It was yet another disappointing away performance as Leeds went down rather tamely to Millwall. Away from Elland Road we’ve now lost three of the last four, and this result confirmed that we can stop dreaming of automatic promotion. Afterwards Simon Grayson had to admit that once again our defending had been sub-standard.
It was a lovely day in south London, but as usual the local pond life were out in force. We don’t mind a bit of a hostile atmosphere (after all, we can dish it out ourselves) but there were more than a few of the home fans trying to wind us up about the events in Turkey eleven years ago.
There was one enforced change for Grayson to make, as an injury to Mc.Cartney meant that Connolly was back in the side for his first game for quite a while, and Lichaj moved across to have a go at playing left back. And the manager also decided to stiffen up the midfield by giving Livermore his full debut in place of Bannan, while Kilkenny was also left on the bench.
This should have helped to protect the defence in this difficult away fixture, but it also meant that we lacked a bit of creativity going forward. With the rivalry the two clubs have built up over the last few years it was inevitable that the opening stages would prove to be rather scrappy, and the two physios saw more action than either of the goalkeepers.
But Millwall got the break they needed with a dubious free kick in the 24th minute. Henry took full advantage with an excellent chip over the wall and into the top corner, with Schmeichel failing to keep it out although he got his fingertips to the ball. And things got worse six minutes later as some of our trademark slack defending allowed Millwall to double their lead.
As corner was swung into the area Trotter was given plenty of space to hook the ball over the line, before treating us to a remarkably irritating goal celebration. It’s a good south London name, Trotter. These setbacks finally woke Leeds up, and Becchio had a shot blocked after good work by Gradel, and Johnson was close with another effort.
At half time Grayson thought he needed a bit more fire power to get back into the game, so he introduced Somma in place of the disappointing Snodgrass, and the South African was involved in the move that brought Leeds back into the game six minutes after the break. Lichaj’s ball into the box was flicked on by Somma, and Becchio tapped it over the line.
As Leeds continued to go forward Forde made a good save from Gradel, but inevitably we were leaving ourselves more exposed at the back, and Millwall restored their two goal advantage with a counter-attack in the 62nd minute. Henry’s shot bounced off Bromby and Morrison was first to the loose ball, cleverly flicking it over Schmeichel with the outside of his foot, and Connolly couldn’t quite catch up with it before it crossed the line.
Grayson continued to gamble by throwing more attack-minded players onto the field. First Bannan replaced Connolly with Johnson dropping to full-back, then Mc.Cormack came on as a third striker, in place of Livermore. But it was the hosts who were still producing the best chances, with Schmeichel having to make a smart save from a Henry free kick and Harris heading only just wide.
At the other end Somma headed over from a Bannan free kick, and when we did finally pull a goal back it was way too late. A long throw from Lichaj was flicked on and bundled over the line by O’Brien, but that was in the fifth minute of injury time, and that was just about the last action of the game.
We remain for points above seventh place, but that was due to the two teams immediately below us playing each other on the day. We’ve still got work to do if we are to get even a place in the play-offs, and we’re going to have to defend a little bit better than this.