Yorkshire Evening Post 4/4/09
Luciano savours his Community service
By Phil Hay
The spotlight so often held by Jermaine Beckford was grasped by Luciano Becchio yesterday, but his winning goal at Colchester was unable to give Leeds United a brighter view of automatic promotion.
Becchio's goal installed Colchester as the latest victims in Leeds' catalogue of five straight wins, but boss Simon Grayson was agonisingly denied the the opening he has patiently waited for at the top of League One.
In a race where United can only maintain their form and hope for the best, the Elland Road club kept their side of the bargain by claiming three points with a professional performance in Essex, but a late and decisive goal at Oldham maintained Peterborough's control of the fight for second place.
Becchio – the other half of League One's most consistent partnership – inspired United's victory with an instinctive finish after half-an-hour, producing the opening goal after a spell in which Beckford's clinical touch had briefly escaped him.
Though Becchio's first season in English football has been a revelation, his involvement has been routinely overshadowed by Beckford's ceaseless haul of goals, but the Argentinian forward took his first opportunity at the Community Stadium to give Leeds control of a difficult away fixture.
Becchio was on hand to stab the ball past goalkeeper Mark Cousins after Colchester's defence failed to deal with the forward on the edge of their box, and his authoritative finish opened the way to United's fifth win in succession.
The passage of results has come at the end of nine matches without defeat, and it is consistency on a level not seen by Leeds in league matches this season which has threatened to throw open the battle for second position, dominated for several weeks by Peterborough.
Grayson was able and naturally willing to field an unchanged line-up yesterday, rightly acknowledging the players responsible for the bulk of United's unbeaten spell.
On-loan centre-back Sam Sodje was fit enough to play despite the niggling hamstring which cut short his debut last weekend, but Colchester's team – unaltered after a victory at Millwall – served notice of the confidence in the mind of their manager, Paul Lambert.
Barring numerous favours from several clubs, the play-offs will be beyond Colchester's reach this season, just as second place might prove a target too far for Grayson, but their win at the New Den in midweek suggested that Lambert was refusing to see their campaign wind down tamely. The club's relocation from Layer Road to their Community Stadium was not the smoothest of transitions, but Colchester's players have gradually acclimatised to new, modern surroundings, and their perceived weakness at home – an apparent problem at the start of the year – is no longer an issue for visiting clubs to prey upon.
In Beckford, however, United possessed the country's most prolific predator, and it took only five minutes for Leeds to introduce Lambert's defence to their 31-goal striker.
Jonathan Douglas' incisive pass from the right was accurate enough to play Beckford in behind Colchester's back line but, although the forward evaded Cousins with a headed touch, the weight of his flick carried the ball behind when better control would have given him an empty net to attack.
His early thrust into Colchester's box was indicative of the attacking intent displayed by both teams, and a low shot from Karl Hawley brought a fine save from Casper Ankergren at his near post after only eight minutes. Though the stakes were tangibly higher for Leeds, Colchester could not have been accused of indifference.
The attendance at the Community Stadium yesterday set a record for a venue opened less than 12 months earlier, and the early exchanges did justice to the turn-out. Between them, Sodje and Becchio knocked a corner from Robert Snodgrass a fraction over Cousins' crossbar, and the chance that fell to Beckford in the 16th minute was asking to be finished.
The striker met a pass from Jonathan Howson and attempted to beat Cousins with a controlled chip which drifted a yard beyond the keeper's left-hand post, another situation from which Beckford would have expected to milk his opportunity.
It was no better than that which came Mark Yeates' way moments later, though, and Ankergren's instinctive touch was necessary to prevent the winger's shot from finding the top corner in the absence of any covering defenders. It was a vital save.
As the game approached the half-hour mark, an innocuous pass from Howson ran to the edge of Colchester's box where a kind ricochet, ponderous defending and a quick side-step left Becchio free to drive a fierce left-footed finish past a stationary Cousins. Leeds had attacked Colchester with enough regularity and variation to deserve their goal, and although a second shot from Yeates missed Ankergren's goal by inches, United's advantage was well protected before half-time.
Becchio could in fact have increased their lead when his header beat Cousins' dive and dipped onto the roof of the net, and Colchester's keeper dug Alan Maybury out of trouble by saving Beckford's close-range shot with his legs after his right-back badly misjudged the bounce of Fabian Delph's long pass.
It suited Grayson that the second half offered nothing to report, save only a late scuffle caused by Simon Hackney's foul on Snodgrass and an organised display from his players which cast their one-goal lead in stone.
