LUFC - Marching on Together to the Top

CHAMPIONSHIP – BARNSLEY VS LEEDS

GK: Lonergan
DR: Parnaby
DC: O’Brien
DC: Kisnorbo
DL: Parker

DMC: Arismendi (Thomas, 61)
MC: Howson
MC: Clayton

AMR: Snodgrass (inj, 90)
AML: White (Sam, 70)
ST: Keogh (Becchio, 86)

Leeds never beat Barnsley. Any Leeds fans out there, you all know it. It’s true. They never, ever win against Barnsley. Until now. We didn’t start well, with Andy O’Brien missing an interception and letting Goran Lovre score a free header. The match had been pretty even, with chances for both teams, but we got an equalizer in the 38th minute when Barnsley scored and unlucky own goal. Still, I wasn’t complaining, especially when we took the lead near the hour mark through Paddy Kisnorbo after Jonny Howson swept a free-kick over from the right. Both teams were still creating chances, but neither took them, and we managed the victory in the end. Final Score 1-2 Man of the Match – Kisnorbo, 7.5

INJURY UPDATE

Robert Snodgrass out for six weeks to two months. This is rubbish because he had been on brilliant form this season, scoring and creating goals for fun.

Ross McCormack has resumed full training.

CHAMPIONSHIP – NOTTINGHAM VS LEEDS

GK: Lonergan
DR: Parnaby
DC: O’Brien
DC: Kisnorbo
DL: White

DMC: Thomas
MC: Howson
MC: Clayton (Arismendi, 84)

AMR: Sam
AML: McCormack (van der Gun, 71)
ST: Becchio

This game was arguably my toughest so far as Forest were flying in the league. Before the game I would have taken an away point here and in the end I got one, with McCormack setting us up for three on a quick counter attack, but David Blackstock equalized for Forest in the 48th minute. The game could have gone either way and a draw was probably a fair result. Final Score 1-1 Man of the Match – Blackstock, 7.5 (Forest)

CHAMPIONSHIP – LEEDS VS BRISTOL

GK: Lonergan
DR: Parnaby (Lees)
DC: O’Brien
DC: Kisnorbo
DL: White

DMC: Thomas
MC: Arismendi
MC: Clayton (Clayton, 69)

AMR: Sam
AML: McCormack (van der Gun, 77)
ST: Keogh

Bristol are another team that were doing well, they were second in the league but I was confident that we could see them off at Elland Road. We got off to a flyer, with Hendry Thomas fumbling the ball into the net after a scrappy corner. We were much the better team, but we could not get the second goal, and van der Gun missed one absolute sitter, which Lonergan probably could have scored. Then on the 83rd minute, Bristol equalized, and I had consigned myself to an unlucky draw when Jonny Howson got to a bad clearance by the Bristol defence and powered it into the top corner from the edge of the box! I was ecstatic. Final Score 2-1 Man of the Match – Jamie McCallister, 7.7 (Bristol)

CHAMPIONSHIP – LEEDS VS BRISTOL

GK: Lonergan
DR: Parnaby (Lees)
DC: O’Brien
DC: Kisnorbo
DL: White

DMC: Thomas
MC: Arismendi
MC: Clayton (Clayton, 69)

AMR: Sam
AML: McCormack (van der Gun, 77)
ST: Keogh

Bristol are another team that were doing well, they were second in the league but I was confident that we could see them off at Elland Road. We got off to a flyer, with Hendry Thomas fumbling the ball into the net after a scrappy corner. We were much the better team, but we could not get the second goal, and van der Gun missed one absolute sitter, which Lonergan probably could have scored. Then on the 83rd minute, Bristol equalized, and I had consigned myself to an unlucky draw when Jonny Howson got to a bad clearance by the Bristol defence and powered it into the top corner from the edge of the box! I was ecstatic. Final Score 2-1 Man of the Match – Jamie McCallister, 7.7 (Bristol)

CHAMPIONSHIP – DONCASTER VS LEEDS

GK: Lonergan
DR: Parnaby (Lees, 59)
DC: O’Brien
DC: Kisnorbo
DL: Parker

DMC: Arismendi (Clayton, 86)
MC: Thomas
MC: Howson

AMR: Sam
AML: McCormack (van der Gun, 70)
ST: Becchio

Doncaster hadn’t been doing that well recently so this game was definitely winnable, but we never really turned up today. After this match, I have finally given up on Becchio. Since he got back from injury he has been terrible, and it’s frustrating because I know he is a great player, but he has not been performing and he was awful today. Anyway, after a terrible first half, we got the lead when Lloyd Sam struck it from close range to the near post. We still weren’t playing well, but just when it looked like we would hold on Billy Sharp rose above our defence to head home an equalizer for Donny. But I can’t say that they didn’t deserve it. Final Score 1-1 Man of the Match – Lonergan, 7.4

CHAMPIONSHIP – LEEDS VS PORTSMOUTH

GK: Lonergan
DR: Parnaby (Lees, 43)
DC: O’Brien
DC: Kisnorbo
DL: Parker

DMC: Thomas
MC: Arismendi
MC: Clayton (Howson, 85)

AMR: Sam
AML: McCormack (White, 65)
ST: Keogh

It was a good, gritty performance by the lads today. On the 18th minute, Andy Keogh fired us into the lead with a bullet shot from outside the area into the bottom corner. The game was then pretty even as both teams created chances but could not finish them with goals, until in the final minutes following a Pompey corner Hendry Thomas sprinted down the right wing on the counter and passed easily to the unmarked Andy Keogh who placed in his 18th of the season. Final Score 2-0 Man of the Match – Keogh, 8.8

INJURY UPDATE

Stuart Parnaby is out for 5-7 days.
Darren O’Dea is out for about 3 months.

