The Scratching Shed

Another crazy day of mixed emotions for Leeds fans after we escaped from defeat at the Valley with automatic promotion still in our own hands. Throughout the game, the travelling Leeds United fans were kept informed of events elsewhere and when Andy Robinson made it 2-0 to Tranmere Rovers, Leeds United were one goal away from their seasons aim of automatic promotion.

This being Leeds however, things were never going to be that easy. The team had looked bright and hungry throughout the first half and although we went into the break at 0-0, there was a lot to be optimistic about. Unfortunately, things didn’t run quite as well in the second half and Charlton started to edge Leeds out.

Still at 0-0 and knowing the results elsewhere were going in our favour, Simon Grayson took a calculated risk to give Leeds United more options upfront. Beckford was the first player on, replacing Robert Snodgrass with Gradel dropping back a little. This was followed by Sanchez Watt replacing Micky Doyle ten minutes later and Mike Grella replacing Andy Hughes with about five minutes remaining.

When you need a goal to secure promotion back to the Championship, it makes sense that you give yourself as many attacking options as possible upfront and Simon Grayson did the right thing. It had been another closely matched game where for large parts, both teams had absorbed any attacking threat from the other, but the changes opened things up noticeably. It worked in Leeds’ favour to some extent, allowing Beckford a good chance, but it also allowed Charlton more space on the attack too and they ultimately punished us for it with three minutes remaining when Akpo Sodje scored via the head of Richard Naylor.

The Leeds fans were silenced. It was a nervous performance from Leeds, and when playing it along the ground in the first half didn’t prove affective, they resorted to the dreaded long-ball and the chances became even fewer and farer between.

It wasn’t the most unexpected of results, or performances. The reverse fixture at Elland Road earlier in the season that ended 0-0 was just as frustrating as this one so it seemed unlikely the goals were going to flow at the Valley. The problem is that both teams play a similar style so neither ends up with much room.

What the result means is that there are now five teams capable of achieving automatic promotion from League One next week. Two of them play at the New Den as Millwall host Swindon. If that game ends in a draw, then both Charlton and Huddersfield could capitalise. Charlton would need a win away to Oldham, whilst Huddersfield would need to do a demolition job at Exeter City, but could mathematically go up by goal-difference.

As it stands, Leeds United lead the way though and that’s all that really matters. A win over a Bristol side who we destroyed 4-0 earlier in the season is all Leeds United need to escape the hell of League One football. In our previous meeting, Bristol had a defence made of play-dough and Leeds United came back in style after our first defeat of the season to Millwall. A similar display next week and it’ll be one hell of a party at the sold-out Elland Road.

With a lot of thanks to Andy Robinson and the usual unpredictability of League One, we head into the final game in a position I think we’d have all accepted at the beginning of the season. 90 minutes of football on Saturday will determine what division Leeds United play in next season and that’s all there really is to it. Our lack of points against the top six this season, the defensive hole Paddy’s injury has left, the lack of goals from midfield and our apparent need to do things the hard way have taken us all on a journey through third division hell that boils down to one game against Bristol. As Winston Churchill once said, ‘If you’re going through hell, keep going…’

‘Must win’ is a term overused in football and one that has been thrown about a lot over the past month or so in relation to Leeds United FC. Leeds United seldom take note of these occasions however and have developed a tendency to do things the hard way.

Gillingham away last week was a good example of Leeds United ignoring the ‘must win’ game scenario. A win was the only way to guarantee we’d remain second, and failure to do so would make the home visit of MK Dons and trip to the Valley look a little more complicated than was perhaps necessary.

As it turned out, Leeds United remained second anyway, thanks to the unpredictable nature of League One which left everyone else failing to capitalise on our failings. It really does seem that no matter how hard we try to mess it all up, the other teams are doing that little bit better at it. Not a bad thing, granted, but with another ‘must win’ game at Elland Road tomorrow, Leeds really do need to be at their best.

On paper, you could argue that Leeds United have the toughest fixture of those fighting for automatic promotion when taking relative league positions into account. Take the situational positions into account however, and Leeds probably have the best one – with the possible exception of Millwall who host an almost safe Leyton Orient (I’m also ignoring Huddersfield. Although mathematically possible, it’s highly unlikely).

