Yorkshire Evening Post 16/1/12
Snodin’s joy with Snodgrass
Glynn Snodin expressed relief at Robert Snodgrass’ quick recovery from emergency surgery after the winger’s ninth goal of the season earned Leeds United a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace.
Snodgrass returned to United’s squad just 16 days after undergoing an operation to remove his appendix, and he rescued a point at Selhurst Park with a 64th-minute strike.
Manager Simon Grayson named the Scotland international as a substitute on Saturday but turned to him early in the second half as Leeds fought to overturn a 1-0 deficit against a team reduced to 10 players.
Snodgrass struck eight minutes later, arriving unmarked to slide a shot past Palace goalkeeper Julian Speroni, and first-team coach Snodin admitted that the 24-year-old’s talent had been missed by Leeds during his three-game absence.
Snodin said: “He was playing well before he had his appendix out and he’s scored some stunning goals for us. He was at his peak and to be honest we’ve missed him.
“We thought about what to do after he trained on Thursday and said ‘shall we start him?’ But we felt it was best to put him on the bench and use him if needs be. Luckily for us he came on and scored the goal.”
Snodgrass was sent for an unscheduled operation on December 29, less than 48 hours before Leeds’ New Year’s Eve game at Barnsley, and United feared he would be missing for several weeks.
The former Livingston player has spoken for the first time about his emergency procedure, saying: “We had the day off and when I woke up I was in agony for maybe 14 hours.
“I thought it was stomach cramps – it was the same kind of pain. But then I got a sore head and started feeling sick without being sick. Those are the symptoms. I went to see the surgeon and it was a case of rushing me in straight away. Forty-five minutes later it was done.
“Anyone who’s had their appendix out can’t walk because your stomach is too sore. You doing nothing for three or four days and then take it from there. I was laid low for 10 days and then got going.”
Snodgrass has been United’s most influential outfield player this season, scoring nine times and creating a further nine goals, and he answered Grayson’s call on Saturday by cancelling out an early Chris Martin strike.
“First and foremost it was great to get on the park,” Snodgrass said. “I was missing it badly.
“I thought I was going to be out for bit longer than I have been, and it’s one of those things you have to deal with. I just tried to get as fit as I could and the gaffer threw me right back in.”
Saturday’s game was nevertheless a frustrating experience for Leeds, who fell behind after seven minutes and were denied a victory by a Palace side who lost winger Sean Scannell to a red card at the end of the first half. Snodgrass eventually found a way past Speroni but United’s pressure in the closing stages of the match failed to deliver a winning goal, and the club fell to 11th place in the Championship at full-time.
Snodin stood in for Grayson at the post-match press conference with Grayson undergoing physiotherapy on a long-standing knee problem, and the United coach declared him satisfied with the 1-1 scoreline.
“They came out firing in the first 10 minutes and went 1-0 up,” Snodin said. “They’d done that to us last season too and at the end of the day it was a good point.
“I thought we did well and we tried to get the ball out wide to break them down.
“When we got our goal we thought we could push on again and win the game but Palace are good on the break. Even though they were down for 10 men, we had to make sure the back door was closed.
“But they were always going to put players behind the ball and sometimes you can find it hard to play against 10 men. Everybody sits in and looks to run at you on the counter-attack. Our game plan was just to keep getting balls into the box and getting balls out wide, not go central because there were a lot of players packed in there. We hoped it would get us the result but unfortunately we’ve only come away with a point.”
Leeds were denied on three occasions by excellent saves from Speroni but Snodin was critical of United’s composure around Palace’s box, saying: “The quality probably wasn’t there at the end of it all.
“You work hard to get up to the 18-yard line and when you get there you want quality balls into the box.
“But it’s only right to say that they’ve got quality defenders, and they got bodies in the box. They did their jobs as well.”

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