We finally woke up after an hour of this game with AFC Bournemouth, but by then it was far too late.
I’ve just got back from a very enjoyable couple of days in the deep south, spoilt only by having to watch a game of football halfway through, so here goes with the match report.
Brian McDermott had one enforced change to make after Wickham’s recall by Sunderland, so it was Noel Hunt’s turn to be a striker playing out of position on the wing. As he’s been a waste of space whenever he’s got a game in the centre this season, it was a bit optimistic to expect a contribution from him when switched to an unfamiliar role.
In the first few seconds of the game Danny Pugh did his best to give a goal away by hitting a clearance straight at Grabban, but the chance went as the Bournemouth man lost his footing. Yet it was only a temporary let-off. A minute later the AFCB Pugh (not to be confused with ours) had a shot turned round the post, and from the corner Kermorgant was able to divert a Francis drive into the net from close range.
This prompted the fans to our left to get over-excited, wanting to rub our noses in it in memory of a certain day in 1990. One of them ran towards us to gesture the 1-0 scoreline with his two hands, which was a nice touch, as the angle of the scoreboard made it a bit hard to read from our corner.
After that we seemed to be getting back into the game with a good spell of possession in the Bournemouth half, yet without creating any decent chances. But then the home side broke down their right, with our Pugh nowhere to be seen, and a cross from Francis found Grabban in the centre, and the Cherries were two in front. I was hoping to see an offside flag, but Francis may just have been in his own half when the ball was played forward, and none of our players bothered to complain.
Things could only get worse, as our lumbering defence continued to be troubled by Bournemouth’s neat passing football and their pace and movement. The third goal arrived in the 28th minute and again came from a Francis break down their right, with Grabban having time to control the ball and fire across Butland into the net while three defenders stood and watched.
By now the Leeds contingent in the crowd were thoroughly fed up and a chorus of boos greeted the third goal. And I’m sure I saw someone smoking in the front row right in front of the stewards, possibly in a desperate attempt to try to be thrown out to spare them from further punishment. While some fans were blaming the Football League for our predicament, most were turning on the players, and the mood was getting ugly, with a chant of "you’re not fit to wear the shirt”.
As indeed most of them were, but McCormack was one exception, doing a lot of work by tracking back, popping up on the right wing, and yelling at his colleagues to try and get involved, but he couldn’t play Bournemouth on his own.
Kermorgant hit the post on the half hour, but thankfully we made it to half time without further embarrassment. That had to wait until six minutes after the break, when Kermorgant was left with a free header from a Francis cross and made no mistake in scoring the fourth. And the same player was close to a hat-trick on the hour, but this time he was denied by a fine reaction save by Butland.
Just before that McDermott had made his two substitutions. With Murphy and Hunt replaced by Stewart and White. The changes injected some much-needed urgency into our performance, with Stewart enjoying a rare chance to play on his favoured right hand side, and White looking keen to impress on the left in his first appearance after his loan spell at Brammall lane.
We created one good chance as a McCormack free kick just eluded Smith and Pearce, but in the 69th. minute we finally pulled one back as our skipper got the goal his performance deserved. And it was all his own work, weaving through the Bournemouth defence before placing the ball beyond Camp’s reach from the edge of the box.
By now the mood in the Leeds section had completely changed and we started roaring the team on in the face of adversity, with some fans taking their shirts off for a ‘champions of Europe chant’. And someone let off a smoke canister, with the smoke being the off-yellow colour of our normal away strip, so perhaps the perpetrator was disappointed we were playing in white.
We kept coming forward and forced a several corners, but wasted them by putting them too close to Camp, who always looked commanding in the air. And we still looked vulnerable at the back, with Butland twice saving from Rantie when the home substitute was through on goal. On the second occasion our keeper was sparing his own blushes as it was his poor kick that had led to the opportunity in the first place.
Butland had one more save to make right at the end to prevent a Bournemouth fifth, but the final scoreline was bad enough. There are only four teams in the division who have conceded more goals than Leeds, so perhaps Brian McDermott needs a defensive coach who knows how to organise a back four, if we can find the money to pay the wages.
Performances like this are a poor way to treat our loyal travelling fans, who were in good voice yet again last night, but at least we can be thankful that Millwall also lost, so even if we went into administration we’d still be five points clear of the drop with a better goal difference. With only nine games to play that might just be enough.