CHAMPIONSHIP – LEICESTER VS LEEDS

GK: Lonergan
DR: Connolly
DC: O’Brien
DC: Kisnorbo
DL: Parker

DMC: Thomas
MC: Arismendi
MC: Clayton (Howson, 67)

AMR: Sam
AML: McCormack (White, 77)
ST: Keogh

We didn’t play well today. Keogh was probably the only player who made a decent account of himself this game, and it was him who gave us a lucky lead in the 28th minute after Leicester had been the better team for the first half an hour, but hadn’t been able to score. But with fifteen minutes to go it looked like we were going to win, before Jamie Mackie scored a scrappy goal on the 77th minute. I would have taken a point then, but it wasn’t to be as Paul Connolly missed a header to allow Darius Vassell to score a good finish. It was disappointing to lose the lead so late in the game, but credit to Leicester as they deserved the three points. Final Score 2-1 Man of the Match – Jamie Mackie, 7.5

RANDOM UPDATE

We have drawn Chelsea away at Stamford Bridge in the FA Cup third round. Hopefully we can cause an upset!

This looks promising. Shame about McCormack but at least Keogh is doing well. Good luck!

#48569 joshleedsfan : This looks promising. Shame about McCormack but at least Keogh is doing well. Good luck!

Cheers mate. Yeah, Keogh has been amazing but i will have to wangle 500k out of the chairman to bring him permanently, as his loan runs out at the end of the month. not sure if i will be able to though....

CHAMPIONSHIP – LEEDS VS CRYSTAL PALACE

GK: Lonergan
DR: Parnaby
DC: Kisnorbo
DC: Lees
DL: Parker

MR: Sam
MC: Howson
MC: Clayton (Arismendi, 82)
ML: White

ST: Becchio
ST: Keogh (McCormack, 74)

I decided to shake things up a bit today, as I felt that some players were coasting a bit recently without really putting in much effort, and also because we were terrible last game. Another reason is that even though I said that I had given up on him, I still want to find the best way to play Becchio. I was just in a grumpy mood when I said that… Anyway, my tinkering worked. We attacked fluently and could easily have scored more than we did, if not for the heroics of Julian Speroni in the Palace goal. As it was, we took the lead through the head of youngster Tom Lees, (who had come into the side after O’Brien has been on bad form recently), which was his first goal of the season. We then dominated the rest of the game, walking through the Palace defence like it wasn’t there, but try as we might we couldn’t get that second goal to consolidate the victory. I was worried that we might let the game slip from our grasp but then on the 60th minute season underperformer Luciano Becchio scored a screamer which rocketed past the keeper from a narrow angle. Ben Parker then headed in his first goal ever for the club seven minutes later, but the ref decided to disallow it, even though there was nothing wrong whatsoever with the goal. This match has to go down as a comfortable victory for us, although it would have been nice to score a few more. Final Score 2-0 Man of the Match – Lees, 8.5

CHAMPIONSHIP – PETEBORUOGH VS LEEDS

GK: Lonergan
DR: Parnaby
DC: Kisnorbo
DC: Lees
DL: Parker

MR: Sam (Snodgrass, 70)
MC: Howson
MC: Clayton
ML: White

ST: Becchio
ST: Keogh (McCormack, 67)

Peterborough had been performing above expectations in the league this season, and in an away game it was never going to be easy. But even though we only drew, we could so easily have taken all three points from this match. We got off to a flyer when Adam Clayton latched onto Becchio’s pull back to send the keeper the wrong way and score after just one minute. We built up our two goal lead when Peterborough keeper Joe Lewis spilled the ball and Lloyd Sam was able to tap into the empty net. Straight after that though, George Boyd halved our advantage with a low shot across Lonergan, but substitute McCormack gave us three in from just inside the area soon after that. That should have been game over, but Peterborough would not be beaten and scored again on the 72nd minute through midfielder Lee Tomlin. Even so we still could have won but a poorly defended corner on our part allowed Ryan Bennett to send the hosts away with a draw on the 83rd minute. Final Score 3-3 Man of the Match – White, 8.4

CHAMPIONSHIP – IPSWICH VS LEEDS

GK: Lonergan
DR: Parnaby
DC: O’Brien
DC: Lees
DL: Parker

MR: Sam (Keogh, 75)
MC: Arismendi
MC: Howson (Clayton, 88)
ML: White (Snodgrass, 61)

ST: Becchio
ST: McCormack

This was a tough, gritty game today, and Ipswich put up a real fight but we got 3 points in the end. We got the lead in the 17th minute through Luciano Becchio, who is revelling in this new 4 4 2 formation, but instantly after half time Ipswich equalized through Daryl Murphy. Becchio continued his good form by scoring his second of the game in the 68th minute, but this match really wiped the players out which is worrying because our next game is in just two days! Still, a win is a win, and I can’t argue with the result. Final Score 2-1 Man of the Match – Becchio, 8.8

CHAMPIONSHIP – LEEDS VS DERBY

GK: Lonergan
DR: Connolly
DC: O’Brien
DC: Lees
DL: Parker

MR: Snodgrass
MC: Clayton (Howson, 63)
MC: Thomas
ML: White (van der Gun, 63)

ST: Becchio (McCormack, 77)
ST: Hitchcock

Some players really were too tired to play today, which is why summer signing Tom Hitchcock got his debut this game, and gave in a solid performance. However this match was boring. Nothing really happened until the 88th minute when Hitchcock had the chance to send us give us a win, but fired his volley straight at the keeper. Apart from that, a bore draw reflected the way the match went. This is the first time in ages since we have failed to score in a game, but fortunately we now have 5 days rest before we travel to London to play Chelsea in the FA Cup third round.Final Score 0-0 Man of the Match – Tom Lees, 7.5