Pubs in town were buzzing again before the game , lots of singing and everyone
still on a high from Tuesday night.
In pre match discussion we tried to work out what team we would put out - all
expected Tres & Becks to be recalled, but would Westlake's heroics keep him on
the bench or ever better ? Would Hughes, at times on Tuesday a fish out of
water stay at left back or would Clapham get the nod ? Would Dennis grasp the
nettle and make Thommo pay for such a poor performance on Tuesday ? Would De
Costa get on the bench ? What would he do with the 2 on loan strikers ?
So for a change lots of decisions to be made
In the event Clapham was restored to usual back 5, Kandol & Becks were both
back, Hughes back in midfield with Prutton, Douglas and Carole -so no place for
Thommo at all and even more surprisingly the 'injured' Flo was on the bench
alongside De Costa and De Vries got the nod instead of Andrews.
I have reported so much on pre match because the game itself was a huge
disappointment. The game never got going and the crowd was the quietest it has
been all season. Up front our much vaunted and so far excellent pairing were
subdued beyond belief and at times Kandol was the Kandol of last season - yes
he was that bad.
Yoevil surrendered midfield possession and territory to us and we did not
have a clue what to do with it - at times the back four were giving it to the
midfield begging them to do something with the ball but the midfield kept
giving it back to them. with the end result a hopeful hoof from Heath or Casper
to our lethargic strikers - not good.
Although it was obvious they had come for a nil nil Yoevil did catch us out
on a couple of occasions - once when the ball was hit straight at Casper,
another time he pulled off a good save and then finally with 10 mins to go
their totally unmarked forward missed an open goal. At the other end we did
pretty much nothing.
Then just as the game was petering out we realised that this is Leeds United
2007 managed by Dennis Wise and not Leeds United 2005-6 under Blackwell
Wise brought on Flo and De Vries and just as we were debating which of the
strikers was coming off or would it be both as a straight swap - the board came
up for Prutton and Carole - we were going with 4 big men up front - and f**k me
it worked !!
First a cross was met by Kandol and their keeper pulled off his first good
save of the game , then with minutes remaining Douglas crossed into the crowded
box and De Vries put it in - another last minute winner !! Forget the Scousers
of the 80s or Scum of the 90s this team are the last minute specialists !! Cue
delirium all round with fans and players going mental. OK they had one more
good chance in the 4 mins of time added on because of their time wasting but
the lads header went past the post.
Are you lucky if they miss sitters \ have shots cleared off the line \ hit
the post \ keeper pulls off a great save or is it good defending \ poor
attacking ? That seems to be the story of our season so far - I am at present
going with the "you make your own luck" theory.
Dennis has a team that runs and fights till it drops and that knows it is not
over till the final whistle goes. Added to that the fact that he himself is
willing to gamble for a win , throwing on extra forwards means we will always
be a danger in the closing stages.
So all in all not a great game but yet again another great ending
We are Leeds !!!
Dave
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6 in a bloody row!