The other two teams in the hunt, namely Charlton and Swindon both travel away to teams deep in the relegation battle. Swindon travel to Wycombe, who are five points from safety but unlikely to give up until the maths rules consolidation out and Charlton head to Exeter who could just about secure their place in League One with a win. Another weekend of movement at the top seems inevitable.

The game Leeds United fans should really be keeping an eye on this weekend is definitely Charlton. If Leeds lose at Elland Road tomorrow and Charlton win in Exeter, they’ll move level on points with Leeds with everything on the line next weekend. However, if Charlton lose and Leeds United win, that would leave Charlton six points behind Leeds United next weekend with two games left and a vastly inferior goal difference. In other words, Charlton would have very little left to play for and would simply be waiting for the play-offs to get under way.

Leeds fans have a lot to be optimistic about ahead of the game. MK Dons are a team that have never won at Elland Road, and overall, Leeds United have a very good record against them. The Dons have also been struggling for form over the last couple of months and failed to win any of their last eight fixtures. With absolutely nothing left to play for, Milton Keynes seem happy to draw a line under the 2009-10 season and look ahead to next season.

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

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

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

Adam Barrett told the BBC that;

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

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

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

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

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

Jermaine Beckford has withdrawn his transfer request and decided to stay with Leeds United until the end of the season. The striker released a statement saying;

“After a lot of thinking over the last few days I have decided to withdraw my transfer request and commit my immediate future to Leeds United.

“It was never a comfortable decision to ask for a transfer in the first place, but after the game against Manchester United and the unbelievable reaction from the Leeds United supporters in the Wycombe match I have decided I want to finish what I have been striving to do for the last two seasons – and that is to help promote Leeds United out of a division which the club doesn’t belong

“Every time I put on the Leeds United shirt I give 100 per cent and can assure the fans, the manager and everyone connected with the club that I will continue to do that”

Whilst this is clearly great news in terms of stability for the club in the immediate future, I can’t help but be a little cynical of this announcement. My initial thoughts are that maybe the offers him and his slimy agent had expected weren’t forthcoming.

I question how commited anyone can be with such a short amount of time remaining on their contract. Just because he’s here until May doesn’t mean we’re going to see the end of the speculation. When we get to March-April and the most important games of the season we’re going to be hearing rumours every day suggesting he’s signed a pre-contract elsewhere. The best way to end all this is still to sign a new contract.

On the more positive side, this will hopefully settle the team in the short term after they delivered two abject performances against Wycombe and Exeter. We need to get back on track and hopefully, this will be the boost everyone has needed.

For the second week in a row the league leaders put on a poor show and allowed the chasing pack to close the gap further. Make no mistakes, even with a slight revival and a decent spell of pressure in the second half, this was another dismal display from Leeds.

Although it’d be wrong to start calling this a slump in form, Wycombe and Exeter are teams the title favourites should be destroying. For the team to go to Old Trafford and knock the Premier League Champions out of the FA Cup, then drop five points against lowly Wycombe and Exeter is quite frankly obsurd. It indicates that something’s wrong in the Leeds camp at the minute and given Simon Grayson’s subsequent reaction, he knows it. Whether it’s simply complacency, or an unsettled team struggling to cope with the speculation of Beckford’s departure, it needs to be resolved quickly. Even if that does mean shipping Beckford out now at whatever price we can get.

From what I’ve heard of Simon Grayson’s reaction, he didn’t sound impressed. I believe he said something along the lines of ‘the team were still in the dressing room for the first 15 minutes’ and he isn’t kidding. The team may as well have been in the dressing room for the entire fixture as I honestly believe the U18′s could have given Exeter more of a game.

Exeter came at us from the off and Leeds struggled to get a foothold. It didn’t take long for the pressure to pay off when the Leeds defence went missing and Harley met a cross to fire the home side into the lead. A sleeping defence more or less watched the ball beat Casper Ankergren then looked around for someone to blame.

Nothing improved either. Infact, our best chance of the first half was thanks to Exeter when one of their players made a mistake and had to rush back to clear his own line. Never mind though, Simon Grayson will work his magic at half time and the second half will put things right. Well, so we thought anyway.

Leeds did reappear stronger than in the first and looked to attack, but Exeter wanted it more and kept us at bay. Jermaine Beckford’s mind seemed elsewhere as he missed a series of chances. Some of which were due to good goalkeeping, but on the whole, it was simply poor finishing. It’s too easy to blame the player heading for the door though and it wasn’t just him. The defence was weak, the midfield did little to help them and the chances we did have were squandered. Even Kis had a bad game for the first time since joining Leeds.

