The new year started for us in the same way the old one ended in defeat. Blackburn recorded a double over us and although there was some bizarre refereeing from Anthony Taylor and his assistants we can have few complaints over the outcome.

Brian McDermott handed returning starts to Sam Byram and Alex Mowatt, Lee Peltier and Michael Brown were relegated to the bench which once again didnt include El Hadji Diouf, the latest reason for Diouf's absence is he is caring for his sick mother-in-law however with the player being quoted talking about a return to RC Lens it seems we have seen the last of our Senegalese international.

Paddy Kenny was passed fit after a late test, but it soon emerged that our keeper was not fully fit as Marius Zaliukas, fresh from signing a contract extension earned part of his pay-rise by taking Kenny's dead ball kicks.

McDermott had demanded his players should be "up and at em" early doors, but other than a Rudy Austin shot that went well wide on the first minute, there was little to excite the majority of Leeds fans amongst the 30145 crowd. Indeed Leeds fell behind when one-time Thorp Arch academy player Tom Cairney on loan from Hull, rejected by us for being "too small" set up Jordan Rhodes to beat the offside trap and the former Huddersfield man slotted the ball past Kenny after just 13 minutes. Rhodes clearly enjoyed his moment as he taunted the Kop with his gleeful celebrations.

Lee Williamson and DJ Campbell both went close, the latter roundly booed by the home fans and branded a "cheat" following his alledged involvement in betting irregularities. Tom Lees somehow squirming Campbell's goal bound shot off the line. However Leeds failed to heed a warning on 36 minutes when Hanley popped up in the six yard box to head a free header which was deflected wide. Cairney delivered the perfect corner for Rudy Gestede to power home Rover's second.

The home fans booed off the team at half-time and who could blame them? It was by far our worse performance of the season so far and it should have really been 0-3 at least. McDernott responded by throwing on Gboly Ariyibi for his first taste of Elland Road action. The 18-year-old looked pacey enough but it shows in some respects how meagre McDermott's resources given that Ariyibi, a trialist rejected by Southampton has already made the first team after a couple of weeks with us and still only 18!

However on 53 minutes, we halved the deficit when Byram forced another former Leeds academy reject Tommy Spurr into an error from McDermott's pass, last season's player of the year managed to wriggle the ball free into the path of the advancing Matt Smith who side footed his eighth of the season.

However it looked unlikely we would make a comeback akin to the one against Watford in our last but one home game. We could point to Ross McCormack clean through but felled by Lee Williamson, who conveniently went down injured. We could point to referee Anthony Taylor and his linesman missing the most obvious corner which came off an outstretched Blackburn leg. Alex Mowatt hit the crossbar, as did Jordan Rhodes at the other end. Michael Brown came on with two minutes remaining and you've guessed it, picked up his customary yellow card.

So not a great start to the new year and the need for new recruits made even more pressing, it is clear McDermott has very little faith in his current squad given his "prickly" reaction to Neil Warnock's "icing on the cake" comments at the weekend. Once again, a sticky Christmas and New Year period threatens to define our entire season, however on the plus side although we drop to eighth we are still just a point off the play-offs. Another factor appears to be that unlike January transfer-windows past, the headlines seem likely to be about players arriving rather than leaving.

Photo: Action Images via Reuters