I have to say that I think Leeds are the poorest team we have played this season. Other recent opponents at THE Withdean, Sheffield United and Cardiff, have looked good teams, passing the ball about and making us look second best.
On Saturday Leeds looked dire all round. Up front they are very poor, only veteran Dean was any threat and he should have scored a header late on.
I was waiting down by the disabled section as I had a ticket for a mate who was one of the many fans locked in the Railway Belle. They eventually put them all on a bus (they didn't want them clashing with Leeds fans locked in the Royal Standard and heavily policed in the Weatherspoons).
They eventually got to the ground at 3.20! It was strange watching from pitch level. I was waiting with a steward and the number of very stupid people coming in late was amazing! Where can I find A block , errrr right behind you, where is row C, probably towards the front!!!
They were either Leeds fans or first time Albion fans at Withdean! The Leeds fans were fairly noisy but when I took my usual seat it was hard to hear them. The atmosphere at pitch level is always much better than in the South stand!
As for the match, well Hammond had a great game, Knight gave everything, infact all XI players got stuck in today. Harty made an impact when he came on and Hammond looked even better at centre midfield.
Butters had a superb ame and Kuipers made some good stops as well. The goal was a cracker, we thought Virgo got a touch, but I am still not sure even having seen it on TV.
Knight was pulled down by Butler, Currie stepped up and drove in a low fast free kick, Virgo and Carlisle went for the ball and it deflected and flashed low and hard into the corner with Sullivan having no chance.
Leeds who have sold 36 players since last season, have put together a team that looks very shaky. They started to lose the plot as the clock ticked down and the tackle on Hart should have been a straight red card!
The linesman put up 4 mins and we managed to hold the ball down in the far corner for nearly all of the 6 ½ minutes the referee played. I guess the second sending off (foul and abusive language) wasted some time.
I think Leeds had 7 yellow cards in total, two players picked up 2 each so of course got sent off!
Silly boys!
I see that Brett Ormerod who played 90 minutes for Leeds (didn't do much other than one shot that he should have scored!) played for Southampton yesterday as well!
A well deserved 3 points, roll on the long trip to Sunderland next week.
There are 17 of us travelling up with about 100 Sunderland London on the 8am from Kings Cross.
Kuipers - 7 once again showed why is the number 1 at the club
Harding - 5 shaky and again gave away the ball and caught out of position
Butters - 8 great game, marshalled the defence superbly
Hinshelwood - 7 looked solid and won so much in the air compared to Tuesday
El-Abd - 7 great return, deserves to keep the right back spot
Currie - 7 should have scored, but once again his dangerous free kick won us the match!
Hammond - 9 my MOTM, was all over the place, great tackles and good distribution
Oatway - 7 solid, did what was needed
Carpenter - 7 as above
Virgo - 6 battled hard but well marked by Carlise
Knight - 7 a great diving header almost put us 2-0 up, and 2 good efforts in the last 10 minutes, one well saved and the other won us a corner to start our 5 minutes of time wasting during injury time
Subs
Hart - 8 made an instant impact with great tackles and runs at the opponents, shame he is suspended from Crewe at home for 3 matches
May, Mayo, Jones, Jarrett not used