I was a fan of Andy O’Brien when he came to Leeds in October 2010. I still remember that time – I was taking a year out from my own career following an (unconfirmed) nervous breakdown. I say unconfirmed – we all know what a nervous breakdown is and there has been an unspoken understanding around the subject from everyone involved with me.

We’d just been absolutely thrashed by Cardiff, 4-0. The fold had started when a long ball over the top had caught Neill Collins out of position, had been allowed to bounce by Bruce, and hadn’t been collected by Kasper Schmeichel. It was a breath of fresh air, then, when Andy O’Brien was plucked from the Premiership. Apparently coming to regain match fitness, O’Brien had an instant impact. In our next match (away at Scunthorpe), Jonny Howson was given the freedom to attack from midfield and showed his class with a fifteen-minute hattrick. But what we often overlooked, was the excellent debut O’Brien had. Coming straight into the defence for Neill Collins, O’Brien was part of a (more or less) carbon-copy from the Cardiff match. A ball came up, Bruce and Schmeichel failed to deal with it between themselves, but this time a cool Andy O’Brien smashed the ball away from the goal.

After that match, I knew that O’Brien was exactly the tonic for a shaky Leeds defence that had struggled at times with our first faltering steps back in the Championship. O’Brien undoubtedly had class and talent – he’d made hundreds of appearances in the Premiership and rarely been caught out there. Leeds’ faltering steps had nevertheless seen us ploughing headlong up the table, showing undeniable class at times, and we ended up second in December.

Spring wasn’t so kind. The team’s position crumbled, and eventually we ended up agonizingly close to the playoffs, but even missing that. A lot of players had struggled. The criticism of a few of them – O’Brien especially in my memory because I rated him – was at times excruciating when I read it back now. In fact, in one way it was hilarious: half of us derided Bradley Johnson as a defensive midfielder, and he’s now almost an international. If ever there was a better example of why not to listen to fans, it’s probably that.

Then came our struggles at the start of this season. Looking back at the articles from the period leading up to O’Brien refusing to play, they’re as bad.

His last match was 6^th November against Leicester. On November 11^th TheScratchingShed ran an article in response to rumours that one-time Leeds youngster Michael Woods had retired from football: ‘Bitter Leeds Fans Amused by Woods Retirement’. I’m glad I wasn’t one of those, in fact I was sympathetic for the lad who had taken a jump in his career similar to mine – and seen it not pay off, similar to me. Yet looking back at it I wish I hadn’t written half the comments I had, and talking about the kid like we did was horrendous. After all, we didn’t know him yet we’d all put in our two cents.

Then on November 14^th rumours surfaced that Monty Gimpel was being tracked by Arsenal.

“I don’t want to see youngsters played just because they may at some point in the future be good – especially when we’ve so much ground to make up for promotion” I commented, “There’s no reason why he shouldn’t be handy enough for a few bench appearances though? Bruce, O’Brien & Bromby haven’t exactly been fantastic, and Lees has done well with little experience?”

The article poster questioned me labelling Lees inexperienced: he had over a hundred appearances at lower level, but nobody picked up on my obvious generalisation – O’Brien had only made two-three appearances for us so far that season. It’s something you wouldn’t think about when you treat footballers as something completely detached from us, yet over the past week I’ve found out that some members of the playing staff at Elland Road have read blogs and forums. I don’t know who, and I’m not suggesting O’Brien ever has, but almost everybody’s been on the receiving end of stick at TSS, WACCOE, or any of the other outlets of fan opinion online.

My first ever published article was written for this blog; it was the news that Andy O’Brien had refused to play for us and wouldn’t be picked again. It was stylishly written, if I do say so myself!, but it dealt massively in rumours.

Despite a fantastic late comeback at Turf Moor on Saturday, the Leeds camp is still far from settled this season.

November began with the dramatic mental implosion of much maligned stopper Paul Rachubka and threatens to end with an acrimonious exit for Republic of Ireland veteran Andy O’Brien.

O’Brien has had a torrid season managing just two league appearances and a poor performance against former club Bradford. The 32 year old, rumoured to be one of Leeds’ top earners, told Simon Grayson before Leicester City that he would not play for the Whites again. It is thought that O’Brien has been frustrated by a lack of football.