Luciano savours his Community service
By Phil Hay
The spotlight so often held by Jermaine Beckford was grasped by Luciano Becchio yesterday, but his winning goal at Colchester was unable to give Leeds United a brighter view of automatic promotion.
Becchio's goal installed Colchester as the latest victims in Leeds' catalogue of five straight wins, but boss Simon Grayson was agonisingly denied the the opening he has patiently waited for at the top of League One.
In a race where United can only maintain their form and hope for the best, the Elland Road club kept their side of the bargain by claiming three points with a professional performance in Essex, but a late and decisive goal at Oldham maintained Peterborough's control of the fight for second place.
Becchio – the other half of League One's most consistent partnership – inspired United's victory with an instinctive finish after half-an-hour, producing the opening goal after a spell in which Beckford's clinical touch had briefly escaped him.
Though Becchio's first season in English football has been a revelation, his involvement has been routinely overshadowed by Beckford's ceaseless haul of goals, but the Argentinian forward took his first opportunity at the Community Stadium to give Leeds control of a difficult away fixture.
Becchio was on hand to stab the ball past goalkeeper Mark Cousins after Colchester's defence failed to deal with the forward on the edge of their box, and his authoritative finish opened the way to United's fifth win in succession.
The passage of results has come at the end of nine matches without defeat, and it is consistency on a level not seen by Leeds in league matches this season which has threatened to throw open the battle for second position, dominated for several weeks by Peterborough.
Grayson was able and naturally willing to field an unchanged line-up yesterday, rightly acknowledging the players responsible for the bulk of United's unbeaten spell.
On-loan centre-back Sam Sodje was fit enough to play despite the niggling hamstring which cut short his debut last weekend, but Colchester's team – unaltered after a victory at Millwall – served notice of the confidence in the mind of their manager, Paul Lambert.
Barring numerous favours from several clubs, the play-offs will be beyond Colchester's reach this season, just as second place might prove a target too far for Grayson, but their win at the New Den in midweek suggested that Lambert was refusing to see their campaign wind down tamely. The club's relocation from Layer Road to their Community Stadium was not the smoothest of transitions, but Colchester's players have gradually acclimatised to new, modern surroundings, and their perceived weakness at home – an apparent problem at the start of the year – is no longer an issue for visiting clubs to prey upon.
In Beckford, however, United possessed the country's most prolific predator, and it took only five minutes for Leeds to introduce Lambert's defence to their 31-goal striker.
Jonathan Douglas' incisive pass from the right was accurate enough to play Beckford in behind Colchester's back line but, although the forward evaded Cousins with a headed touch, the weight of his flick carried the ball behind when better control would have given him an empty net to attack.
His early thrust into Colchester's box was indicative of the attacking intent displayed by both teams, and a low shot from Karl Hawley brought a fine save from Casper Ankergren at his near post after only eight minutes. Though the stakes were tangibly higher for Leeds, Colchester could not have been accused of indifference.
The attendance at the Community Stadium yesterday set a record for a venue opened less than 12 months earlier, and the early exchanges did justice to the turn-out. Between them, Sodje and Becchio knocked a corner from Robert Snodgrass a fraction over Cousins' crossbar, and the chance that fell to Beckford in the 16th minute was asking to be finished.
The striker met a pass from Jonathan Howson and attempted to beat Cousins with a controlled chip which drifted a yard beyond the keeper's left-hand post, another situation from which Beckford would have expected to milk his opportunity.
It was no better than that which came Mark Yeates' way moments later, though, and Ankergren's instinctive touch was necessary to prevent the winger's shot from finding the top corner in the absence of any covering defenders. It was a vital save.
As the game approached the half-hour mark, an innocuous pass from Howson ran to the edge of Colchester's box where a kind ricochet, ponderous defending and a quick side-step left Becchio free to drive a fierce left-footed finish past a stationary Cousins. Leeds had attacked Colchester with enough regularity and variation to deserve their goal, and although a second shot from Yeates missed Ankergren's goal by inches, United's advantage was well protected before half-time.
Becchio could in fact have increased their lead when his header beat Cousins' dive and dipped onto the roof of the net, and Colchester's keeper dug Alan Maybury out of trouble by saving Beckford's close-range shot with his legs after his right-back badly misjudged the bounce of Fabian Delph's long pass.
It suited Grayson that the second half offered nothing to report, save only a late scuffle caused by Simon Hackney's foul on Snodgrass and an organised display from his players which cast their one-goal lead in stone.
