Guardian 18/10/11
Coventry's Richard Wood makes Leeds United rue missed chances
Leeds United threw away a chance to move into the top six of the Championship deep into stoppage time when their goalkeeper, Paul Rachubka, making his first league start of the season, made a mess of a save and set up the Coventry City defender Richard Wood's equaliser .
Time was running out when the City defender Cyrus Christie launched a hopeful cross to the far post in time added on and, when Rachubka could only parry the ball, Wood pounced to cancel out Darren O'Dea's first-half opener.
It was just reward for the visitors, who refused to buckle under long periods of pressure, and Leeds were made to pay for a hatful of missed chances in either half.
The Republic of Ireland defender O'Dea drove home an angled shot midway through the first half but the home fans were left to endure an anxious finish and watched in despair as Wood made them pay for their profligacy.
Leeds's leading scorer, Ross McCormack, had miscued from six yards with only the Coventry goalkeeper, Joe Murphy, to beat just before half-time and Danny Pugh and Adam Clayton were both denied by an inspired Murphy in the second period.
Coventry were always in the hunt and had Lukas Jutkiewicz kept his flying late header a shade lower in the closing stages, the Sky Blues would have been level earlier. The home side almost took a sixth-minute lead when Robert Snodgrass curled a fine cross with the outside of his boot into the penalty area and McCormack stole in between the visitors' central defenders to head inches over the crossbar. But Coventry launched an early riposte when the captain, Sammy Clingan, shot from 25 yards, forcing Rachubka to parry at full stretch and Jutkiewicz blasted the rebound narrowly off target.
Murphy was then at full stretch to keep out Snodgrass's clipped free-kick as Leeds began to press for the opener, which duly came courtesy of an unlikely suspect in the 26th minute. Paul Connolly's cross was deflected to the left side of the penalty area and the centre-half O'Dea arrowed a striker's finish, left-footed, into the bottom left-hand corner of the goal.
Murphy did well to keep out McCormack's stinging drive and the Scottish striker spurned a gilt-edged chance in the 41st minute when lifting the ball over the crossbar following excellent work by Andy Keogh. Coventry showed more urgency after the break, no doubt buoyed by Leeds's missed first-half chances, but the home side stepped up a gear around the hour mark and went close to extending their lead on three occasions.
Pugh's bullet header was superbly saved by Murphy and after Snodgrass's raking drive whistled past the post, the visiting goalkeeper was at his best again to keep out Clayton's low shot from inside the area. Luciano Becchio and Mikael Forssell replaced Keogh and McCormack in the 70th minute as Simon Grayson chased that elusive second goal but both failed to make any significant impact.
Jutkiewicz almost equalised for the visitors with a fine header as Leeds grew increasingly nervous in the closing stages before Wood latched on to Rachubka's fumble to stab the ball home at the far post.
Coventry's Richard Wood makes Leeds United rue missed chances
Leeds United threw away a chance to move into the top six of the Championship deep into stoppage time when their goalkeeper, Paul Rachubka, making his first league start of the season, made a mess of a save and set up the Coventry City defender Richard Wood's equaliser .
Time was running out when the City defender Cyrus Christie launched a hopeful cross to the far post in time added on and, when Rachubka could only parry the ball, Wood pounced to cancel out Darren O'Dea's first-half opener.
It was just reward for the visitors, who refused to buckle under long periods of pressure, and Leeds were made to pay for a hatful of missed chances in either half.
The Republic of Ireland defender O'Dea drove home an angled shot midway through the first half but the home fans were left to endure an anxious finish and watched in despair as Wood made them pay for their profligacy.
Leeds's leading scorer, Ross McCormack, had miscued from six yards with only the Coventry goalkeeper, Joe Murphy, to beat just before half-time and Danny Pugh and Adam Clayton were both denied by an inspired Murphy in the second period.
Coventry were always in the hunt and had Lukas Jutkiewicz kept his flying late header a shade lower in the closing stages, the Sky Blues would have been level earlier. The home side almost took a sixth-minute lead when Robert Snodgrass curled a fine cross with the outside of his boot into the penalty area and McCormack stole in between the visitors' central defenders to head inches over the crossbar. But Coventry launched an early riposte when the captain, Sammy Clingan, shot from 25 yards, forcing Rachubka to parry at full stretch and Jutkiewicz blasted the rebound narrowly off target.
Murphy was then at full stretch to keep out Snodgrass's clipped free-kick as Leeds began to press for the opener, which duly came courtesy of an unlikely suspect in the 26th minute. Paul Connolly's cross was deflected to the left side of the penalty area and the centre-half O'Dea arrowed a striker's finish, left-footed, into the bottom left-hand corner of the goal.
Murphy did well to keep out McCormack's stinging drive and the Scottish striker spurned a gilt-edged chance in the 41st minute when lifting the ball over the crossbar following excellent work by Andy Keogh. Coventry showed more urgency after the break, no doubt buoyed by Leeds's missed first-half chances, but the home side stepped up a gear around the hour mark and went close to extending their lead on three occasions.
Pugh's bullet header was superbly saved by Murphy and after Snodgrass's raking drive whistled past the post, the visiting goalkeeper was at his best again to keep out Clayton's low shot from inside the area. Luciano Becchio and Mikael Forssell replaced Keogh and McCormack in the 70th minute as Simon Grayson chased that elusive second goal but both failed to make any significant impact.
Jutkiewicz almost equalised for the visitors with a fine header as Leeds grew increasingly nervous in the closing stages before Wood latched on to Rachubka's fumble to stab the ball home at the far post.
