Without doubt this was our best performance of the season so far, and the late introduction of Somma finally gave Leeds the edge against a stubborn Millwall side.
Simon Grayson kept the starting line-up from the Forest game, but thankfully decided to change his 4-5-1 formation and give Becchio a break from having to play the lone striker’s role. This time Watt pushed forward at every opportunity to give the Argentinian a bit of support up front. And Watt had a couple of chances in the first ten minutes as Leeds made a great start to the game, only for the visitors to take the lead against the run of play, thanks to the sort of poor defending that has blighted our season so far.
Bessone made a complete hash of controlling a routine ball down the left and could only whack it straight against Morrisson, and the ball fell kindly for the Millwall player to lob a cross into the area. And in the middle Naylor managed to climb above Lisbey, but could only head the ball backwards past Schmeichel into the corner of the net.
But once again Leeds recovered from an early setback, and responded by putting the Millwall defence under severe pressure for the rest of the half. Becchio should have scored when Howson’s shot came back to him, but could only put it over the bar, then Howson’s footwork took him through a crowd of four Millwall defenders and his shot came back off the post.
Finally the equaliser came in the 32nd minute, when Watt’s ball from the left was touched on by Becchio, leaving Sam to fire past Forde from the edge of the area. And still the chances kept coming, with a dangerous cross from Kilkenny just eluding Becchio and Collins. But after the break it looked like Kenny Jackett had taken the opportunity to get his team a bit more organised, and the balance of play started to look a lot more even.
Schmeichel was forced into a couple of decent saves, but at the other end Forde had to react quickly when Becchio was put through on goal. Leeds needed a little bit extra up front if we were going to force a win, so with 15 minutes to go Grayson finally gave Somma his chance, with Bessone the man to make way while Johnson dropped to left back.
And it took only three minutes for Somma to put Leeds in front, when Forde came off his line for a cross from Sam, only for Becchio to get his head to the ball first. The keeper was still out of position when Watt played the ball back across the area, and Somma was on hand to hammer the ball between two defenders and into the net.
As Leeds tried to make the game safe we hit the woodwork for the second time in the game, when Sam met a decent cross from Watt, only for his header to come back off the post. At the other end Schmeichel made a fine save from a deflected shot, and as the game moved into injury time Grayson decided to shore things up at the back, introducing Hughes at the expense of Sam.
But we finally sealed the points in the fourth minute of stoppage time. With Millwall committed to pushing forward in search of an equaliser, Somma was put through on goal by an excellent ball from Howson, and he made no mistake in hammering a left-foot shot past Forde from the edge of the area.
So after a tentative start in the first couple of league games it looks as though this team is starting to ‘gel’, and things can only improve with a couple of players yet to come back from injury and suspension. Perhaps we can make a challenge for promotion this season after all.