Leeds United 1 - 1 Birmingham City

For a lot of us this week, it was back to work, back to normality, which is always depressing to be fair, so for me, Saturday couldn't come quick enough.

News came through on Thursday that some of the squad & Neil Warnock had come down with a virus that is currently going around the training camp. Mick Jones came in to manage the team in place of Warnock for the FA Cup 3rd Round tie at Elland Road against Birmingham City.

As expected, there were quite a few changes to the squad, Jamie Ashdown started in favour of Paddy Kenny, Lees, Drury, Hall, Brown and White were also handed starts.

The team came out to a very quiet Elland Road, there was pretty much nobody around me which felt strange.

On the 13th minute, we were awarded a free kick after Curtis Davies fouled Luciano Becchio. Ross McCormack took the free kick and sent a great ball into the area, Jason Pearce got his head on the ball but was eventually denied by the post.

Norris also had a chance to open the scoring on the 19th minute but Birmingham keeper, Doyle made a brilliant save. Ryan Hall took the subsequent corner but Doyle managed to catch it.

The game hadn't been entertaining so far as such, but it had been slightly better than Bolton with us having the better of the chances, however we were letting Birmingham into the game and on the 30th minute, Gomis missed just left of the goal.
Two minutes later Wade Elliot managed to score a fantastic goal from outside the area for Birmingham, right into the top corner, Ashdown had very little chance of getting to it.

Just before half time, Ross McCormack missed just to the left of the target to try and even the score.

The ref brought the half to an end.

Sam Byram and El-Hadji Diouf were both brought on after half time, in place of Ryan Hall and Aiden White.
Apparently Warnock called Mick Jones at half time and told him to make these changes.

Luciano Becchio had a great chance to equalise on the 48th minute but he hit the ball straight at the keeper, this had been our best chance all game.

Birmingham began to pile on some pressure and had plenty of chances to double their lead but on the 60th minute it was Luciano Becchio who got himself into a great position inside the area to score his 19th of the season in all competitions.

Shortly after the goal, Luciano Becchio and Will Packwood both got up to try and win the ball, Packwood landed funny on his leg and went down, play stopped immediately. You could tell by the players reactions, it was serious, Becchio especially was visibly upset. Mitch Hancox came on and replaced Packwood as the medical staff stretchered him away. Both sets of fans and players applauded the young American off.

Alan Tate made way for Davide Somma on the 79th minute as we were trying to get a winner but in fairness, in the latter end of the game, the chances were all Birmingham's.

Chris Foy brought the game to a close and it ended all square, one a piece.

The replay will be played at St Andrews on Tuesday 15th January and should we win, we will play Tottenham Hotspur at Elland Road on the 26th/27th January.

Another un-entertaining game to be honest, but, like I said, not as bad as Bolton. Our games are won and lost in midfield and half the time, we might as well not have one. Defending wise we allow teams too much space giving them too much time on the ball.

Same goes for creative midfield, we can get into some good positions, but then we stop, instead of going forward we just stand still, giving defenders a chance to get back and making us too predictable, and then we get closed down or pushed back and the ball goes back to the keeper. Very frustrating.

Happy that Becchio added a goal to his many others this season, really hoping we can keep hold of him, I sometimes don't know where we'd be without him.

We play Barnsley at Oakwell next which is never a happy hunting ground so lets hope we can see a good performance by our lads and bring home 3 points :-)

MOT xx <3 xx

Leeds United 1 - 0 Bolton Wanderers

Happy New Year everyone!! Hope you had a brilliant time over Christmas and New Year (apart from the results), but here it is, 2013, we were really hoping we could kick start the year with 3 points, and to forget just how bad performances had been in previous games.

There looked to be a few sore heads inside a freezing cold Elland Road prior to kick off, I wasn’t one of those though, so I was able to laugh at the people that were hungover and cheer on the boys.

Warnock had again made changes to the side that lost at the KC Stadium bringing back, Diouf, Peltier, Austin and the clubs' top scorer, Luciano Becchio.

A foul on Luciano Becchio just outside the area was ignored by the referee on the first minute of play and the Argentine was involved in the games first effort on goal four minutes later though his shot was well over the bar.

A defensive error by Alan Tate on the 19th minute gave Bolton an opportunity to attack. Chris Eagles' effort from inside the area just clipping the post.

The rest of the half was very scrappy and uneventful and neither side had any kind of control over the game.
Frustratingly for us though Bolton looked beatable, we had to come out of the tunnel and make sure we didn't have one of those crazy 10 minute spells we'd seen in the previous two games.

