Here's my match report for what it's worth. It's my first one so be kind. Well first things first, 3 League wins out of 3 is an absolutely fantastic start. Bear in mind though – we were pretty lucky to get 3 points today. In my opinion a draw would have been a fair result.
A sunbathed City Ground (attendance c25,000) saw Leeds start brightly. Kandol and Beckford looking determined and were chasing everything, Carole and Prutton looking lively, although Thompson was looking a bit chubby and off the pace (I'm sure the heat didn't help). At the back Jamie Clapham slotted into left back nicely, and Richardson looked much more solid. Marques was his usual tidy self, but as always Heath was definitely our weakest link, and despite working hard, looked pretty dodgy. As I said, we started brightly, and when Kandol controlled a through ball from (I think Beckford – my view was not great) on his chest and smashed the ball in off the post, culminating in a lovely passing move. It's been a long time since I can remember us carving the opposition open so well. We continued to press and had a succession of corners – and came close a couple of times, with Prutton and Heath forcing saves from their keeper. Thompson's freekicks were disappointing though, and he didn't have his usual influence in the centre of the park. All in all, we fully deserved our lead at half time, and could have had a couple of more to our name. We were lively, working hard and looking threatening. The second half was a different story – Forest equalised early in the second half from a freekick which I think took a deflection (again scored at the other end and I had a poor view) and that slice of look really lifted the forest crowd and the team, and for the 30-40 minutes they completely battered us, and could of scored a hatful. I think the heat had sapped our strength, and aimless long balls straight to the opposition a la the first half against Tranmere didn't help our cause one bit. Things didn't get better when Forest brought on Nathan Tyson, who is the best player I have seen in League One this year, and I don't think there will be many better than him, who gave us a proper run around. Wise did try to shake things up bringing Flo on for Thompson, but Flo was woefully off the pace today and had little effect. To be honest although I was pleased to see Wise wanting to win the game – at the time I thought 4-5-1 would have been a good plan at this point because Thompson was labouring badly, and our midfield was getting played off the park by Forest as the second half went on. But come the 88th minute, a shuffling run by Carole cutting in from the left which seemed to be in slow motion culminating in a diagonal through ball for Beckford we were back in front. And that was it. Only 6 more points to go before we get to zero. A quick word about the Referee- inkeeping with the general theme of League One refs being utterly shit, this clown was no better. Beckford was continually warned by the ref for incidents when he was being fouled, and he got booked for a challenge on their goalkeeper when he jumped out of his way and didn't seem to touch him. The linesman on the left hand side was shockingly bad and kept flagging for imaginary challenges by Beckford and Kandol. Scores Casper – looked solid, came off his line brilliantly on a couple of occasions. 7 Richardson – Functioned well as part of solid(ish) back four, and had a couple of cracking forward runs. Not sure he's the permanent solution for right back though. 6 Jamie Clapham – Looked solid, some good forward passes, finding his man. Seemed to lack a bit of pace though. 6 Rui Marques – Quick, sharp, saved Heath on a couple of occasions. Why did he not play regularly under Blackwell? 7. Matt Heath – No doubting his effort, big question mark over his quality. Couple of errors, and some shocking passes straight into touch. 5. David Prutton – very lively in the first half, and looking an increasingly assured performer for the team, faded in the second half. 6.5 Alan Thompson – By far our most creative midfielder – butreally struggled to keep pace with the game today and his free kicks were a bit disappointing. 6. Jonathan Douglas – runs around a lot. Does very little. 5. Seb Carole – Really lively, tackled back a lot in the first half, kept trying in the second, and his run set up the winner. 7.5 Jermaine Beckford – Worked hard, tackled back and never gave up. Thoroughly deserved his winner 7. Tresor Kandol – Worked hard like Beckford, never let his head drop and chased every lost cause. Constantly fouled by the Forest back line. Deserves man of the match for his goal, which was fantastically taken goal, which 9 times out of 10 he would have blasted over the stand. 8. One last thing – Forest kicked off outside the ground, with lots of 'Istanbul' chants which was the only sour note on an otherwise great day. Sad bastards the lot of them. _______________________________________________ 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 Join The Leeds United Supporters Trust at www.lufctrust.org