[...]

Rumour has it that O’Brien is trying to fix a move to West Ham, while BBC Sport journalist Jacqui Oatley has taken to Twitter to claim that O’Brien had not refused to play for the club, but the manager, whom he regarded as “his worst ever”.

It definitely wouldn’t look out of place in one of the famously a-moral rags. I’d tried to be sensitive on the Rachubka topic – I felt sorry for the lad, and I didn’t want to add to the criticism, but on reflection that didn’t come out at all. I wrote about the rumours that O’Brien was one of Leeds’ top-paid players, the rumours irresponsibly tweeted by Jaqui Oatley that he had a personal falling out with Grayson. Basically, if I had been writing about people I knew, I’d’ve been something rhyming “bit stiring”.

We’re all ill-informed fans at the end of the day- some more ill-informed than others… We’ve no malice, but I think we often forget that these are real people we discuss. There could be 101 reasons for Andy O’Brien’s worries, but you couldn’t rule out any of our lads browsing the blogs and forums and getting problems. I wrote something, ending my blog, yesterday before this came out. I think it’s something that should be repeated here because I think it’s something we all need to think about:

It has come to my attention over the last few days that parts of the playing side of Leeds are reading the blogs and forums. Inadvertently, a place where I can spout my ill-informed opinion has become a place where me and plenty of others are accidentally offending the very lads we’re wanting to support.

So I’ve decided to stop this blog and not to write for TheScratchingShed again. I write this to inform those who have read my blog – because you deserve to know (even though we probably should have thought) that the people you’re writing about might be able to see every word. I wish I’d known sooner. I honestly never thought a footballer with their brilliant jobs and all that would waste their time reading what fans think. As if we’re ever right about much in the first place? But in this day and age, the only place for football talk seems to be in the pub or on the sofa.

For my part I am honestly sorry for any offence or stress I’ve caused anybody at Leeds.

Reading it back after a day, you can tell it’s heart-felt because the style’s less “gosh got to prove myself” me, and more pre-wide-world 18-year-old me.

The article topic? I had always had an unexplained, nagging guilt over Andy O’Brien. Even though it’d disappear quickly. There was something about the situation where I’d maybe subconsciously realised this might be a man struggling and I’m being pretty harsh.

I’m really glad that Andy O’Brien has come out and sought support. It’s something like 10-20% of people in the country who suffer from these problems, as best as can be guessed by doctors. But so many of us don’t come out about problems like this. It takes a real man to seek support, and in my opinion Andy’s done himself absolutely proud.

We never know who’s reading. And we should back Andy O’Brien to the hilt, just like we would with anybody going through a tough time. But more than that, we should use this example to remind us that anybody could be reading what we write. I’ll repeat, I have no reason to believe Andy read this blog or any of the forums, but just looking back at how we treat players who might read, it’s often not good.

Written by TimPM

Leeds’ injury crisis continues with news that Patrick Kisnorbo will be out for the rest of the season.

After missing almost the entirety of the 2009/10 campaign through injury, Kisnorbo returned this season and was later handed a two-year contract after proving his fitness to Simon Grayson.

Regardless, another injury follows some poor performances this season from the Australian leaving many to suspect Patrick Kisnorbo could have played his last game for The Whites.

Paddy’s name is added to an injury list that currently features the following players;

Defence

Ben Parker – perpetually injured. Currently lacking fitness following a series of injuries over the last two years.

Andy O’Brien – Not technically injured, but will never play again following a falling out with Simon Grayson. Rumoured to be leaving for Bristol City.

Tom Lees – Due to return following a concussion that sidelined him for the 4-1 loss at Barnsley and 2-1 win over Burnley.

Leigh Bromby – Calf problem, out for two to three weeks.

Alex Bruce – Another new addition to the list, Bruce has a hamstring problem which means Darren O’Dea is our only centre-back currently in training – Tom Lees is expected to return towards end of week.

Midfield

Robert Snodgrass – Appendix operation ruled him out of the last few games. May be back for Crystal Palace on the 14th, but could be longer.

