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Beckford strike takes Leeds to Victory
Beckford strike takes Leeds to Victory
Sunday, 26th Apr 2009 21:10

Hartlepool United 0  Leeds United 1

It was a tight and scrappy game at Hartlepool, but we had that extra bit of class and won it with yet another fine goal from Jemaine Beckford.

 

Simon Grayson had promised to field a strong team and he was true to his word, with the only change to the starting eleven saw Johnson coming in and Snodgrass sitting the game out to rest his injured ankle. The game started at a lively pace, and Leeds had an early chance when Beckford met a cross from Becchio, but Skarz kept out his shot with a goal-line clearance.

 

After ten minutes play was stopped after some trouble in the home stands spilled over onto the pitch. The bother was started by the locals picking on a few Leeds fans who were only in there because they couldn’t get tickets in the Leeds section. One of the Leeds fans tried to seek sanctuary in the Leeds end, but unfortunately he was arrested later after being identified by the police. We can but hope that if we have to go to Hartlepool again they will give us a bigger allocation to reduce the number of Leeds fans who need to get ‘home’ tickets.

 

When play resarted Casper had to be alert to deny Nardiello with one of his trademark saves when left one-on-one with an opposing forward. Hartlepool did of course need the points rather more than we did, and their desperation showed with a crude foul on Beckford that earned Collins a booking. Johnson sent the resulting free kick against the post, and shortly afterwards Sodje also hit the woodwork from a corner.

 

The pace of the game began to drop as half-time approached, though after the break Hartlepool carried on where they had left off, and Jones was next to go into the book for a foul on Parker. Liddle then shot wide when he should have done better, and Hartlepool were left to regret that miss when Leeds took the lead just before the hour mark.

 

Douglas tackled back to win the ball and then slipped it to Kilkenny, who fed Parker out on the left. His ball into the box found Beckford with his back to goal, but he turned to fire past Budtz into the far corner. The goal prompted Hartlepool to show a bit more urgency, but they didn’t manage to cause our defence a great deal of concern, apart from one effort from Sweeney that Casper dealt with fairly comfortably.

 

Grayson made some late substitutions, and Dickinson managed a better performance than his efforts so far, including one cross for Becchio that almost produced the killer second goal, but the Argentinean sent his shot wide of the post. Despite that miss, Leeds managed to hold on for the win that leaves Hartlepool still short of the point they need to be absolutely sure of League One survival.

 

For our part, MK Dons’ surprise defeat means that we still have a chance of finishing the season in third place, which in theory gives us an easier play-off semi-final against the sixth place team. Much depends on the result MK Dons in their game in hand at Northampton on Tuesday night, but I’d rather face Tranmere and Scunthorpe, while Milwall and MK Dons slug it out with each other, so here’s hoping…

   

Photo: Action Images



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