Yeovil Town 0 Leeds United 1
Leeds won this game with a fourth minute goal from Freedman, and secured at least a place in the play-offs. Though of course, if we get the right result from the arbitraton panel next week, things could be so much better…
Beckford was still out with his ankle problem, and Leeds made only one change, with Douglas coming back from suspension to replace Prutton in central midfield. Leeds took only four minutes to take the lead, after Richardson’s cross from the right just eluded Freedman, but found it’s way to Johnson at the far post. When he tried to lob the keeper from five yards it came back off the bar, but Freedman was on hand to knock it over the line.
The goal was celebrated all round the ground, as there were pockets of Leeds fans in all the home stands, but nothing too serious went off. Somebody told me this was because Yeovil had sold tickets for the whole season through Ticketmaster, before realising their mistake, and selling tickets for this game through their ticket office only.
Leeds kept up the pressure and controlled the game for the next half hour, with further chances for Freedman and Douglas, while Johnson went close with a free kick. It wasn’t until the 27th. minute that Yeovil created a decent chance of their own, when Casper saved will fromWilliams and the Yeovil man put the rebound wide of the post. At the other end Elding could have put Leeds further in front, but Mildenhall tipped his shot over the bar.
Yeovil showed a bit more life in the second half, and a free kick fell to Berry, whose shot was deflected wide. But at this stage Leeds were coping quite well, and produced further efforts of our own. Elding was denied by an offside flag and Johnson went close with a fine shot from 30 yards. This all changed in the 65th. minute with Sheehan’s sending off, and the remaining ten men had to cope with some serious pressure for the rest of the game.
Sheehan mis-controlled the ball and then went in two footed on a Yeovil player. It wasn’t that hard a challenge and his victim managed to stay on his feet with no harm done, but the reaction of the Yeovil players led to a 20 man brawl and the red card. Perhaps we should send Yeovil a few Norman Hunter videos, to show them what proper dangerous tackling actually looks like.
Macca decided to shore things up by replacing Elding and sending Hughes on to play at left back. Lubo was then caught by a nasty challenge as he advanced accross the halfway line, but the ref declined the opportunity to even the numbers in the interests of consistency, giving the Yeovil player only a yellow card. This obviously infuriated Lubo, who took the free kick himself, and hammered in a shot from 35 yards that only just cleared the bar.
The tension grew during the closing stages, as Douglas had to head a corner off the line, and Casper made a brilliant save from Downes as he pushed the ball round the post. But apart from these scares the defence cope with everything Yeovil could throw at them, and there were huge celebrations at the end as Leeds ensured that at the very least we would end the season in the play-offs. Now we have to hope for a decent result on May 1st…