Jonny Howson – A knee injury has left the Leeds United captain ruled out for the foreseeable future. “Months not weeks” to quote our chairman.

Strikers

Davide Somma – Returned to light training mid-December, but will still be out for some time following an injury to his cruciate ligament. Ahead of schedule, but it’s not the type of injury Leeds will want to rush.

I suspect the overwhelming amount of injuries we’re currently struggling with has forced Simon Grayson’s hand somewhat with regards to potential signings. The loss of Jonathan Howson for such a lengthy period demands we bring in a central midfielder, whilst our defence is incredibly threadbare and desperately needs addressing.

Luckily, the Leeds United boss has over a week to address the situation thanks to a pointless FA Cup match at The Emirates that we can afford to lose by several goals – The Whites simply can’t afford additional fixtures and must heed caution to avoid adding more names to the above list.

With just an outside chance of making the play-offs, Simon Grayson shuffled his pack as Ross McCormack fired the only goal in a 1-0 win against Burnley.

Grayson dropped Robert Snodgrass to the bench and started with a 4-4-2 formation with McCormack partnering Billy Paynter up front and Max Gradel and Bradley Johnson in wide positions. George McCartney came back in at left back with Eric Lichaj on the right. The central defensive partnership remained the same while Jake Livermore was dropped as Neil Kilkenny came back in to partner Jonny Howson in midfield.

After Billy Paynter had fired narrowly wide and had a header denied magnificently by Brian Jensen and Kasper Schmeichel took one for the team, blocking Michael Duff’s shot with his face, Leeds took the lead. Bradley Johnson played a through ball to Ross McCormack who timed his run to perfection, ran through on goal and slotted past Jensen for his first goal for Leeds. He celebrated with a Leeds salute in front of the Kop.

The Whites had spent the half looking remarkably assured, passing it well in midfield and coping well defensively. We held out to half time with the lead intact.

The second half started reasonably and there was a fair amount of positivity amongst the 31000 inside Elland Road who were urging Leeds on to extend their lead. Billy Paynter could have gone someway to improving his image with the fans but, after heading straight at Jensen with one chance, he then rounded the ‘keeper only to hit the side netting.

With Leeds dominating and Burnley struggling to get into the game it started to get feisty. Three high challenges in a matter of seconds ended with Gradel being kung-fu kicked at head height. A brawl broke out which somehow ended in two Leeds players, Kilkenny and Lichaj, being booked while only the original offender, McCann, was booked for Burnley when there may have been a case for a red card. Looking back at it, the only thing that Kilkenny and Lichaj did that the other fifteen or so players involved didn’t was get there first. Either way, it set Leeds up with a free-kick in a wide position.

Following the free-kick Leeds had an extended spell of pressure with a number of chances. Andy O’Brien connected well with a header from the initial free-kick but it was straight at Jensen, while not long after the ‘keeper was called on again, getting down to his bottom corner brilliantly to tip a deflected Ross McCormack shot round the post.

As the half wore on, Burnley were pressing us further back and for a while our passing game deserted us as we reverted to long balls to relieve some of the pressure. We were defending well and restricting the visitors to long efforts but they did come close on a couple of occasions. Youngster Jack Cork fired a 30 yard effort just wide of the top corner and then Schmeichel was forced to save acrobatically from a free-kick.

Simon Grayson made two late substitutions bringing Sanchez Watt on for Max Gradel and then, in the dying minutes, Leigh Bromby on for Ross McCormack to see the game out. Both departing players received deserved standing ovations. Watt could have wrapped up the win but, after good footwork around the area, fired over with one chance and then wide with another.

Overall it was a well-deserved win but it should have been by a greater margin. It was a really good performance, both defensively and going forward and it shows that there may be hope for the future of 4-4-2 at Leeds United.

It’s hard to pick out outstanding individuals from such a great team performance but Ross McCormack was impressive throughout, taking his goal well and working hard for the team while we saw yet more of the same high standard from Max Gradel. Kilkenny was a welcome addition to the midfield and performed very well while Aston Villa loan man, Eric Lichaj, continues to look solid and tireless in defence.

