Bragging rights in Leeds

For me the game means a lot. For starters I live in Leeds, so the bragging rights are certainly there to be contested (I still have flashbacks to the mother of all hangovers that I had after our 2-1 win at Elland Road 2 seasons ago!), and with the close proximity of the two clubs, a good away following to contribute to the games atmosphere is something to look forward to.

However, I think the primary reason I find this fixture so intriguing, and I know some will disagree, is that I still perceive Leeds United as a massive club. It's certainly a case of how the mighty have fallen at Elland Road; the side who reached the semi final stages of the Champion's League a little over 5 years ago now languish towards the foot of the Championship, but the clubs history, reputation, facilities, and potential fan base in the fastest growing city in the UK, will always mean that their prime objective will be to return to the big time sooner rather than later.

Of course there are another two factors that made this fixture even more fascinating for the clarets fans; namely Ian Moore and Robbie Blake. The two former 1 million pound claret signings were always favourites at Turf Moor (admittedly the crowds adoration for Moore did wane a little in his final season), Blake for his all round flair and return of 42 goals in 120 games, and Moore for his all round effort rather than his return of 37 goals in 192 appearances. Both received warm applause from the clarets fans prior to kick off, and arrived in good form with 6 league goals between them (Blake 5, Moore 1, nothing changes……) with both having started in the 2-1 away win at Plymouth Argyle on Saturday. Little Dennis Wise made just one change from the weekend with Ugo Ehiogu coming in for Matthew Kilgallon.

The clarets were of course desperate to stop a run of 3 defeats against what have to be described as three of the favourites for the Championship title. Despite a massive effort from the clarets in all three games (not including the sloppy 5 minutes at West Brom!), they only had a solitary Chris McCann goal to show for their toils, and were tonight looking to turn their fortunes round. There were three changes to the clarets side that lost to Birmingham; Elliott came in for McCann, a fit again John McGreal came in for Foster, but the first big cheer of the night was when Brian Jensen's replacement Danny Coyne, also fresh from the physio's table, was announced to the crowd.

Mr Dowd blew his whistle and the clarets intentions were quickly clear as they immediately pressurised the Leeds back four. Despite this it was Coyne who was the first keeper called on to make a save, but he was quick to clear his lines after Westlake looked to latch onto a through ball into the Burnley area.

The clarets first sniff of goal came after 12 minutes, Noel-Williams forced Ehiogu into conceding a corner and the resulting ball into the box saw Gifton himself head wide from a very tight angle. The clarets continued to try to turn the screw and excellent wing play from both Elliott and Jones saw several balls sprayed into the Leeds area, but all were dealt with comfortably by the two centre halves.

Mr Dowd was kept busy and several free kicks were given away by Gray for holding on to his marker's shirt. He'll always plead his innocence but this happens several times in almost every game, and it is frustrating as the free kick awarded often brings an end to what could have been a promising attack. He didn't produce a card though until the 20th minute as a turn of pace from Jones saw Hayden Foxe bring him crashing to the ground, clumsy rather than malicious but worthy of a booking.

Graham Stack in the Leeds goal was called into action for the first time in the 25th minute. A free kick was awarded on the edge of the Leeds area, Harley rolled the ball to the waiting O'Connor who unleashed a stinging low drive, but Stack looked comfortable as he parried it away to his right. The following 10 minutes were scrappy to say the least; Hyde and O'Connor were guilty of hesitancy in the midfield on a couple of occasions, and lost the ball in positions which on another day could have proved costly. However, this was interspersed with two sublime pieces of skill from Steve Jones, who in every game we play seems to be turning into a bigger and bigger thorn in the opposition's side.

On 31 minutes he turned his marker, cut inside and unleashed a swerving shot with the outside of his foot from 20 yards, which fizzed past Stacks left hand post. Then on 39 minutes he latched onto a lovely ball form Noel-Williams, cut inside once again and hammered the ball from the edge of the box, this time it was on target but Stack did well to tip over for a corner kick. The resulting corner also set the Leeds fans hearts fluttering, Elliott's cross was met powerfully by the impressive McGreal whose header was blocked by Derry, had Derry not blocked it could easily have been 1-0.

A Leeds attack on 42 minutes ended with Westlake crashing to the floor around the edge of the penalty area, a big appeal for a penalty / free kick / anything that was going, was met with a yellow card for Westlake's unassisted acrobatics. Enough time remained in the half for Stack to get down to his right to comfortably smother a Jon Harley free kick, but despite Burnley's efforts and possession, half time oranges and energy drinks were taken with the scores deadlocked.

In depth half time analysis then occurred on the concourse of the Jimmy Mac upper where my mate Antony summed up our thoughts and the general consensus with “We've done alright, we just need to be more clinical” (I promised him a quote!).

