Best Leeds performance I've seen in 3 or 4 years. After the aberration of the first 5/10 minutes we were tiggerish in every dept all over the field. Flying into tackles; running huge distances to get men back and cover gaps; always making themselves available for the man on the ball; PASSION - it was just a joy to watch and and a joy to be there. For those of you writing in saying "this is the first game I've seen for a couple of years - I don't what you lot were moaning about" - well this is the first time that a Leeds Utd that could hold a candle in terms of pride and energy and defiance and bloody footballing ability to Leeds teams of years gone by, has turned up and worn the shirt. Bloody joyous. The Kop was raucous. The noise when Healy suddenly popped that header over the keeper from 2 yards out was mental - and then the roof raising cheers every time Caspar got a flick or a punch to a crossed ball afterwards...heartstoppingly brilliant. If they can captaure this form and repeat it til the end of the season then the will probably only face defeat at Derby...stay up and be in pretty good shape next year. Make no bones about, Preston are 4th, and we played them off the park. MOTM is a non-contest - Michael Gray - was awesome at left back, left midfield and centre midfield. Everywhere. Throwing last ditch tackles in; closing his man down; brave challenges; very good link-up play with Lewis; good use of the ball; and just generally upping the tempo - keeping Leeds at Preston's throats all game long. Its ages since I felt this good after a game. The "Blackwell was just as good" brigade have had that boring old record smashed to kingdom come. This is the difference; this is what DW & GP have been working towards - a team that is fit; a team that plays inventive but aggresive football; a team with pride. And I don't even like the likkel cockney git. There are still problems and things to work on. Caspar flaps at the high ball - there are times when the defence doesn't have a clue where it is, where the ball is and where the man they are supposed to be marking is - with practise, and with the return of Marques for Heath (hopefully) that will change - Blake's ridiculous free kicks and short corners just need eradicating. But on the whole there was much to gladden the season weary heart...and whisper it, but most of the other results went our way today as well. We got caught horribly cold for their goal. The midfield and defence nowhere. Ormerod had the freedom of the box and finished well. But instead of folding, we battled for ground, our midfield - Blake, Kishi, Douglas and Lewis - were everywhere breaking stuff up, winning the ball, moving us forward, supporting the front men - ably assisted by Richardson and Gray's overlapping runs...and we came back from behind to win a game for the first time this season. You had to laugh - once we went ahead, DW started using up the remaining 4 minutes with substitutions...that took for ever. There so many good moves, good individual pieces of skill or teamplay, that it was a surprise that it took so long to get the equaliser but when it did it was sweet. Cresswell running into the box, to the by-line, firing a cross in across the box, everyone missing it until Blake sliding in late beyond the back post hooked it high and mighty into the net. Coming about 5 minutes after Nugent out muscling Heath to go through one on one with Caspar only for the keeper to snaffle the ball at his feet...this goal was a huge relief. We continued to press and press and then they brought Michael Ricketts on. Five minutes later he is free at the back post, 4 yards from goal, ball at his feet - BOLLOCKS - thinks the whole of the Kop shortly followed by - of course, its Michael Ricketts, as they watch the ball cannon off the bar and over ...unbelievable miss. Then Lewis swings a ball in from the left - for the umpteenth time that night - Cresswell looks like he's blocked, everyone seems to freeze, the defender and Healy converge at the backpost, the defender gets a touch that sort of flips the ball a little higher into the sir just in front of Healy's face and about a yard in front of the keeper, and Healy with brilliant reflexes just nudges it it up and over the keeper's head and into the net - cue pandemonium. CASPAR - some pretty good stuff - safe-ish hands at the end - kept us in the game when faced with Nugent RICHARDSON - a poor opening spell, but just got stronger, better and more confident as the game went on GRAY - star man - brilliant - couldn't fault his performance HEATH - a lump - without an ounce of footballing talent - but stood firm (most of the time) and did his job as a stopper MICHELOB (?) - looks v steady and assured - a solid game - even went on a late run through their midfield...got a bit lost BLAKE - involved in the good stuff - wasted some excellent free kick opportunities - scored a lovely goal DOUGLAS - all energy and effort - his job is to get the ball and give it to Kishi - when he tries to do something himself with the ball he's a clown - should stop thinking he's Zico - he won't score from 35 yards KISHISHEV - quieter than before but still industrious, still the man that everything goes through...made us tick last night and kept us steady when things were getting a bit rocky LEWIS - excellent link play with Gray - a threat CRESSWELL - lots of effort without much reward - until the cross for Blake HEALY - mainly anonymous despite the crowd's roars every time he touched it - great awareness and finish for the winner SUBS not on for long Likkel Den - keeps on like this he will keep us up - magnificent crowd.
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