Despite the win there remains only the slimmest mathematical chance of clinching sixth place and it would require Leeds beating QPR and Nottingham Forest losing with a six goal swing. It’s looking extremely unlikely, leaving a bittersweet taste at the end of a good match. There’s also some sadness at the fact that this may have been the last time we see many of today’s side playing at Elland Road with loan players, Kilkenny and Johnson looking likely to depart and rumours of a cash-in on Schmeichel. Let’s just hope we can build a team that can push us just that little bit further next season.

With the end of the season drawing nearer nerves are tested and emotions run high. Amongst the Leeds loanees there’s been a mixture of successes and failures.

Ramon Nunez was unable to do a favour for Leeds as Scunthorpe United went down 2-1 to Millwall. Nunez was fairly lively and was keen to test the goalkeeper from distance.

Aidan White played ninety minutes for Oldham as the Latics drew. He really seems to have gone off the boil as the season has progressed which is really disappointing for someone with so much obvious potential. It seems the best thing for him now would be to get to the end of the season, have a decent rest and then come back and put in some real hard work during pre-season.

Elsewhere in League One, Adam Clayton played the last ten minutes for MK Dons and Fede Bessone played 86 minutes for Charlton, putting in a pretty average performance. The Charlton camp is still fairly undecided on Bessone but most would only have him signed in the summer if there were no other options. As far as Clayton is concerned, his signing still remains a bit of mystery. He looks likely to have a play-off to contend with as MK Dons currently sit 5^th in League One – hopefully he can have an impact giving him some confidence to take into next season.

Yet again though, this week’s big performer was Tom Lees. The central defender has been integral to Bury’s promotion push and on Monday he was on hand to help them secure promotion. He scored the opening goal – his fifth of the season and third in four games – to set Bury on their way to a 3-2 win over league leaders Chesterfield. It’s unknown how much contact he has had with Leeds over the course of the season but here’s hoping he has a good pre-season and is given his chance. While it may be harder for some of the other loan players to work their way into the team, considering the poor defensive record this season and the increasingly creaky legs of Richard Naylor and Andy O’Brien, there’s definitely reason to give Lees his shot.

Down in non-league, Will Hatfield was yet again an unused sub as York City’s play-off ambitions came to an end in a goalless draw at home to Cambridge United.

Leeds started with the same side as Friday but lacked any semblance of spark or imagination from the first minute to the last as they went down 1-0 to lowly Crystal Palace.

It’s really hard to pick out positives for a game which was so important but for which Leeds, save for the 6000 travelling supporters, so spectacularly failed to turn up.

Palace struck within the first eighty seconds. A Neil Danns shot took a heavy deflection off Andy O’Brien, sending the ball past Kasper Schmeichel. It was a disastrous start and for the rest of the first half Leeds rarely looked like fighting their way back into the game. It was a scrappy first forty-five minutes with bookings for both sides and a lack of any real footballing class.

The story was one that has been repeated a number of times this season; lumped long balls to a lone striker and poor delivery into the box even from gifted set pieces. Predictably shaky defending added to the growing sense of unease surrounding the Whites. It almost came to a head when Schmeichel’s clearance hit Naylor, the ball fell to Steffen Iversen and all hell broke loose. Schmeichel followed the ball out creating chaos in defence. Leeds narrowly escaped as Palace were unable to capitalise.

The second half started with the introduction of Sanchez Watt and Neil Kilkenny, forcing a reshuffle. Paul Connolly and the disappointing Jake Livermore made way with Eric Lichaj reverting to right back and Bradley Johnson dropping to left back. Watt played wide left with Robert Snodgrass wide right, leaving Gradel to float up front with Billy Paynter.

Leeds dominated the possession in the second half but there weren’t any chances to really write home about. Max Gradel had a low driven strike saved comfortably by the goalkeeper while Davide Somma, coming on to replace Paynter, could have scored with his first touch but his effort was weak.

As the game wore on and Palace continued to restrict us to half chances the mood became desperate. The home side were defending with ten men behind the ball while Leeds were happy to throw Andy O’Brien into the mix up front. As the minutes ticked by though, a result looked less and less likely. Deep into stoppage time, after goal-scorer Danns had been sent off for a second yellow, even Schmeichel went forward for a free-kick. It came to nothing and the referee blew the whistle to effectively end our play-off hopes.

