Well, having dragged myself off my sick bed again (it's pneumonia, but the
antibiotics are helping :) ) and made the scenic trip up the A65 and M6 to
Carlisle I'm not as down hearted as the score line might suggest. The worst
thing was I couldn't sing more than half a line of MOT without having a
coughing fit... Oh, and have I mentioned this terrible ache I get in my side...
and while I'm here doctor, since I don't come very often...
Strange happenings before kick off. They put goals out to the side of the
actual match ones for the 'keepers' warm up. Casper used them a bit, but as is
usual for his routine wanted to use the main goals. Their groundsman was very
unhappy with this and him and his cronies had a row with our coaching staff and
then stood on the goal line behind Casper as he saved all the stuff being fired
at him in the warm up (they had to duck a fair few times). In the end Wise and
then the fourth official got involved and told them we had to be able to
prepare as we wished. The groundsmen still stood next to the goal looking
miserable, though. Either they can hold a professional football match on that
pitch or they can't. Embarrassing.
In the first half we battered them. Casper didn't have a save to make, while
Carole had a looping effort headed off the line, Douglas had a superb curling
shot just tipped over, Beckord put the same just wide and Beckford again (I
think) had a great effort somehow saved. On top of that were a load of half
chances and we were very, very good value for a 1-0 lead at half time. The
players that particularly caught the eye were Douglas and Heath.
In the second half we seemed to want to sit back and hit them on the break. It
failed, but we were unlucky too. Prutton was had a soft foul given against him
- a poor decision it seemed but we were at the far end of the stand (it's a bit
like the southern end of our west stand, if we'd sat in our seats looking
forward we'd have been looking at the side of a sports centre all afternoon!).
The cross came in and comfortably headed clear, but it fell to one of their
players on the edge of the box and he hit a sweet shot inside Casper's R hand
post. It was their first effort on target and a superbly taken goal.
For the second, Richarsson (who had a poor game) tried to head a cross back to
Casper, but put it well wide for a corner. To be fair, there was a man behind
him and it looked like nobody gave him a shout. I think they took a quick,
short corner (the corner flag was obscured because of our strange seating
position) and one of the shortest (but probably best) players on the pitch,
their left winger Garner, headed into the roof of the net. We still created
some chances, one when Kandol dribbled into the area. It looked like he
couldn't see an opening, so he played a neat pass to the unmarked Carole who
hit a very tame curling shot straight at the keeper - I think he was trying to
curl it over him and into the far top corner. Then later on Beckford beat
three men, but instead of cutting the ball back to Constantine he hit it
straight at the keeper at the near post. Constantine was rightly furious.
The third came as we pushed forward in injury time and and was very rough
justice.
Overall this was a reasonable performance, but the referee (The Premiership's
Phil Dowd) really lost the plot in the second half. We couldn't make any kind
of tackle without conceding a foul. This was epitomised when a ball was played
to Constatine with his back to goal in their box. He stood his ground while
their keeper jumped over him to punch the ball clear, flattening him in the
process. I was disappointed we didn't get a penalty. I was fucking raging
(and coughing) when he gave them a free kick.
They couldn't have complained if we'd taken at least a point from this. The
unbeaten run had to come to an end eventually, it might as well be away to the
league leaders. The real test for Wise now is whether he can lift the team for
Bournemouth (another piece of creative fixture generation from the FL, playing
2 away games 360 miles apart in the space of 3 days. Cunts).
All in all, definitely not a performance that mirrored the score (check out the
stats I copied from the BBC website). "Lucky Leeds"? don't you believe it.
Casper - 7: Very hard to tell if he had any chance with the goals, but
otherwise tidy enough.
Richardson - 5: Really struggled against Garner (who was lightning quick and
tricky). All their goals came from their right - were they targeting him as a
weak link? Didn't manage to get forward much.
Marques - 7:
Heath - 7: In the first half this pair looked rock solid and were working very
well together - we were defending the far end in the second half, so it was
more difficult to see who was doping what
Clapham - 7: Steady, got forward to support the attack well.
Carole - 4: very subdued, and struggled to make an impact.
Prutton - 7: Worked hard, tidy,has settled in well and is becoming a key player
Hughes - 6: a big-hearted performance as always, but it was his first match
back and he wasn't quite up to pace.
Douglas - 8: Covered a lot of ground, tackled well, and I don't remember him
misplacing a pass. Do all his better performances come away from home?
Kandol - 7: worked hard, won his share of the ball, held it up well, got
nothing from the referee but kept his discipline.
Beckford - 8: took his goal well after a goal mouth scramble, silky skills but
lacked vision at times
SUBS:
Da Costa - 6: struggled to make an impact, but I'd start him on Tuesday instead
of Carole. he looks skillful and trcky and he has very quick feet. He might
take time to settle, but I do think that when he does he'll be something very
special.
Constantine - 6: Once fit I'm sure he'll be in instead of Kandol. Looked to
have a good touch, took up good positions and was strong in the air.
Wise - 5: what did you say at half time?
Fans - 8: a bit quiet after the second went in, but 99% stayed after the final
whistle for a chorus of MOT and "15 points who gives a fuck?" while the team
had their customary on pitch huddle at the end.
There might have been a bit of bother pre-match - as we walked down to the
ground there were flashing blue lights and all the local residents were stood
in their doorways as if they'd been watching some entertainment. But nobody I
talked to had seen antything and despite plenty of robocops, horses and dogs
the Leeds fans were in pretty good humour. One of their lot was carted out by
stewards after the second goal, and there were a couple of bottles thrown. in
the ground. I think this was Carlisle fans though: bizarrely it seems that
some of Englands most (in)famous hooligans are Carlisle fans.
BBC's match stats:
Carlisle Leeds
Possession 46% 54%
Shots on target 5 8
Shots off target 4 5
Corners 6 6
Fouls 9 17
_______________________________________________
the Leeds List is an unmoderated mailing list and the list administrators
accept no liability for the personal views and opinions of contributors.
Leedslist mailing list
[email protected]
http://list.zetnet.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist
6 in a bloody row!
