happen. In tightening up at the back, there’s been a trade-off in our attacking force. This was inevitable. You can either moan about conceding two goals when we’ve won 3-2, or you can settle down and get used to low-scoring matches. You can’t have it both ways. We’re not Barcelona, we won’t be winning 3-0 regularly.

And it’ll never be as exciting as it was under Simon Grayson, but isn’t that what all the moaning was for? Didn’t fans want him displaced to get the defence tightened up? Seemed to me that no matter how many times I pointed out the fact we were still serious play-off contenders, and that he still got results, fans would point to the defensive record and that would be the end of the debate.

It’s the relentless moaning of fans that does more damage than anything else. The ridiculous knee-jerk reactions to what most teams would consider an incredibly strong result. Leaving the KC last night, I posted an update on Twitter via my phone and some of the responses I received were ridiculous. Not particularly surprising, but ridiculous nonetheless.

Expectations are above and beyond what they realistically should be, we have a fanbase that has no patience whatsoever, who think we should win every game and who will be calling for the managers head otherwise.

One manager is replaced because of incessant moaning and the new man comes in. Fans claim they have no real expectations and will offer him the time he needs to build his own team, yet as soon as a game kicks off, all that goes out of the window. It’s madness.

It’s not so much those at the game either, because there will have been very few people at the KC Stadium last night disappointed with the team. It was scrappy, uneventful, horrible football of the worst possible kind, but you couldn’t really fault the effort. The style of the two teams and the rugby pitch they were playing on was the problem, it was conducive to the kind of lower league scrap-fest that comes from two sides determined to keep a clean sheet. But isn’t that what fans were demanding?

Clean sheets come from teams, like Hull City, that defend from the front. Teams that put their bodies on the line to win every ball and restrict the movement of their opposition. Last night, we needed a couple of solid saves from Lonergan to keep it at 0-0, but for the most part, we worked hard as a unit and put on a strong defensive display.

It’s all about next season, it always has been. The play-offs were never realistic when Warnock arrived, so we should be taking comfort from what we’re currently witnessing. We’re seeing a team reinvented and built on a solid defensive foundation. Warnock will continue to tweak his Leeds United side, add some new faces in the summer, and by next season I think we’ll be amongst the strongest sides in the division.

If our new manager doesn’t get bored of the moaning and head for the hills that is.