This will do nothing but add fuel to the fire that the Grayson-out brigade has waiting for the manager. We may have two games left but it’s time to think about building onwards and upwards for a promotion push next season. We need to tie down the players that are good enough to get us up and replace the ones that aren’t.

Leeds were gifted a late equaliser to salvage a point against Watford in a match they should really have won.

Simon Grayson set his Leeds side out in what looked like a 4-4-2 with Davide Somma and Max Gradel up front. Luciano Becchio dropped to the bench alongside loanees Barry Bannan and Jake Livermore.

It was a frustrating first half, replicating much of what we’ve seen this season – the Whites reluctant to pass it around and instead hitting long balls up front to Max Gradel who was being marked by Watford’s Martin Taylor – an absolute giant of a man. My little brother turned to me after the game and said “it’s like we only want 45 minutes to try to win the game.” If a nine year old can see what we’re doing wrong, I’d hope Grayson and the players realise long balls to our smallest player probably isn’t the way forward.

Gradel was putting himself about and making a nuisance of himself while Davide Somma was adding to the frustration of the fans inside Elland Road with a surprising lack of movement. Aside from Neil Kilkenny shooting wide after a bit of head tennis, there were no real clear cut chances until right before half time when Snodgrass popped up on the left and flashed the ball across the area to be met by Max Gradel who, stretching, managed to divert the ball onto the bar when he should have scored.

The second half started in a similar way and United had the first real scare as the visitors’ Don Cowie hit the woodwork but saw the ball fall safely into Kasper Schmeichel’s hands. The introduction of Luciano Becchio for Neil Kilkenny acted to lift the 30000 Elland Road crowd. Becchio made an immediate impact linking up play and winning free-kicks and suddenly Leeds looked much more dangerous. It wasn’t until Simon Grayson made another change though that we really kicked into gear. Barry Bannan came on for Davide Somma and it was the Aston Villa loanee’s excellent delivery from a free-kick that set up Leeds’ first goal. Bannan placed the ball right onto Becchio’s head three yards out and the Argentine duly obliged. Elland Road exploded in euphoric relief.

The crowd were doing their part to keep the energy up but there’s always danger that Leeds will switch off and make silly mistakes and, predictably – after Becchio had blazed a sitter over the bar – it happened just a few minutes later. Watford were passing the ball around the area and Leeds were standing off and failing to get a foot in. Eventually Cowie sent in a deep cross and it was met by the diminutive Lee Hodson who had been allowed to wander freely into the area and nod home unchallenged.

It was a nervy finish for all those inside Elland Road and there was a feeling the game could tip either way. Again, excellent delivery from Bannan led to another chance as Gradel was denied on the line and the ensuing scramble was eventually cleared. A few minutes before full time though it looked like we’d thrown it away as Andy O’Brien went to ground in the box but lost the ball to Danny Graham who squared for substitute Andreas Weimann who could hardly miss. It was a sickening blow and looked likely be a fatal in our play-off hopes.

Strangely though, luck seemed to be on our side briefly as another Barry Bannan delivery, this time from a corner, was inexplicably sliced into the net by Watford striker Troy Deeney. With two minutes left, spurred on by a noisy crowd, both sides seemed to want to go for the win and not settle for a point. The game ended abruptly and strangely as Leeds won a corner, the atmosphere again beginning to bubble with a sense of urgency and anticipation, only for the referee to blow for full-time before we could take it.

Generally you should be thankful for an 88^th minute equaliser but it definitely felt like we’d thrown away two points. It certainly puts added pressure on our remaining fixtures.

There weren’t many outstanding shouts for a man-of-the-match. Eric Lichaj and Leigh Bromby were the most assured of our defenders while Max Gradel was typically energetic and enthusiastic. Becchio looked hungry when he came on and grabbed his goal but had to be taken off injured after being on for less than half an hour. Bradley Johnson did his job well for the most part and can’t really be criticised for his performance but, for me, it would have to go to Barry Bannan – simply because he changed the game and we may not have scored if it hadn’t been for his outstanding delivery.

