Pass me the sickbag whilst we read about the "fledgling Fergie fightback".

Leeds 4 Preston 6, need I say more?

4-1 up, f**ked it up and yet again our defensive frailities woefully exposed for all to see! If anyone thought we had turned the corner having silenced Doncaster and Sheffield United it was a case of back to the drawing board now having flopped to lowly Preston.

Unchanged from Saturday's win bar a couple of switches on the bench, Leeds were down after 4 minutes thanks to Jon Parkin's early opener, however we stormed to the false-dawn of a 4-1 lead with goals from Becchio (14), Bruce (20) and a couple of wonderful strikes from Davide Somma on 27 and 39. However Parkin, so often our scourge when he was at Hull grabbed his second on 40 minutes.

Going in at half-time 4-2 at home, you would have thought Leeds would be in a comfortable position to hold on and claim another victory rather than slump to our second home league defeat of the season.

The uncomfortable truth is there for all to see, we have no ball-winner in midfield. Simon Grayson has splurged on an almost O'Leary like fetish for forwards but carelessly has omitted a no frills, tough-tackingly midfielder. Sorry I have ignored Amdy Faye! Unbelievably so did Grayson! Despite naming the Senegal man on his bench and our midfield being cut to shreds almost every time Preston came forward, Grayson's response was to replace Lloyd Sam with Neil Kilkenny!

Tracey and Davidson managed to level by 57 minutes. Parkin then got his hat-trick - initially the man they called "Beast" got some stick from the Leeds crowd but left to a standing ovation - should we expect a bid from Simon in January ala Billy Paynter? Ian Hume, formerly of Barnsley completed the second thrashing we have had in a fortnight and on the subject of gifting small, dull towns their monumental moment of glory - surely the DVD will be in the Preston club shop by early-doors on Wednesday morning.

Photo: Action Images

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