The game didn't change much though in the second half but we were going forward a little more, Ross McCormack had a penalty shout turned down on the 58th minute.

Ross McCormack was brought down in the area on the 65th minute though by Tyrone Mears and the referee, Gibbs, was in no doubt this time and pointed straight to the spot.

Step forward Luciano Becchio who sent Bogdan the wrong way, scoring his 18th goal of the season so far.

That definitely made the game more watchable but we now had a lead to defend.
Rodolph Austin had an ambitious shot on goal from outside the area on the 69th minute, it was well over the bar though, never troubling Bogdan.

Becchio almost got his second minutes later after a corner came into the box from Diouf, Luciano's header though was too high, but at least we were having some better chances!!

The referee brought an end to, what wasn't a pretty match by anyone's standards, but an important 3 points all the same.

It was announced officially today that we have extended Alan Tate's loan for another month from his parent club, Swansea.
Jerome Thomas announced on his Twitter, he'd gone back to West Brom after his loan spell came to an end, he thanked fans for their support and said he'd enjoyed his time here.

Obviously there are a lot of rumours flying around at the moment but I'm one of the boring ones who will wait until it is official to believe it, we do need additions to the squad though, but as everyone knows, January is a difficult time to do business and according to Warnock, we've already missed out on a couple of players, it's still only the 2nd of January though!!

We currently sit in 8th position in the League, two points off the Play Offs.
3 points was what I really wanted to kick start 2013, lets hope for a successful year for us and make a real go of it for the second half of the season.

MOT xx <3 xx

Hull City 2 - 0 Leeds United

Another early start for another early kick off, as I looked out of my window, I saw how 'lovely' the weather was, gale force winds and pouring it down, at this point, normal people would probably get back into bed and stay inside....Not us, we're Leeds aren't we, a bit of rain won't stop us....Now, how many layers can I put on and still be able to zip my jacket up....

The Police escort guided our coach into the car park at the KC Stadium and all of a sudden, a Policeman on a bike gave us a cheeky Leeds salute, we all laughed and saluted back, singing 'town full of Leeds fans'.

Inside the ground, we were all waiting for team news and when it did come through, we found Warnock had dramatically changed the starting 11 from the side that lost against Forest on Boxing Day. Pearce, White and Norris were all back in the squad, and most surprisingly, Somma and McCormack started upfront in favour of Diouf and Becchio.

It was Hull who had the first chance when Robert Koren saw his shot go wide of the goal in the third minute. We could have been in real trouble on the 6th minute however when Jason Pearce looked to drag down Stephen Myler in the area, from where we were stood, it looked like it should have been given, however the ref didn't have a clear view and waved the claims away.

Play was pretty even in the first half an hour of the game, both sides having some decent chances on goal but Hull did look the team most likely to score.

Aiden White tackled Elmohamady shortly after the 30 minute mark and the referee, Eltringham stopped play immediately. Ahmed Elmohamady was rolling around on the floor and the home fans were shouting for White to be sent off. After receiving treatment for a good 3 minutes and limping up and down the sideline, he suddenly came back onto the pitch and collected the ball, no limp, no pain, no injury. White on the other hand had been given a yellow card, Elmohamady should have received an Oscar. From then on, he was the match villain and got some abuse from the away fans.
The incident had livened the atmosphere, but Hull still looked the better side.

Half time came and both sides went in 0 - 0. Improvement was needed, Somma didn't look in the game and we were average at best. The positives were though, that we hadn't conceded.
Neil Warnock made a change at half time, taking off Somma and bringing on Luke Varney....At this point we had absolutely no idea why Luciano Becchio wasn't playing and we were all puzzled as to why Varney had been brought on in favour of him.

51st minute and Hull were running at us with pace and purpose, our defenders were struggling and inevitably, Corry Evans got the first goal of the game.
It was key now to change the squad, maybe bring someone off of the bench and push forward for an equaliser, but the Tigers' second goal came in quick succession.
Robbie Brady took a corner and David Meyler headed past Paddy Kenny on the 55th minute.
This was Forest all over again.

We all looked longingly at the bench for some kind of movement, for someone to come on and turn the game around, there was still plenty of time to play and stranger things have happened than us coming back from 2 - 0 down. Eventually, Warnock did make a change....One that puzzled us all, he brought on Rodolph Austin for David Norris, who, in my opinion had been one of our better players!!

From then on, it was like the whole team had conceded to the fact we'd already lost. We were flat and never looked a threat. Hull however were still pushing and had it not been for some fantastic saves by Paddy Kenny, we'd have been more than 2 - 0 down when the whistle blew for full time.