More dropped points means it’s looking a lot harder for us to retain our play-off place. It’s going to be a nervy few weeks.

A poor performance saw the Whites drop vital points as they went down 3-2 to Millwall at The Den.

Jake Livermore came in for Barry Bannan to add some muscle to the middle of the park while Paul Connolly came in at right back and Eric Lichaj moved to left back to replace the injured George McCartney.

It was a cagey opening to the game with both sides trying to impose themselves but aside from a couple of corners, neither team had any real opportunities to write home about. That was until Jonny Howson fouled Kevin Lisbie and gifted Millwall a free-kick. James Henry stroked the set-piece past Kasper Schmeichel, whose positioning was suspect.

Leeds were still finding it difficult to get into the game and were being terrorised by Millwall’s Spurs loanee, Andros Townsend. The young winger was creating all sorts of trouble and it was his corner that made the day worse for Leeds. Millwall’s Liam Trotter was stood on Schmeichel as the corner swung in and was allowed to tap in from three yards completely unchallenged. Grayson would have been furious at the lack of defending.

Townsend continued to look threatening for Millwall while Leeds were unable to get on the ball and when they did, seemed completely devoid of ideas or creativity.

Having held out until half time, Somma came on for a disappointing Robert Snodgrass as Grayson looked to reshuffle his side to a 4-4-2 formation. United started the second half much better and managed to snatch a goal back after five minutes through Luciano Becchio. Lichaj’s lofted ball into the area was missed by Somma but it fell kindly for Becchio to poke home.

There was still hope and we were more involved in the game than we had been but there was a real need to get the ball down and play it to wide positions like Millwall were doing to us. Max Gradel was receiving little service so was dropping deep to get the ball and as commendable as his efforts were it wasn’t really helping us. However, any hope we had died when Millwall grabbed a third.

Bizarrely play seemed to almost come to a halt as everyone expected the referee to blow for a handball but when he didn’t only Steve Morison was awake and was able to dink the ball past Schmeichel one on one. After that Millwall were able to take the sting out of the game and, despite further reshuffling as Bannan and McCormack were brought on, Leeds never really looked like getting back into it.

We grabbed a late consolation through Andy O’Brien as his flicked header crept in. That was the final action of the game as the referee blew the final whistle soon after.

It’s hard to remain philosophical after such a poor performance and result but we must remember that no matter what happens this season we have overachieved. We’ve slumped to sixth place but are no further from second place than we were before kick-off. Focus now shifts to our remaining fixtures starting away to Derby on Tuesday.

If there’s one thing Twitter has taught me it’s that celebrities and football players are some of the most boring and tedious people on the planet.

There are some rare exceptions to this rule, such as former Leeds United striker Brian Deane who I teamed up with the other night to poke fun at the club’s press officer, Paul Dews. But he’s old school, nowadays footballers are less interesting than a Sunday afternoon on the BBC.

Rather disappointingly, footballers seem relatively… normal!

Their updates are about as exciting as watching my friends lives pass by on Facebook where I discover that ‘Joanne has just put her baby to sleep’ and that ‘Michael is going to take a shower’. Quite how I’d have managed to continue breathing without that information I do not know.

Did social networking bring the lives of footballers and “normal folk” like myself closer together, or did it simply expose the fact that footballers lifestyles are as depressingly ordinary as our own?

I fail to believe that had Twitter been around when Paul Gasgoine and George Best were in their prime that I’d be reading some totally useless facts like those Andy O’Brien shared last night.

[quotetweet tweetid=48144147483332609]

It’s not just O’Brien either. The rest of the Leeds United side that are on Twitter spend what appears to be their entire lives either training, getting ready to go to training, going to sleep in preparation for training or playing FIFA on the PS3 (virtual training?)

Where are the crazy alcohol-fuelled, coma-inducing parties where lingerie models stroll around flirtatiously pouting towards every passer-by? Where are the late night Police raids and lectures from the management for the sorry state they arrived to training in? (You know, like Footballers Wives!) Where did it all go wrong?

