The scoreline flattered Leeds a little, as Rovers had plenty of possession, but three well taken goals from the deadly duo up front were enough to decide this game.
Leeds made one change for this game, with Douglas available again after missing last week’s game through international duty, but Thompson failed to recover from his groin injury in time. Leeds made a bright start, and Kandol had already had a shot cleared off the line by the time Beckford put us in front in the ninth minute.
Clapham took a short throw in out on the left and Carole whipped a superb cross across the face of goal. Beckford waved his leg high in the air when it might have been easier to go for it with his head, but he got the touch he needed to divert the ball past Phillips. The Leeds end went wild, but the stewards reacted in time to stop a mini pitch invasion as a couple of fat lads tried to get to Beckford to congratulate him in person.
Prutton had a shot deflected wide shortly afterwards, but then Rovers started to put us under a bit of pressure as they went for the equaliser. But our defenders all worked hard to keep them at bay, and the only real chances Rovers created were a header from Disley that was just wide, and an effort from Lambert when he blocked a clearance from Hughes, but could only deflect the ball over the bar.
It was more of the same after the interval, though Rovers started to look more determined and we needed Douglas to clear one effort off the line, and then Disley managed to get clear of the defence, but nobody managed to get the touch his cross needed as it fizzed across the face of goal. But Rovers started to run out of steam and Carole and Heath had a couple of efforts that went just wide.
And as our superior fitness began to tell, our strike pair were enjoying more and more space up front, so it was no surprise when we doubled the lead in the 79th. minute. Prutton chased a long ball down the right and caught it before it went out of play, then put in a near-post cross that the defence could only scramble as far as Kandol on the six yard line. The big man made no mistake and buried the ball in the back of the net, then celebrated by sprinting back into his own half and performing a somersault in front of the Leeds bench, while the fans greeted the goal with “We’re not bottom anymore”, “We’re going up as Champions” and “F*** off to the football league”.
But Rovers hadn’t quite given up, and although Westlake came on for Carole to shore things up a bit and preserve the lead, they were still able to force Casper to dive full stretch to his left to make a fine save from Leeds fan Haldane.
However, Leeds had saved the best till last, and Beckford sealed the win with an excellent goal in the 90th. minute. Kandol crossed the ball to the edge of the area from way over on the right, and though Beckford had his back to goal he knocked the ball up in the air and hammered it into the corner with an overhead kick. The keeper could have got to the shot if he hadn’t just stood rooted to the spot, but he was probably caught by surprise as you don’t expect players to try something like that in this division.
This win lifted us out of the relegation positions for one night only, and whisper it softly, we’re now only six points of the play-offs. Onwards and upwards!