Exeter put the final nail in our coffin with just minutes remaining when Harley finished us off with a fine strike from range leaving Casper little chance. Another case of poor defending as no one picked him up and Leeds pretty much invited him to shoot, before looking at each other puzzled as to how he’d managed to put a second by the league leaders.

Make no mistake, Exeter were good but Leeds were shockingly bad. We were out-fought, out-muscled, out-tackled and out-played. The stats show that Exeter had 61% of the possession, which comes as no surprise to me whatsoever. If anything, I’d have expected it to have been higher. Quite simply, they just wanted it more.

This result is what should have happened against Wycombe last week. Last time we lost we bounced back well, but I aren’t so sure we will this time. The players just didn’t seem interested at times. A trip to Old Trafford may well have given them all ideas above there stations and the complacency that it’s been followed by has made the victory there somewhat bittersweet for me. As great as that win was, the most important thing has always been the league and the players need to be reminded of that. Hardly the time for a JPT distraction then!

Almost a quarter of a way into the 2009-10 League One season, I thought now would be a good time to look back on how we’ve done so far.

Leeds United 2-1 Exeter City
The season started at Elland Road against newly promoted Exeter City. Leeds United and Simon Grayson were looking to put the heartache of another failed attempt at promotion via the play-offs behind them and were focused solely on achieving automatic promotion.

The good news was that Jermaine Beckford was still a Leeds United player and his brace earnt us all three points as we made hard work of the League One newcomers. His 89th minute winner was met with chants of “sign your contract for the lads” from the 27,000 fans inside Elland Road.

Wycombe Wanderers 0-1 Leeds United
The first away game of the season was also our first competitive match against another newly promoted side, Wycombe Wanderers. After a first half dominated by the hosts, Leeds re-grouped and returned a different team. Lucciano Becchio’s 61st minute goal was to be the winning goal as Leeds and Shane Higgs kept their first clean sheet of the campaign.

Walsall 1-2 Leeds United
It was another late show from Leeds United in Walsall as the hosts took the lead late on from the penalty spot. With eleven minutes to go, it looked like Leeds were set to drop their first points of the season but an 83rd minute equaliser from Bradley Johnson setup an Hollywood finish for Jermaine Beckford who secured all three points with a winner four minutes from time.

Leeds United 3-0 Tranmere Rovers
Back to Elland Road for a visit from the Scousers. After scraping victories in the first three games, Leeds will have been happy with a much more comfortable result. First half goals from Bradley Johnson and Jermaine Beckford gave us a two goal cushion at half time before Lucciano Becchio wrapped things up in the second half.

Colchester United 1-2 Leeds United
Spirits amongst Leeds United fans were the highest I’ve seen them in a long time before the Colchester game. The travelling fans were in full voice and more optimistic than ever after the 3-0 demolition of Tranmere.

Bradley Johnson once again fired Leeds United into the lead as his impressive early season form continued. Colchester grabbed an equaliser from the penalty spot, but Jermaine Beckford secured all three points and kept our 100% record intact with a 64th minute winner.

Leeds United 2-0 Stockport County
Simon Grayson’s side broke records against Stockport as the club recorded it’s most successful start to the season and most consecutive league wins. Records that had previously stood since the days of Don Revie.

Jermaine Beckford was out injured so Mike Grella made his first start of the campaign and within 9 minutes he’d opened the scoring and fired Leeds ahead. Lubomir Michalik made it 2-0 before half-time which turned out to be the final score after a goal-less second half.

Southend United 0-0 Leeds United
The away trip to Southend was moved to a Friday night at the request of the local Police, so anything other than a loss would see us go top of the table. Uptil this point both ourselves and Charlton had won every game, but Charlton currently had the superior goal difference.

A scrappy and hard fought battle ended 0-0 as both teams struggled to create good chances. Shane Higgs was called into action as Southend had the best chance of the game when they were awarded a penalty. The spot kick was struck well enough, but Shane Higgs guessed right and earnt Leeds a point.

Leeds United 4-1 Gillingham
After dropping our first points of the season away to Southend, Leeds were looking to get back to winning ways at home to Gillingham. It took less than 15 minutes for Bradley Johnson to fire Leeds ahead and he netted his fifth of the season just before the half hour mark to give us a 2-0 lead at the break.

