Leeds falter with draw to Leyton

By: j | April 7th, 2009

Visions of winning automatic promotion came to a crashing end for the Whites as played Leyton to a disappointing 2-2 draw, with the host side fighting back with two late unanswered goals. Whilst the notion of straight berth to the Championship was reserved for only the most ardent of supporters, Leeds must now turn its course and set sail for the next tier via promotion.

Never to disappoint by supplying information prior to the match, United manager Simon Grayson failed to mention that new man Sam Sodje and striker extraordinaire Jermaine Beckford would both be out of the starting eleven with mild injuries. With both taking the evening off Rui Marques entered the back-line and Liam Dickinson joined Luciano Becchio.

Leeds thundered off to a hearty start. Billowing with confidence and visions of the return to glory the Whites tallied the first goal of the day as Robert Snodgrass, via Fabian Delph’s provision, slotted the ball into the back of the net. Up by one Leeds continued to attack with capable vision but something was amiss, a clink in the chain rusty and were unable to add to the margin as the match went to the break. Still showing to the be aggressor of the two, Leeds were keeping Leyton on their heels but were failing with the final touch. Just before the hour, Luciano Becchio’s goal bound strike was handled by Leyont’s Jason Demetriou, resulting in the spot being pointed to. With the young Cypriot’s day now concluded, Robert Snodgrass stepped up and plunked the ball giving Leeds the lead. With thirty minutes to goal and a man advantage, the road to victory was in-front of Simon Grayson’s side but sadly it was a road they did not go down.

In a haunting final half hour of play, Leeds exhibited careless defending and complete inability to kill a match off. Defensive tactics, tempo of play were all off given they were clearly in the drivers seat. Six minutes after the young Scot’s goal, Sean Thornton drew one back for Leyton with a free-kick just a smidgen outside of the area. Leeds scoured to restore their two goal advantage and after a few close-calls, the hosts completed their stunning comeback as Wales U21 Simon Church poached on a close range rebound to square the match. The match concluded without further incident in route to a disappointing 2-2 final and once again raised suspecting eyebrows to the tactical plan employed by Leeds.