Heartbreak for Forest as Lucky Leeds's run goes on.. Nottingham Forest - 1 Leeds United - 2
I was ready to write Smoulds' obituary at half time today, because in the first half I thought we were very poor indeed - and made Leeds look a lot better than they were, in a rather scrappy first half were the Yorkshire side certainly performed more effectively than the home side. There were apparently two shots on target each in the first half, but I can't really recall ours being particularly clearcut - as it was, the first goal for Leeds was excellently taken by Tresor Kandol after good work from Beckford. Beckford and Kandol in the first half left me feeling jealous about what I wanted to see in forward play from the Reds. Tricky, pacey and always finding space with tricky runs - similarly to us though, Leeds struggled to feed them with many chances - of course, it would transpire that a limited number of chances would prove enough. Dennis Wise - not my favourite football character - does deserve some credit on this showing, his Leeds side were not the best I've seen even in League One on this showing, but they had passion and drive, and considering he built the squad on a shoestring in about three weeks, it does rather raise question marks around our expensively assembled one, over a longer time period. The second half was more about Forest. It took less than five minutes for us to level, scoring our first goal of the season. Clingan was felled around 35 yards out, Commons struck the freekick vaguely goalward, deflecting of Alan Thompson which I think makes it pretty much an own goal - meaning we've not actually scored ourselves yet this season! Perchy touched the ball wide when he should've done better - indeed, in the first half Perchy should perhaps have done better when his shot was cleared off the line too. Commons had one blocked from around 6 yards after Grant nodded down, by which point the Leeds fans were looking rather nervous as Forest were piling on the pressure. Tyson was introduced for the still-unfit-looking Agogo, but Leeds started to push forward again. Tys threw himself into a couple of challenges suggesting he's not too nervous about any injury recurrences. Tyson then created our best chance, he hared down the right and crossed for Bastians who turned and basically missed an open goal - before turning he could've set up Grant Holt quite easily. But alas, there was to be a suckerpunch for our inability to convert our chances as Carole passed Lennon, and a deflected shot headed towards the back post where the unmarked Beckford was on hand to bury the ball into the roof of the net to the delirium of the travelling Leeds fans. So whilst we were hard done by, we were very much the architects of our own downfall - but the positive second half showing made me reappraise and feel a little less negative about all things Forest. A word on the Leeds fans, the loudest we've had here in ages - I thought on the whole they were brilliant, definitely louder when winning and quieter after our equaliser, but which fans aren't? There were a minority of pondlife who chanted derogitory things about Brian Clough, but then our own morons responded with interest by chanting about Istanbul. Some of their tattooed fuckwits spent much of the game having a staring competition with some of our own morons, but aside from these minor infractions, I thought the majority of the 3,483 were a credit to themselves and the club. And so we've mustered a fairly pathetic 2 points from a possible nine - although that is the same as Manchester United I suppose. The second half performance gives me heart, as does Tyson's return - but we really must learn how to put that ball in the onion bag, but certainly the quality of football in the second half shows promising things, long may this continue. Whilst Leeds will feel rightly pleased with their tremendous start to the season, I would advise caution to their followers given our own experiences of solid starts to a league campaign here - but given the shitty time their fans have had lately, you can't really blame them for celebrating. At this rates it'll only take them about 6 more games to have more points than us! _______________________________________________ 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