Jonny Howson got his first of the season straight from the restart before Barcham pulled one back for Gillingham. It proved to be nothing less than a consolation goal though as Jermaine Beckford rounded things up in the final minute to make it 4-1 to the Whites.

Milton Keynes Dons 0-1 Leeds United
MK Don’s were being hyped as our toughest test of the season so far and they didn’t disappoint as Paul Ince’s side battled well with the Whites. The teams cancelled one another out for much of the game and neither side looked like they’d make a breakthrough.

When MK Dons were reduced to ten men though, Leeds had the advantage and for once managed to capitalise on it. It took 45 minutes but Robert Snodgrass’ late goal earnt Leeds an unexpected three points.

Leeds United 1-1 Carlisle United
A tired looking Leeds side lacked the spark they’d had at home so far and struggled to kill Carlisle off after Jermaine Beckford missed a penalty and fired us into the lead from the rebound.

Leeds had won fifteen consecutive games at Elland Road by this point, but the last team to beat us put an end to that record. A freekick was met by Scott Dobie who equalised with fifteen minutes left on the clock. Despite a late flurry from Leeds, they couldn’t find a winner.

Although the Elland Road winning streak is now at an end, Leeds remain the only undefeated side in the country as we head into this weekends top of the table clash against Charlton. Another 36 games like these and come May there’s no doubt we’ll be heading back to the Championship.

Eighth place Gillingham are the opposition at Elland Road today as Leeds look to maintain their undefeated start to the season and get back to winning ways after last weeks draw at Southend.

Ben Parker could make a return this afternoon with Jason Crowe doubtful after going off injured last week. Rui Marques is also a doubt but is unlikely to be replaced by Richard Naylor who returned to action for the reserves earlier this week. I’d suspect he’ll be a couple of weeks away from full fitness yet.

Gillingham have had a good start to the season but have yet to win away from home. They did manage to pick up a point in their last away game against Walsall, but have lost the other two to Tranmere and Colchester. Their last two fixtures have seen them win and keep clean sheets against Millwall (2-0) and Exeter City (3-0).

Head-to-head we’ve met eight times, with Leeds winning four, drawing three and losing just once. Last season we drew to them away when they snatched a late equaliser after Seb Carole’s first half strike put us ahead. Jermaine Beckford and Tresor Kandol were sent off in that fixture. At Elland Road we beat them 2-1 with goals coming from Johnson and Kandol, after falling 1-0 down early on.

One player Leeds fans may recognise today is Curtis Weston who played for us during the 2007-08 season. He made very few appearences but did manage to score for us once. So far this season, he’s been on target for the Gills three times, including the last fixture against Millwall.

Gillingham are currently managed by ex-Newcastle United and Portsmouth defender, Mark Stimson. He’s been in charge since the clubs relegation season of 2007-08 and brought them back to League One via the League Two play-off’s last season.

Meanwhile, the two clubs chairmen have continued their war of words which started in 2007 when Leeds were deducated fifteen points. Gillingham’s chairman Paul Scally was openly supportive of the deduction leaving Bates unimpressed. On the dawn of this game Scally said “Ken Bates rambles on and says things he shouldn’t” whilst Ken claims the Gillingham chairman once came to him for advice about recreating a Chelsea Village style complex in a new stadium plan for the Gills. Ken claims that the move would have involved a name change for the club to Medway United.

The two chairman are never going to see eye-to-eye, so in the interests of resolving this matter (and keeping us all amused) what I suggest is a Gladiator-style half-time battle with the loser never being allowed to speak publically again. We really can’t lose from such an agreement!

Gillingham will be confident coming into this game and Leeds will have to guard against complaicency. They’ve won the last two and managed to pick their first points up away from home in their last away fixture, which will have helped their confidence. This is a game Leeds should be winning though and I’d be extremely disappointed with anything less.

The display against Exeter City on Saturday, followed by the one against Darlington last night showed the differences bewteen the Leeds United side with and without Jermaine Beckford.

Although the side didn’t really struggle last night and cruised into the second round without too many problems, the absence of Beckford’s goal scoring ability couldn’t have been more noticable. Mike Grella took too long infront of goal on several occasions and lacked the confidence to strike first time. Had he done so I reckon he could well have got himself on the scoresheet. Enoch Showunmi meanwhile did OK and should be congratulated for his goal but the one he sliced wide when one on one with the keeper was cringe-worthy.