Straight from the kick off Leeds went on the attack; Blake took possession, fed Lewis down the left whose cross was met acrobatically by the very quiet Ian Moore. His overhead effort was more likely to break his own nose than threaten the Burnley goal. A minute later and it was up the other end, Thomas put a huge throw into the Leeds area (I never knew he had a throw like that in his locker!) and Gifton's flick was palmed away by Stack who had to react quickly.

The 51st minute was to be the turning point of the game. The ball fell to Gray in the centre circle whose attempt to avoid the sliding Hayden Foxe saw him dispossessed. Unfortunately for Foxe it was his arm that took the ball away from Gray's feet and he was almost half way up the tunnel when Dowd produced his second yellow, followed by the red. I can't say whether the handball was deliberate or not, but if Gray had retained the ball he would have found himself in a very threatening position, so I don't think Mr Dowd had a great deal of choice.

The dismissal signalled immediate activity on the Leeds bench as Blake was jeered off the pitch by the increasingly partisan Burnley crowd and replaced by Tresor Kandol. Burnley predictably laid siege to the Leeds goal, trying to take advantage of the extra man. 5 minutes after Foxe's dismissal Elliott thumped a cross over from the left, Stack punched clear but it was met by the head of Thomas who from 18 yards watched his effort land on the roof of the net. A claret went into the book for the first time on 59 minutes, Micah Hyde the culprit as he brought down the fresh legged Kandol from behind (If I was a Leeds fan I might have been a little disappointed that an advantage wasn't played as the foul resulted in the ball falling to Westlake in plenty of space down the right wing but Mr Dowd pulled play back).

Hyde then left the action three minutes later to be replaced by McCann. Thomas again showed his newly discovered attacking side by hitting an absolute thunderbolt of a shot from 25 yards which Stack did extremely well to hold onto at the first attempt. Finally on 67 minutes, the pressure paid off. The highly impressive Jones skipped down the left, he slammed the ball in low from the line, the ball was only partially cleared to the advancing Noel-Williams who thundered his right footed drive past several defenders and the unsighted keeper to give the clarets a more than deserved lead.

The jubilant clarets supporters had only just sat down when the lead was increased. Jones was again the man with the assist, he cut inside to find Gray with his back to goal on the edge of the area, and he did superbly to turn and audaciously roll the ball left footed past the despairing Stack's right arm. Cue delirium!!

Again the on pitch events saw movement on the Leeds bench and both Lewis, who had been given no change whatsoever by Thomas at right back for the entire game, and Moore were replaced by Healy and Horsfield, effectively replacing the entire of Leeds United's starting front line. Elliott received a standing ovation from the clarets as he too was replaced in the 85th minute, Mahon taking his place.

Of course Leeds now had nothing to lose and piled men forward. Healy broke down the left and as Harley moved in to intercept he rifled the ball at goal, it took a wicked deflection off Harley's shin and left Coyne, who had hardly been called on during the game, with no chance. 2-1 and we knew we were in for a nervous final few minutes.

The clarets made their third and final substitution in the 87th minute. This time it was enforced, Gray went down in the Leeds box and limped off with Lafferty replacing him. At the time of writing I don't have any information on whether this injury is serious or not, but with the size of the Burnley squad I feel Gray is the last player we would wish to lose for any length of time through injury.

On 90 minutes Jones broke again, again he cut inside and fired in a shot but it was straight at Stack. I'd have loved to have seen Jones score to cap his superb performance, but on this occasion he perhaps should have laid it off to Lafferty who was in acres of space. It wasn't over though and deep into stoppage time the whites won a free kick on the edge of the Burnley box. The kick was lined up, claret minds spun back to our last couple of league meetings with Leeds when free kicks had broken our hearts and the majority of fans were probably just thankful that Blake wasn't still on the pitch, however minds were soon put at rest, the free kick was driven into the 10 man wall and seconds later Mr Dowd brought it all to an end.

In summary this was an enjoyable game, the clarets were deserved winners and all in all I thought Mr Dowd put in a good performance, although if my allegiances lay with Leeds I might feel slightly differently. My man of the match was Steve Jones by a country mile, although there wasn't a poor performance on the pitch. O'Connor was again superb, Duff was cool, calm and calculated (anyone else notice that he gets better as his hair gets longer?!) and Elliott had a great game. I must mention Wayne Thomas as personally I thought he put in his best performance this season, the usually effective Eddie Lewis was quite simply put out of the game by him.

So another three points and the ‘rot' has been stopped. Time will tell if we'll still be in the same league position come April, but for the moment I'm just going to continue enjoying this season. I really hope that the Gray injury isn't too serious as with most other clarets, the size of our squad does worry me, especially in the forward positions.

“Going down, going down” sung the clarets to the Leeds fans at full time. Personally I wouldn't want this to happen, for one I don't think I'd like to spend next summer counselling all my depressed mates, but on tonight's showing Messrs Wise and Poyet have some serious work to do, or else it just might happen.