Have footballers actually started acting like professionals? I know they like to throw that term around a lot, but I didn’t think they were being serious.

Is the rise of the internet merely a coincidence, or are these overgrown children caught in the same trap of online porn, social networking and live gaming that the rest of a generation has been hypnotised by?

Footballers are supposed to be the rockstars of sport. We’re supposed to hate them because of their carefree attitudes, party-heavy lifestyles and absolute indifference to money. They’re supposed to be smashing up £110,000 sportscars and blowing their life earnings on cocaine not sat at home watching some crap reality TV show;

[quotetweet tweetid=46686898760065025]

Aside from the odd John Terry moment, it really does seem the footballing lifestyle has become a tediously boring one. It’s a sad state of affairs when George Michael’s life appears more exciting than that of your average footballer.

So, for the benefit of any kids reading this. If you want to live a life of care-free drunken debauchery with an endless supply of loose women and exciting newspaper scandals I see only two remaining options – rock star or Blue Peter presenter.

Preston North End (Hume) 1 – 2 Leeds United (Kilkenny, Paynter)

Goals from Neil Kilkenny and Billy Paynter gave Leeds United their first Tuesday night league victory of the season as they won 2-1 at Deepdale.

The vital three points puts Leeds United within one win of the automatic promotion spots as everyone in the top six bar newly promoted Leeds and Norwich City dropped points.

The contrast from the 4-6 freak result at Elland Road earlier this season couldn’t have been greater. Since then, Darren Ferguson has been relieved of his duties at Deepdale and replaced by Phil Brown, and the former Hull City manager’s style was clear to see in Preston’s approach. Gone is the all-out-attack and shambolic defending we saw from Preston some months back, and in it’s place comes the scrappy, tightly contested football that helped make Brown a household name (in Hull at least).

The opening exchanges were quick and reciprocal as both teams had opportunities to open the scoring. Preston were frustrated by the brilliant Kasper Schmeichel, who tipped an absolute screamer from Treacy onto the bar, whilst Leeds’ chances lacked accuracy and caused Schmeichel’s opposite number few problems.

In a game where accuracy and shooting ability could make all the difference, the last person you want hitting shots from long range is Neil Kilkenny. But strike one he did, and the result was one for the Australian’s scrapbook. A rare goal and an absolute stunner to boot put Leeds United in the lead, much to the delight of the 5,000 traveling fans – many of whom (myself included) had spent the drive to Deepdale questioning his contribution to our midfield.

It’s all so typical of players that come under scrutiny for them to miraculously start performing. Max Gradel’s greed, stupidity and showboating gave way to one of the most gifted talents in our team. Bradley Johnson’s belief that he was Peter Lorimer finally gave way to a defensive minded player who gets stuck in and helps the team defensively, rather than a player who blasts shots from 60 yards and wastes chances. I sincerely doubt Kilkenny can undergo a similar transformation and instantly learn how to defend, attack and tackle, but stranger things have happened. A trained chimp was twice elected President of the United States after all.

Preston’s confidence took a hit and Leeds began to dominate as Billy Paynter and Jonny Howson both went close before the break.

North End returned with the fighting spirit that had made the game such an evenly contested one in the first half and were denied an equaliser less than ten minutes in by the offside flag. A lucky escape for Leeds, but one that seemed to spark them back into life.

For a Leeds United side that seem to pride themselves on doing things the hard way, a second goal seemed unfeasible. Unlikelier still, was that Billy Paynter would get it, considering the sheer amount of bad luck he’s had since joining Leeds United. Picking up the ball at the edge of the area, Billy had only one thing in mind as the apparent ‘lack of confidence’ he’s been suffering dissipated, allowing him to finish beautifully and extend Leeds’ lead.

The away end exploded with volume as a relieved Billy Paynter finally got to celebrate in front of the Leeds United fans who had been urging him on throughout the game.

Unsatisfied with a comfortable, easy(ish) night’s work, Leeds United quickly reverted to type. Preston pulled one back with a long range strike from Hume, before the Leeds fans topped up on blood pressure tablets and the squad set about making things as uncomfortable as humanly possible.