Had Jermaine Beckford been playing last night I have no doubts whatsoever that the scoreline would have been much different. One player doesn’t make a team, but Jermaine Beckford makes us promotion contenders.

Simon Grayson’s continual efforts to ensure the fans that Beckford will be going nowhere do little to comfort me. His absence through injury last night left many wondering if he’d been left out to avoid getting cup-tied and the continual rumours linking him with a move to WBA or Wolves aren’t helping either.

The continued silence from Jermaine Beckford concerns me too. When you have an ego as big as he does, silence is an unusual trait, yet he’s barely said anything publically since the end of last season. What happened to the Jermaine Beckford of old? The one that asked Sky Sports “What shirt am I wearin’ bruv’?” He’s always been an outspoken character and seems to revel in the media spotlight so why no interviews?

If it is Jermaine Beckford’s desire to leave Elland Road, then faking an injury wouldn’t be too hard for him. Simon Grayson said he’d picked up a ‘knock’, which has always struck me as the strandard footballers excuse when they simply can’t be bothered playing. Anyone else would run it off, but in the world of professional footballers it seems to be a week laid in bed. It’s an hard life!

The longer the speculation continues and the more twists that add to the story the less convinced I am that Beckford will be with us on September the 1st. Even when he scored the two goals against Exeter the Leeds faithful were cynical and some accused him of ‘playing for the scouts’. The cries of ‘sign your contract for the lads’ made the Leeds fans feelings clear, they want him at Elland Road and want him to help us achieve promotion. Let’s hope he feels the same.

Two goals from Jermaine Beckford sealed all three points for Leeds United as newly promoted Exeter came close to causing an upset.

It should have been much easier for Leeds and in truth, Exeter hardly featured in the game at all. Wasted opportunities nearly cost Leeds though and after going down to ten men, Exeter equalised late on, sending the visiting fans into a state of ecstasy – you’d have honestly thought they’d just won the league. It did seem somehow predictable though that they’d equalise once down to ten men and although it was an excellent free-kick that earnt them the goal, Leeds should never have given them that opportunity.

Leading up to the equaliser Leeds had gone missing from the game and seemed happy to sit on the one goal lead. Afterwards though, Leeds pushed forwards and piled the pressure on which resulted in an 89th minute winner from Jermaine Beckford. His second goal was met with chants of ‘Sign your contract for the lads’ as the Leeds faithful made their feelings clear.

View from the Kop as over 27,000 cheer the Whites on at Elland Road

Maybe it was the weather, or perhaps lack of fitness, but at times the game died a death, Leeds seemed happy to sit on their lead and Exeter caused Shane Higgs few problems. I don’t personally feel Becchio had a good game, nor did Snodgrass who I barely noticed throughout the 90 minutes. As for the new signings, Jason Crowe missed an absolute sitter that should have given Leeds a two goal lead and killed the match off, Kisnorbo played well and weighed in with some good tackles and Doyle did ok in midfield without ever really excelling. It’d be hard to pick a man of the match, but I guess you’d have to choose Beckford simply for the two goals he scored, although in truth he did little else. Good strikers tend to be like that though I guess? I don’t remember Gary Lineker having much of an impact on any game, but did tend to pop up and score the goals.

Exeter’s fans should be applauded for their support. They sold plenty of tickets and mingled well amongst the Leeds fans. I was chatting to a couple before kick-off who told me they were surprised at how friendly Leeds’ fans are and how good a day they’d had in the city. Walking back to the city centre afterwards, I got chatting with another who said he was also surprised at how welcoming we were and expected a lot more hostility. Hasn’t he heard “we’re the nicest fans in football…?”

I’m keeping this short as it’s going to be published so late after the match that I’m sure anyone who missed the fixture will have already read an in-depth review elsewhere. I would like to add that it’s very nice to see the TV back up and running at Elland Road and congratulate our own fans for their efforts during the minutes applause. The chant of ‘there’s only one Bobby Robson’ was extremely nice to hear and shows the respect this man had throughout our nation.

Overall, and despite going the hard way about it, we got off to a winning start and are now undefeated on opening day for twenty years. I’m sure some of you were expecting a whitewash, but to win this league there’s going to be some poor games where we’ll need a bit of luck and others where we have to grind a result out. So long as we keep putting the points on the board then all’s good! On and on.

Highlights (UK only) on the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/8192153.stm