Luton 0 Leeds 0

Leedsunited.com
United came away from Kenilworth Road with a valuable point after holding a Luton side that had won their opening two games of the season.
The match was far from being a classic, but Kevin Blackwell will have been delighted with the result all the same. Luton had not lost in nine game and after wins against Crystal Palace and Southampton, were definitely a dangerous proposition.
As usual there were a few good chances for Leeds to take all three points, but yet again these were passed up.

Pre-Match
United boss Kevin Blackwell decided to make two changes for the trip to his hometown, one of them expected, the other a major surprise.
In goal Neil Sullivan's fitness concerns saw him make way for Ian Bennett to make his first league start for the club, whilst upfront Blackwell decided to go for power and physical presence by playing Michael Ricketts at the expense of David Healy, whose double helped United to their opening win over Millwall a week ago.
Sullivan's injury meant there was no reserve keeper on the bench.
For Luton, former United youngster Warren Feeney, once rated as exciting a prospect as Alan Smith, started against his former team, but there was little doubt the danger for Leeds would be striker Steve Howard, who at 6'3" is a real handful and scored 22 goals in Luton's promotion season.

The Match
A slip on the wet surface from Kevin Nicholls gave Michael Ricketts a chance to run at goal, Luton managed to force him wide but he put in a good ball across the face of goal that was just over the top of Robbie Blake who timed his run into the penalty area well.
The best early chance for Leeds came when Michael Ricketts won a corner on ten minutes. Eddie Lewis delivered it perfectly towards Shaun Derry in space, but the midfielder only got a slight touch on the header and it barely troubled the keeper.
There was concern for skipper Paul Butler when he got caught inside his own area by Luton hitman Steve Howard. Butler was fortunately alright but Howard received a harsh yellow card for going for the ball.
Luton had an opportunity to put Bennett under pressure when they had a little spell of possession inside the last third of the United half, but it came to nothing with Steve Robinson heading over and Howard heading a cross into the side netting.
With 26 minutes gone Luton were denied when Howard hit the post with a shot under pressure from Gregan. In fact Leeds survived twice as the ball came back to Howard but he couldn't turn it in as he slid towards the goalline. It was a real let-off for United.
Eirik Bakke is getting closer and closer to a goal this season, and he was unlucky again when Wright played him through on the right hand side of the penalty area and his low drive was blocked by the keeper for a corner.
It was Luton though who came closest again with a spectacular effort from the dangerous winger Ahmet Brkovic that grazed the top of Bennett's crossbar.
Derry won a free-kick just a yard outside the penalty area when he was brought down after skipping past the right-back, but Lewis curled the free-kick onto the roof of the net.
Leeds best chance of the first half fell right on the stroke of half time. Derry broke from defence with Luton caught cold, he found Blake who then played a lovely cross field ball towards Ricketts, but the big man sidefooted his shot past the post and a glorious chance went begging.No changes for either side at half-time, the game took a while to get going and the first action of any note came on 52 minutes when Bakke shot straight into body of Dean Brill in the Luton Town goal.Luton missed a chance of their own soon after when Feeney couldn't connect with Brkovic's cross.
Leeds nearly punished them for the miss when Lewis broke and Blake shot wide from the left hand side of the penalty area. Just after the hour Leeds broke again from another Luton corner and the move so nearly ended with an opening goal. Derry brought the ball forward, he found Ricketts on the edge of a crowded penalty area, but the striker cleverly flicked the ball through for Eddie Lewis to run onto. Lewis brought a good save out of Brill though as he tried to chip the ball over the teenage keeper. David Healy made his entrance on 66 minutes with Robbie Blake making way. A second change followed five minutes later with Frazer Richardson coming on for Wright.
Ian Bennett will have done his chances of holding onto his place in goal no harm with a good save on 72 minutes to deny Luton the lead from a free-kick. Nicholls' free-kick was heading into the top right hand corner of the net but Bennett was just able to get a hand in the way and claw the ball out for a corner.
A mistimed challenge from Dan Harding on Brkovic earned him the first yellow card of the game for United.
Blackwell's final change saw Ricketts replaced by Gylfi Einarsson with just under quarter of an hour to play. Eirik Bakke moved up alongside David Healy in attack.
It needed a spark from someone to find a breakthrough.
That spark nearly came for the home side when Kevin Foley found himself in space for the shot, but Bennett was commanding again in his goal and made the save. In truth the second half was a pale immitation of a first half that had seen both sides create a number of chances, but as the referee drew the game to a close there will have been few complaints about the result from United.

Popular posts from this blog

Leeds United handed boost as ‘genuinely class’ star confirms his commitment to the club - YEP 4/8/23

Leeds United in ‘final stages’ of £10m deal for Premier League defender as Jack Harrison exit looms - YEP 13/8/23

Wilfried Gnonto latest as talks ongoing between Everton and Leeds despite £38m+ claims - Goodison News 1/9/23