Telegraph 24/9/06
Rejuvenated Leeds bring fans some relief
By Jeremy Cross at Elland Road
(Filed: 24/09/2006)
Leeds (2) 3 Birmingham (1) 2
A change of manager and change in fortune for Leeds United at Elland Road, where a late own goal from Olivier Tebily gifted the home side a much-needed win and provided chairman Ken Bates with some justification for sacking manager Kevin Blackwell. 
Forceful and creative, Leeds profited from a brace by David Healy in their quest to topple high-flying Birmingham City and provide some welcome relief for their long-suffering supporters.
Things are never straightforward at Leeds, however, and equalisers from Martin Taylor and then Nicklas Bendtner seemed certain to deny the home side until Tebily, a substitute, headed Steve Stone's cross into his own goal.
John Carver took charge of his first game as caretaker manager in the wake of Blackwell's dismissal. The fixtures could have been much kinder to him, considering the quality of the opposition.
Such are Steve Bruce's selection luxuries that he could afford to leave Cameron Jerome, a £3 million summer signing from Cardiff City, on the bench with Mikael Forssell. Bruce kept faith with D J Campbell and Bendtner instead.
Carver had demanded a positive response from his players after a difficult week and got one as Leeds made a bright start in what became a frenzied opening.
Kevin Nicholls almost profited from Damien Johnson's poor clearing header inside three minutes but lobbed his shot over the top, before Healy escaped Martin Taylor's clutches and delivered a sublime ball to Geoff Horsfield, which he failed to make the most of.
Birmingham's Radhi Jaidi rattled an upright with a fierce drive before Leeds scored with their next attack. Eddie Lewis's free-kick found Healy lurking at the back post and he delivered a sumptuous finish with the outside of his right foot.
It took Birmingham just seven minutes to respond. Mehdi Nafti's drive flew straight to the unmarked Taylor on the edge of the penalty area. His shot struck an upright but hit the back of Tony Warner before tumbling into the Leeds goal.
Leeds regained the advantage soon afterwards when the ball broke kindly to Horsfield, who was tripped from behind by Marcos Painter in the process of shooting. After referee Steve Tanner pointed to the spot, Healy converted.
Healy almost scored a third, Nicholls saw a rasping drive whistle over and Matthew Kilgallon headed wide as Leeds resembled a different side from the one that had laboured through the season and cost Blackwell his job.
Birmingham's misery looked complete with 20 minutes left when they had a player dismissed for the third consecutive league game, Johnson receiving a red card for flattening substitute Ian Westlake with his elbow.
Just three minutes later, Bendtner somehow squeezed an angled shot past Kilgallon and Warner and looked to have salvaged a point until Tebily's blunder handed all three to Leeds.
