Why do we have such an abysmal record playing in Wales? Leeds were second best for most of today’s game against Swansea City, apart from a short spell either side of half time.

Simon Grayson had one enforced change to make thanks to the suspension of Bradley Johnson, and he chose to bring Davide Somma in as an extra striker and play 4-4-2. I was pleased to see the South African getting a rare start, but there’s not a lot he can do if his colleagues can’t get the ball up to him, and for long periods we found ourselves completely over-run in midfield. In the first few minutes Dobbie had a shot deflected onto the post, but that was only a temporary let-off, as Swansea took the lead in the 13^th minute.

A long ball down the field from De Vries was played on to Sinclair, and he beat two men on his way into the box before finding Moore. Moore’s backheel put Sinclair through against Schmeichel, and he made no mistake in curling the ball into the far corner. There was a half-hearted appeal for offside, but Mc.Cartney had been a yard behind the rest of the defence playing Sinclair onside.

And the chances kept coming for the Swans, with Dyer being denied by a Bruce interception and then a save from Schmeichel. Our chances of getting back into the game weren’t being helped by Premiership official Phil Dowd, who was trying to prove the recent theory that “we only get shit refs”. He infuriated the Leeds players and also the bench for booking Bruce for a tackle when he clearly won the ball, but saved his worst decision for just before half time.

Snodgrass cut in from the right to unleash one of his trademark left foot shots, only to find it blocked by Tate’s arm, after the Swansea man had leant down towards the ball. To rub salt into the wound, Kilkenny was booked for complaining to the linesman, who would have had a very good view of the incident. But at least Leeds had woken up and were enjoying our best spell of the game, with Somma having a header tipped over the bar by De Vries.

We also came out for the second half in a determined mood, but our revival was stopped in it’s tracks in the 54^th minute when Dowd finally did point to the spot, but that was of course to award a penalty to Swansea. It came when Gradel chased Dyer back towards our area and brought him down with a clumsy challenge, with the only doubt being whether the foul actually happened within the box. Sinclair made no mistake in sending the kick past Schmeichel into the bottom right corner of the net.

We could have pulled one back shortly afterwards when a long ball put Somma through behind the Swansea defence, but the ball didn’t really come down for him, and DeVries was able to tip his shot over the bar without too much difficulty. At least Somma was getting into positions where he might get chances, and it was the anonymous Becchio who was substituted when Grayson made his first change, with Watt coming on in his place.

Swansea went close to a third goal when Gower got a free kick over the wall and Schmeichel had to scramble across to turn the ball round the post. But in the 72^nd minute they put the game beyond our reach with the third goal, with a move that took them the length of the field before Moore slotted the ball into the corner of the net.

With 15 minutes left, Grayson used his other two subs, with Mc.Cartney being replaced by Parker before he could collect a second yellow card, and Paynter coming on for the tiring Snodgrass as a second striker. He did have his moments in the time that remained with a couple of shots blocked, but the game was over as contest by now.

That didn’t stop the travelling Leeds fans singing their hearts out in the closing stages, giving great support as ever despite the disappointing result. This game now leaves us eight points behind the Swans, which is a big gap to close for automatic promotion with only twelve games to play. But the next four games are all against teams in the lower half of the table, so we’ve got plenty of opportunity to break our winless run and secure our place in the top six.

MOT!

Photo: Action Images

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