Having got to Nottingham by 12 despite the heavy traffic on the M1 it then took an hour to get across town and find the ground, consequently my record of missing the kick-off at every away game that I travel to with Niggy was maintained. So 15 minutes late, settling in to game on a beautiful sunny day in the Midlands and Beckford from the inside right lays the ball into Kandol on the edge of the box who fires across goal and in off the far post. Perfect timing.
>From then on the first half was keenly contested. If anything Leeds had the >slight ascendency - a couple of very good chances somehow kept out by a >combination of last ditch defending and good reflexes from the keeper. >Meanwhile the home team's attacking efforts were not negligable. Both teams >forced several corners and free kicks around the box; on the whole Forest >looked to have a better idea of how to play football, looking for space, >spreading wide to the wings. It was their play in the box that let them down, >frequently allowing Marques, Heath, Douglas or Richardson to get a foot in. The battle for this game was all about the midfield and its there that we have a very mixed bag of talents and problems. Carole played the first 70 minutes on the left, his "wrong" side, but all credit to him, he got stuck in, made some decent challenges and interceptions and overall was one of our better players. Prutton & Douglas charged around, sometimes effectively breaking play up, sometimes getting recklessly close to bookings with persistently late, heavy challenges. There were times yesterday when Thompson looked uninterested, wandering around pointing a lot doing his best Sean Gregan impression and he clearly hasn't learned from Southend last week he is still determined to try and turn his man while 25 yards from our goal just so that he get the ball onto his left foot, rather than lay it off simply or hoof the bloody thing - when it works it looks great, when it doesn't he causes us immense problems. On days like this when his free kicks were all woeful he is a luxury we can't afford. He was unlucky to deflect the equaliser past Caspar but then again it looked he was either to slow or too unfit to get a proper contact on the swinging cross. It was no surprise that he got subbed. The bigger surprise was that when DW made his now customary change from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 by bringing Flo on for a midfield player it wasn't Thompson who came off but Prutton, not that Prutton had done much to shout about - there was some fairly standard chasing and harrying and some stupid fouls, little else. By notionally going to 3 in midfield more weight was landed on Thompson's shoulders and to be honest it only set us further back against a Forest team looking increasingly like getting their first win. The problem with this substitution tactic of DW's is that it works OK if we are pushing forward but if we are on the back foot, like yesterday, then Flo drops into midfield where he is simply lost. If he's not fit enough to play up front for even a half, he's certainly not fit enough to play midfield. For most of the second half Forest battered the Leeds penalty area, a couple of times missing what looked like open goals. This second half really showed the problems of carrying a player or two in midfield - we had no way out of our last third; of having a lump like Heath a centre half - which admittedly most teams in this league will do - and of having a shaky debutant at left back. I wasn't convinced by Clapham's commitment or positional sense at all on yesterday's showing. Made me wonder why Parker wasn't playing. The only good thing about bringing Flo on is that it is always followed by switching Carole to the right - he suddenly looks a different player out there. And what do you know, it paid off again - at the game it looked like he beat 3 or 4 very half hearted players in slow motion on the edge of their box before crossing to the back post where a completely unmarked Beckford thumped joyously into the roof of the net from 4 yards in front of 3500 delirious Leeds fans. On TV this morning I have to admit that Carole's "cross" looks more like a badly executed weak shot that ended up at Beckford's feet. Daylight robbery this. On the performance would have very happily settled for a point. ANKERGREN - solid keeping - dodgy kicking - but encouragingly looked for the fast throw out to players (usually Beckford or Richardson) peeling away in to space... RICHARDSON - becoming steadily more assured - some good forward runs CLAPHAM - didn't recognise the Lback at first - wasn't convinced by him - seems reasonable on the ball but tucks too far inside leaving acres for their wide man MARQUES - best defender, again - some great covering and tackling - as someone has said "poor man's Lucas" HEATH - a big physical presence with almost no footballing brain - similar to the Eddystone lighthouse PRUTTON & DOUGLAS - are almost interchangeable - the team needs players of their ilk (watercarriers if you will) if we are to indulge Thompson - the team does not need the rash of stupid cheaply conceded free kicks that Douglas in particular was guilty of giving away THOMPSON - a very poor un-captainlike performance - without any deadball magic I defy anyone to come up with what good qualities he brings to the team CAROLE - on the other hand was tireless and even if the contribution to winner was slightly fortunate he had earned it KANDOL - very well taken goal - constant threat - a real handful and headache for Forest all afternoon - he has learned to bring the ball down, control it, hold it up - becoming a first team fixture BECKFORD - the running, the hassling and finally the winner - he and Kandol are linking up and playing as well together as any other forward pairing in this league. They will miss sitters because 3rd division strikers do that but they will also score a fair share each this season. His booking for the challenge on the keeper was preposterous. Subs FLO - given 20/25 minutes and did nothing. Didn't see him win a header. Not convinced as to his fitness at all. It is something when your memory of the former international striker is his helping out his right back with a badly advised sliding tackle. I do think he has a role I'm just not sure that DW knows what it is yet. HOWSON - came on for the fading Thompson - didn't do much beyond throwing in lots of good tackles PARKER - came on at the death as a time wasting exercise by DW The crowd - we came, we saw, we made a hell of a noise - great stuff Referee was diabolical. _______________________________________________ the Leeds List is an unmoderated mailing list and the list administrators accept no liability for the personal views and opinions of contributors. 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