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Becchio leads fightback as Leeds beat Orient
Becchio leads fightback as Leeds beat Orient
Wednesday, 22nd Oct 2008 18:29

Leeds United 2  Leyton Orient 1

Leeds never looked totally convincing and seemed to be heading for another poor result when Orient took the lead in the 36th. minute.

But at least this time we managed to respond to going behind, and two goals in the next nine minutes were enough to secure a valuable home win. Before the game Mc.Allister had promised to bring in a few new faces following the defeat at Millwall, but on Radio Leeds after the game he claimed that all three of his changes had been enforced. Ben Parker was in at left back, as the 17 year-old White can’t be expected to keep playing two games a week, while Hughes and Rui were struggling with minor injuries. So Telfer was straight back in the side on his return from a groin strain, and it was Howson’s turn to play wide on the right in the absence of a proper winger. 

We should have been front in the first 10 minutes, when Parker hammered a cross straight at a defender, and the referee pointed straight to the spot. I thought it looked a bit harsh, as it could hardly have been intentional handball, but Beckford sportingly slipped as he was about to take the kick, and skied the ball straight over the bar into the south stand. I don’t know what sort of boots he was wearing, but he seemed to have more trouble keeping his feet than anyone else, and kept on falling over at regular intervals throughout the game. 

After that we continued to have more of the possession, but once again we were lacking width with Robinson left on the bench and we struggled to create any chances, not least because several decent moves broke down due to some woeful passing.

One decent opportunity came with a good ball hammered across the face of the goal that needed just a touch, but Beckford just failed to connect with it as he slid in. I was beginning to think it was embarrassing that we couldn’t break down a side in the bottom four of the third division, but worse was to come nine minutes before half-time. 

Morgan collected the ball on the Orient right, out-muscled Telfer with an old-fashioned shoulder-charge, and went past Parker before rolling the ball across Lucas into the far corner. The goal caused the boy in the seat in front of me to start whacking himself over the head with his empty plastic bottle, and I must say that Leeds United get to you like that sometimes. Orient could have gone further in front moments later, but Terry managed to whack his shot against the only defender in the way, and we were able to clear the danger. 

Were we on the way to another poor result? And were we going to start slipping down the table and out of contention for automatic promotion? Thankfully it took us only six minutes to get back on terms, as a break out of defence found Beckford racing down the right, and his cross was chested down by Becchio, which I thought might have been handball, but thankfully wasn’t. And I also thought that Becchio had done brilliantly to lob the ball over the keeper only a few yards from goal (it hit the bar on the way down and crossed the line) only to find out after the game that it was actually an own goal!  

But there was no doubt that Becchio really had got onto the scoresheet as we moved into first half injury time. For once Frazer delivered an excellent cross from the right, and Becchio found space in the box to send an excellent header past Morris into the net. And Leeds kept up the good work just after the interval, when Beckford had another couple of chances, one of them an acrobatic effort that hit the bar.  

We continued to press, with Howson trying his luck from distance a couple of times, but this time he was well wide, and his shooting was well below the standards he set in that play-off game at Carlisle. Beckford was unlucky once again in the 75th, minute when he turned a defender outside the box before hammering a fierce shot towards goal, only for the keeper to make a great save and turn the ball round the post.

At the other end Lucas needed treatment after a hefty challenge, but had recovered a few minutes later when he did well to get down and smother a shot to his left. Robinson finally got on the field when he replaced Kilkenny with five minutes left and he put Beckford through for one more chance, but the shot ended up in the side netting via the outside of the post, the final proof that it just wasn’t going to be Beckford’s night.

For all our dominance we could still have dropped two points right at the end when Orient managed a shot right across the face of goal, but thankfully it went wide of the far post.  Apart from that incident we played out the last few minutes quite comfortably, and at least we got the promotion challenge back on track with three points.

With a bit of luck the scoreline would have been more convincing, but this was a rather laboured performance against a poor side, especially in the first half. We’re still not playing like a side who were clear favourites for the League One title before the season began.

Photo: Action Images



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