Leeds United 0 Doncaster Rovers 1
This was a truly shocking performance from Leeds against a hard working and well organised Doncaster Rovers side, and our second home defeat of the season was well deserved. At times we were overwhelmed by their pass and move football, and we can be thankful that the final scoreline wasn’t a lot more embarrassing.
There was just one change to the starting eleven from the Crewe game, and it was a bit of a surprise, with Johnson coming in for Prutton and Hughes being moved to the right. So Hughes was employed in his third position of the season so far, but there’s no real sign of his becoming the new Paul Madeley. This change meant that we didn’t have any real width and missed Hughes’ battling qualities in the middle, while I have to say that Johnson didn’t contribute a great deal.
Right from the start Leeds were struggling against a Donny side who were up for their cup final, and for long periods were better than Leeds in every department. Once again Flo was struggling up front, winning nothing in the air, being to slow to get on the end of balls played through the middle, and failing to offer any support to Beckford. Time we went back to starting with Kandol and throwing Flo on for the last 15 minutes when the other players are a bit worn out.
After creating a couple of decent early chances, the visitors took the lead in the 22nd. minute, after Wellings was fouled outside the area. There was quite a long stoppage while Wellings received treatment, but we still didn’t find the time to build a proper wall. We had four men in total, but a big gap either side of a Doncaster player, who inevitably ducked as Stock fires the free kick came straight at him. Then it all seemed to happen in slow motion, with Casper rooted to the spot as the ball sped past him, and a delayed celebration from the Doncaster fans.
We managed to force a couple of corners after that, but didn’t carry much of a threat for the rest of the first half. Perhaps the problem was that we had too many new players coming in at the same time (a consequence of the ‘transfer window’ system) and they need a bit of time to build more of an understanding. At half time we were forced to make the first change, when Heath came on for the injured Kenton.
And nine minutes after the break, Wise made the substitution we’d all been waiting for, when Kandol replaced the struggling Flo, but it didn’t have the impact we’d been looking for. Certainly the big man got stuck in and won a few headers, but without any sort of service from the midfield there was that much he could do to turn the game around. Most of the second half was even more embarrassing than the first, and Donny could have gone on to win by two or three.
Once again Parker was playing too centrally and seemed unsure who he was supposed to be tackling or marking, leaving Donny with far too much room down their right. Casper had to make a couple of good saves to keep the score down, first from Coppenger, then from Wellings, and a couple of times they also headed narrowly wide from corners. With 18 minutes left Wise made his final change, and who was the man for the crisis? Er, Curtis Weston. I would have gone for Prutton, to give us some much-needed bite in midfield.
Leeds finally woke up with about five minutes to go, and Kandol brought a rousing cheer from the Kop with our first shot on target, even though it was fired straight at Neil Sullivan. “We’ve only had one shot” was the sarcastic chant that followed. We didn’t deserve to nick a point, but we could have done as we won a free kick close to the spot where Donny scored in the first half. But unlike Leeds they know how to build a proper wall, and Sullivan wasn’t unduly troubled by Sweeney’s shot.
As we went into injury time I got a text from a mate to say she was leaving early, and I thought it would be hilarious if she’d missed a dramatic late Leeds equaliser. But it didn’t happen, and the best we could do was a shot on the turn from Beckford that Donny managed to scramble clear.
Donny went above us with this win, and although Forest’s defeat limited the damage a little bit, we're looking less and less likely to gain automatic promotion, so the new signings had better start to gel sooner rather than later. Are you looking forward to the play-offs?
Rate the Players
Your Report