Clarets looking for another Elland Road win

The winner was scored by Liam Miller, on loan from Manchester United, and he is the only addition to the squad since our last meeting. The former Celtic midfielder has failed to establish himself at Old Trafford and has linked up with Leeds for a short term loan and this was his second appearance.

It was their second win against Southampton since we last met and they have also played the top two and drawn both games, two very good results. Their only league defeat though was at Crewe, the one game you would have expected them to win, when a Paul Butler own goal was enough to give the home side all three points.

Disappointingly, the one game we would have liked to have seen Leeds win over these few weeks was their Carling Cup tie at Blackburn. They were beaten 3-0 with all three goals coming in the last half hour.

Click HERE to see all Leeds’ results this season.

Leeds went fourth after that Turf Moor win, the Clarets were down in 18^th place. They are still in the same position now but that eight point lead they had over the Clarets has all but gone and they are just two points and two places ahead of us.

It’s going to be a tough game against a side still considered very much promotion candidates, but we do know how to win at Elland Road.

The biggest decision Kevin Blackwell will have to make ahead of tonight’s game is whether to start with David Healy after his dramatic appearance as a substitute on Saturday. Healy is not fully fit, the reason for his numerous appearances from the bench, but if Blackwell does decide to start with him tonight it will be at the expense of Robbie Blake in what should otherwise be an unchanged team.

Gylfi Einarsson is definitely out of the running with a shoulder injury and their 15 goals a season striker Ian Moore is still struggling with a groin injury. Both Sean Gregan and Rui Marques were ruled out with illness at Southampton and neither are likely to figure.

Leeds are expected to line up: Neil Sullivan, Gary Kelly, Paul Butler, Matthew Kilgallon, Dan Harding, Frazer Richardson, Shaun Derry, Liam Miller, Eddie Lewis, Rob Hulse, Robbie Blake (or David Healy). Subs: Ian Bennett, Danny Pugh, Simon Walton, Jonathan Douglas, David Healy (or Robbie Blake).

Click HERE to see the full Leeds squad.

Shaun Derry has today claimed to be too professional to take retribution against Micah Hyde and will allow his football to do his talking. It might well be worth pointing out to Derry that Graham Branch is still ruled out of the side following an injury he sustained in a challenge by Derry some five and a half weeks ago.

Branch is ruled out tonight as are long term injury victims Danny Coyne and Wayne Thomas, but otherwise Steve Cotterill has a stronger squad than usual to select from with both Brian Jensen and Frank Sinclair back from suspension and added to the sixteen on duty for Saturday’s win against Leicester.

It is difficult to imagine just what the starting line up will be. If Steve decides to bring Jensen back into the starting line up then Lee Grant will go onto the bench whilst the player most at risk should Sinclair return is Keith Lowe. However, both Grant and Lowe had good games on Saturday.

I’m not even going to second guess this so we will line up something like: Lee Grant (or Brian Jensen), Michael Duff, Keith Lowe (or Frank Sinclair), John McGreal, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott, John Spicer, Micah Hyde, James O’Connor, Garreth O’Connor, Ade Akinbiyi. Subs from: Brian Jensen (or Lee Grant), Duane Courtney, Frank Sinclair (or Keith Lowe), Chris McCann, Danny Karbassiyoon, Nathan Dyer, Gifton Noel-Williams.

Richard Duffy - scored the winner

It is not much more than a year ago when we last visited Elland Road for what was our first visit in some 23 years. We went there with what can only be described as a depleted team with Danny Coyne, Richard Chaplow, Graham Branch, Ian Moore and Jean-Louis Valois all ruled out.

We somehow just about managed to get a team out with right back Richard Duffy on the left hand side of midfield, right back Lee Roche on the right hand side of midfield whilst the bench was made up of the three youngsters, coach Mark Yates and two bob trialist Amadou Sanokho.

To make matters worse, as the stewards were asking the Burnley fans to sit down, we went behind to a Jermaine Wright goal after just eleven seconds. Confidence was low in the stands before that goal, coming on the back of the disastrous 3-0 reverse at QPR four days earlier.

What happened after that was one of those inspirational nights when being a Claret is something very special indeed. It would have been so easy to let the heads drop but we didn’t let it happen and those two full backs out of position turned the game on its head with a goal each.

The Burnley fans, once they got over the shock of that goal, turned in one of their finest performances. When Lee Roche closed down the keeper as he tried to deal with a back pass, he was able to pick up the ball as Sullivan tried to clear and turn it into an empty net from close range.

That was 1-1 with 10 minutes gone and things were to get better some 20 minutes later. Michael Duff crossed, James O’Connor got in a superb header, and Sullivan could only parry to Richard Duffy who turned it in from close range. Three sides of Elland Road went quiet, the away end was ecstatic.

It was 2-1 to the Clarets at half time and we expected a tough second half. We had an escape when Joachim hit the bar but for much of that second period we were comfortable and when real chances were created it was the Clarets, but Robbie Blake for once missed a couple of good opportunities.

This was no lucky win for our scratch team, it was deserved, we outplayed them. It would be nice to go and do it again.

The teams were,

Leeds: Neil Sullivan, Gary Kelly, Clarke Carlisle (Aaron Lennon 67), Paul Butler, Matthew Kilgallon, Jermaine Wright, Sean Gregan, Danny Pugh (Simon Johnson 76), Julian Joachim, Brian Deane (Michael Ricketts 57), David Healy. Subs not used: Scott Carson, Simon Walton.

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff, Frank Sinclair, John McGreal (Amadou Sanokho 80), Mo Camara, Lee Roche, Micah Hyde, Tony Grant, James O’Connor, Richard Duffy (Matt O’Neill 86), Robbie Blake. Subs not used: Paul Scott, Joel Pilkington, Mark Yates.

Previous 20 Seasons
Season	Div	Ven	Result	Att	Scorers
2004/05	C	a	2-1	27,490	Roche Duffy
.	.	h	0-1	17,789	.
2005/06	C	h	1-2	16,174	G O'Connor(pen)

Click HERE to see all our results against Leeds.