From the moment Preston scored, there was a sense Leeds United were going to blow it (again) and the thirty odd minutes that followed seemed to take an eternity as Preston threw everything at Leeds’ goal to try and rescue a point (or beat us 6-2 as their fans amusing claimed they would).

Billy Paynter was denied his second of the night as the post thwarted his final attempt, before Luciano Becchio came on as his replacement. Barry Bannan and Richard Naylor followed, as Simon Grayson showed he doesn’t just do attacking substitutions, but also knows how to sure up a defence when needed – not often we’ve seen that this season.

The uncomfortable viewing finally came to an end after a few headed clearances from Andy O’Brien and Richard Naylor, an Argentinian striker showing the centre-backs how it’s done, Max Gradel proving once and for all that he has absolutely no idea how to run the clock down and four excruciating minutes of stoppage time.

Onwards and upwards?

A tricky one to sum up really, as Preston aren’t the team many people would expect given their current league position. Phil Brown really has them battling hard, and they look an awful lot better than a handful of teams I’ve seen this season (Scunthorpe and Doncaster being two recent examples, and Preston the first time around – strange, I know – being another). In many ways, this was the kind of game we seemed to be able to grind out last season as we stuttered our way into the Championship.

Overall, an excellent result regardless of how difficult it was to witness at times. The top six continues to tighten as our rivals drop points, meaning we now sit an almost unbelievable three points away from an automatic Premier League spot. You almost feel like whispering it, just in case someone overhears us and docks us 15 points…

Evident by the songs of “we’re going up, you’re going down” (bit harsh I felt given our recent troubles, but nevertheless inevitable on Preston’s part) and “na na na… Leeds are going up…” the last two games have got Leeds United fans truly believing the previously unthinkable is once again possible. It’s a funny old game, but I for one, wouldn’t like to call who will finish second.

“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream;
not only plan, but also believe.” (Anatole France)

It’s been a day of reflection at Elland Road with Andy O’Brien apologising to fans, Eddie Gray demanding that Saturday’s performance be used as a wake-up call and Simon Grayson begging fans not to write Leeds off.

Starting with Andy O’Brien, the Leeds centre-back says Leeds didn’t make it ugly enough for Swansea City, making it all too easy for them to play their own game;

“We weren’t at the races and I think we made them look better than they are. There’s no doubt they knock the ball about well but we didn’t make it into an ugly enough game.”

O’Brien goes on to apologise to the 3,000 fans that made the trip for the abject performance, accepting that a lot of money was paid for them to travel so far and that Leeds United simply weren’t good enough. I wonder if he fancies refunding us?

O’Brien’s observation that ‘we didn’t make it ugly enough’ is bang on the money for me. I’m not talking dangerous challenges and downright cheating, but the difference between the two sides was that Swansea closed Leeds United down whenever we had the ball and allowed us no time or space. Leeds meanwhile held off the Welsh side allowing them to pass around freely and look like Arsenal.

Meanwhile, Eddie Gray offers Swansea City some well deserved praise for the manner in which they beat Leeds United, but also reiterates the words of most fans by adding that the game must to be used as a wake-up call.

Eddie Gray’s column in the YEP concentrates more on the performance by Swansea than it does the mistakes made by Leeds, but his wake-up call comments are ones Leeds United’s players and staff must take on-board.

Finally, Simon Grayson seems to be in a slightly petulant mood with this interview for the Official Leeds United site;

“There’s twelve games to go and there’s still an awful lot of points to play for.

“If people want to write us off that’s up to them, but we’ve lost two in twenty-one and we’re now challenging our players to maintain that.

“We’re capable of going on a run. Just because we’ve lost we can’t be ruled out. If people want to, so be it.”

What concerns me about this interview is that recent form is used to disguise our dismal defensive record. His comment that we’ve lost just twice in 21 games is wearing thin and is also repeated by club captain Jonny Howson.

I’ve picked up on our poor defending after most games, but it’s difficult to be too critical of the team when our form guide shows so few defeats. But Swansea was the hammering we all knew we were capable of taking, and should have dealt a few home truths to the management. After dropping seven points in three games, conceding eight goals in the process, it’s a huge concern that neither our captain or our manager are talking of changes.