I haven't walked away from a match so disappointed with a team performance like that in a very long time. No fan likes to see their team defeated, however, we all know it's a part of football, but to witness the way in which we were defeated yesterday, I think that's what has angered a lot of people. The game isn't over until the final whistle, and in my opinion you NEVER give up be the deficit one goal or five goals, but that's just exactly what it looked like we did!!

It turns out Becchio and Diouf weren't 100% fit and Warnock didn't want to risk them, but they should be back for our next game against Bolton at Elland Road on Tuesday. Big improvement needed!!

We didn't end 2012 on a high, results wise but here's to hoping 2013 is a better year for us :o)

All the best to all of my readers & thank you for all your support this year :o)

MOT xx <3 xx

Nottingham Forest 4 - 2 Leeds United

Boxing Day is usually a day for recovery and long lie ins after all the drama of Christmas Day, not for us though as Leeds United were away at Nottingham Forest. For me it involved getting up at 7am to get ready for the early kick off.

As we arrived at the City Ground, team news began to filter through and we were surprised to hear that Rodolph Austin was back in the starting 11 after being injured since early November.
Warnock made two other changes to the lineup bringing in Michael Brown and Adam Drury to replace Michael Tonge who had returned to Stoke City after his loan spell at Leeds United had come to an end last week and Lee Peltier who was injured.

It had been a great couple of weeks and we were all in good spirits as the game began. Paul Green gave us more of a reason to smile when he scored from close range on the 12th minute of play.

Forest almost found theirselves an equaliser on the 28th minute. Michael Brown fouled Guedioura and Andy Reid took the free kick. Elliott Ward had a shot on target and Paddy Kenny sprung into action to make a fantastic save.

As Forest were pushing for equaliser in the latter end of the first half, there were two very good penalty shouts turned down by referee Lee Probert within minutes of each other. One of them an apparent handball and the other a tug inside the area. The home fans were really getting on the refs back, and I think he began to realise he had made a mistake. We now had to be careful, we had the feeling that even the smallest of challenges made inside the box would be given as a penalty, regardless of wether it was or not.

On the 42nd minute of play a penalty was eventually awarded to Nottingham Forest for a foul on Billy Sharp by Tom Lees. It was soft but we could hardly complain after what had happened earlier.
Billy Sharp stepped up to take the penalty and sent Paddy Kenny the wrong way to make the score one a piece.

The half time whistle blew and both sides headed back to their dressing rooms.

I was disappointed we'd let them score just before half time, I felt they were going to come out all guns blazing, and sure enough they did.

53 minutes in and Billy Sharp scored his second from inside the penalty area and he here began our seven minute demise. On the 56th minute came an own goal scored by Rodolph Austin, Followed by another goal on the 60th minute by Dexter Blackstock.

We had completely caved in and our defending was lacklustre. We had now left ourselves a mountain to climb and it seemed impossible to find a way back into the game.

Neil Warnock changed the team around, bringing on Davide Somma for El-Hadji Diouf. Minutes later Warnock changed the side again, taking Rodolph Austin off for Jason Pearce.

Nottingham were having all of the possession and chances, We were dispossessed of the ball whenever we managed to get it, which wasn't very often.

Striker Ross McCormack replaced Sam Byram on the 78th minute as Warnock tried everything to reduce the 3 goal deficit.

Some good work by Ross McCormack on the 89th minute saw him pass to Somma who scored what was only to be a consolation goal from inside the area. However, if he'd have put away the chance he had on the 91st minute, it might have been an interesting end to the game, but it wasn't to be and the game was brought to a close by Probert.

A disappointing result and a disappointing game by all accounts with very little positives to take out of the loss, happy for Davide though, to see him back scoring is brilliant and inspiring after he's struggled for so long to get back to full fitness.

We must learn from this loss and not dwell on it especially at this time of year when the schedule is as busy as it is.

The most potentially worrying thing for me at the moment though is Warnock trying to tie down Tonge, Thomas and Tate to permanent contracts with the club. They have been distinctly average and should we be looking at climbing the table and getting into the Play Offs, I think we need to look again. Save the money we'd spend signing them up and spend it on better players.

We lack pace, someone who can break from midfield and get the ball into the strikers or fast winger to tear teams apart. A creative and a defensive midfielder for me is important.
We very much need to strengthen defence too, some of the defending was absolutely terrible and wouldn't have stopped a League Two side scoring goals let alone a Championship side.

Like I said, plenty to build on. We need to pick ourselves up for another away game on Saturday at the KC Stadium. Hull are currently sitting 2nd at the top of the table. It'll be a very tough game, here's to hoping we can get 3 points.

MOT xx <3 xx