Marco Silvestre went from zero to hero in nine mad Elland Road minutes, the Italian keeper was guilty of a howler which allowed Ipswich to equalise before he pulled off a magnificent penalty save to deny Town a share of the spoils. In between, Billy Sharp who may well have joined a growing legion of Leeds old-boys in Suffolk grabbed what was a dramatic late winner.
Whilst the stadium was just over half full, I was surprised to see Ipswich bring a fair few more fans north than I anticipated for a midweek game, but then again with the scent of promotion or the play-offs in their nostrils is bound to boost the turn-out. Although Leeds have a reputation for making promotion hopefuls look like prima-donnas, Watford triumphed here at the weekend and stung by an Old Farm derby loss I didn't really fancy our chances against the Tractor Boys.
Town's Yorkshire born boss Mick McCarthy seems to be collecting a band of former Leeds players who barely set the world alight in LS11. He's added Noel Hunt, Paddy Kenny, Cameron Stewart and the much-reviled Luke Varney to his squad. Varney earned the wrath of the Leeds following with comments made after he moved to Blackburn around one-year ago stating he was happy to have left the Elland Road chaos behind, he further blotted his copybook with an alleged dive for Blackburn in our controversial 2-1 defeat at Ewood Park last November. Since then, he's headed to Suffolk on loan and if rumours are to be believed, the Elland Road exile count may well have swollen to six with Rudy Austin and Billy Sharp also apparently on McCarthy's radar.
Varney was denied a satisfying Elland Road return when his headed goal was ruled out by the linesmans flag after just four minutes, three minutes later Sharp should have done much better when his shot from Lewis Cook's perfectly delivered centre cannoned off Tommy Smith.
There wasn't much else to write home about in the first-half. Even though we were missing the presence of Rudy Austin, I thought our midfield looked much tighter than in recent weeks and although Ipswich do not have the panache of Watford, they are a direct physical side but our middle and back lines looked strong.
The game finally crackled into life on 71 minutes when Town left-back Ming bundled Byram down on the edge of the box. It was Alex Mowatt territory, just over two-weeks ago he'd scored from a similar angle against Millwall and he stepped up once again, the referee making an artistic arch with his spray around the ball for the Leeda youngster to squeeze the ball home between the post and Bialkowski's grasp.
However six minutes later, disaster struck when one of Town's subs Freddie Sears banged home the equaliser just three minutes after coming on. The former West Ham players soft shot squirmed under the body of Silvestre and the visitors were level.
However three minutes later, Leeda restored the lead, out of favour Mirco Antenucci, on as sub controlled the ball in midfield who sprayed it out wide right to Lewis Cook who delivered another inch perfect cross for Billy Sharp who turned and placed a sweet volley past Bialkowski.
There was further drama on 83 minutes when Sol Bamba was adjudged to have handled in the area following pressure from Sears, however top-scorer Daryl Murphy surprisingly starting the game as a sub saw his spot kick pushed onto the post by redeemed keeper Silvestre. Despite four minutes added time, Leeds comfortably held on for a win which leaves us 13 points off the drop-zone.
Having put the skids on high-flying teams such as Middlesbrough, Bournemouth, Derby and now Ipswich, I feel it is time we started living up to our tag as the nations anti-hero's and dished out vengeance on stragglers such as Wigan where we head to on Saturday. However one crumb of comfort for Ipswich fans making their way home is that Wigan pulled off a shock win at hated-rivals Norwich. However I'm confident that we will be too strong for the Latics on this showing, despite Billy Sharp sustaining a knock he is expected to be available at the DW Stadium.