We arrived into Leeds just before midday, and were safely tucked up in Whitelocks about 5 minutes later. A great recommendation Drew, 6 BHAlba soon turned up plus our mates who had come on the train via Sheffield and others who had suffered the hour bus journey between Peterborough and Stevenage!
We moved on to the Duke and Drake and saw the end of the Southampton win over Pompey (what joy being a Saints fan for that game!).
We left at 2.30 and caught a taxi to the ground and we were soon in our seats ready for action. The crowd was smaller than I expected, plenty of empty seats all round. We had the lower tier of the South stand , with the Upper Tier and far corner block left empty.
The stand to our left was about 2/3rds full and the big east stand about ½ full towards our end.
The match - Virgo was in for El-Abd and McGamamamamaaam in for Harty. Leeds started the game brightly, we had problems seeing as people at the front stood up but the stewards made us sit down. A lad by us was thrown out in the second half for continually standing and also making gestures to the Leeds fans. His Dad followed him and the other son tried to follow.
They went out in the first half for a wee, then a drink, then a pie, then a wee and soon pi**ed everyone off. I hate sitting as much as anyone, but this pathetic "Stand up if you want Falmer" about 2 seconds after the stewards have sat everyone down gets boring.
Back to the match, and Leeds looked well up for it, running with pace at our defence. Lennon ran rings round Kerry for about 5 minutes, before Mayo sussed him out and got the early tackle in and reduced the threat considerably.
Yelldell in goal looked confident and his handling and distribution very good (if a little quick for some of our players!). Deane decided to try and injure him with a diabolically late challenge, studding Yelldell in the shoulder, looked bad to me and deserved a red card IMHO, but then again being so low down the view is poor, perhaps it looked worse than it really was.
It looked like we could hold out for half time, but as the minutes ticked down, in came a cross, McGammon failed to get his head to the ball and it flicked on to Carlisle. Virgo blocked the first shot, it span back to him and he slammed it goalwards and it deflected in past Yelldell.
Second half and McGammon sliced a cross into the away seats and McGhee decided it was time for 4-4-2, so off with McGammon on comes Hart to midfield and Virgo joins Knight up front.
From then on we looked threatening, but there was a long spell when we couldn't keep possession.
In the meantime Yelldell decked out in pink (Ref changed to Yellow from Black as it clashed with our kit, Sullivan donned green, so it just left the pink shirt for Yelldell), tipped one shot onto the bar, and then later on blocked another good Leeds chance.
We pressed forward but I couldn't see a goal from open play, Jones replaced Harding to utilise every attacking player we had in the squad. With 10 minutes left we won a corner.
Chippy had found Deane with the previous effort, so this time he floated it long out of the box to an on running Oatway, who played the ball back in first time, Butters rose above everyone and nodded the ball just beyond Sullivan.
A great move and a great finish. The 2,000 Albion fans went nuts as usual and it was all standing for the last few minutes. We pushed forward but then the Referee blew his whistle and Charlie was red carded. The referee indicated a kick!
So off came knight and Nicolas was on to shut up shop. Bakker came on for them with a minute left and upended Jones with a dreadful tackle, how that's once again wasn't a red card was beyond me!
The final whistle was welcome and we applauded the players who as usual applauded us. McGhee and Booker looked delighted. We caught the bus back to the train station and we were back in Manchester by 7pm. A nice meal and a few drinks later and it was time to crash out in the hotel. Another great weekend away.
Yelldell - 9 great debut, a couple of great saves, good handling, no chance with the goal
Reid - 7 got forward as per the Sheffield United game
Mayo - 8 recovered well against a very quick Lennon, who was substituted well before the end
Butters - 8 great headed goal, great defensive leadership again
Hinshelwood - 8 sign him up for 5 years!!
Virgo - 8 once again was Mr Adaptable, defended well and gave his all up front
Harding - 6 a quiet game, but gave 100%
Oatway - 8 was getting well stuck in, we will miss him. Was it a deserved red card?
Carpenter - 8 another masterly performance
McGammon - 7 you know he's on the pitch, unsettles defences, but his touch can be poor
Knight - 7 ran hard, not much luck against a solid display by Carlisle. Battled hard and put the work in
Hart (for McGammon)- 8 used his battling qualities well, and help unsettle Leeds more and more in the second half
Jones (for Harding) - 7 pushed forward to keep the pressure up
Nicolas (for Knight) - 6 only on for a few minutes, but got a couple of good challenges in
Mark R