Leeds 2 Nottingham Forest 1: Warnock gets revenge as Whites hold on against Forest
By Myles Hodgson
Leeds secured their most impressive win of the season after being inspired by the attendance of four potential investors they hope will free the funds that allow them to mount a promotion challenge.
Just two days after the eighth anniversary of the death of Brian Clough, who managed both teams, the club he managed for only 44 days edged out the side he guided to two successive European Cups.
Although Clough's presence was marked by various chants from opposing fans, the Leeds support were more interested in the attendance by members of a Bahrain bank, who have met chairman Ken Bates with a view to ploughing investment into the club. They cannot fail to have been impressed by the performance of a young Leeds side who dominated the first half and raced into a twogoal lead through Luciano Becchio and Dominic Poleon, a 19-year-old former youth team player making his first start, and clung on when Forest hit back in the second half with a Dexter Blackstock header.
'We're well advanced with discussions,' confirmed Bates. 'There's a number of finer points to be resolved, but we're making good progress.
'The potential investors are looking to conclude things as soon as possible. Both parties regret missing the August transfer deadline, but we are planning for the January transfer window.'
Facing the only unbeaten side left in the Championship, Leeds brushed Forest aside in the first half, which cannot have harmed the investment talks.
While Forest struggled to make an impact, Leeds were dominant from the moment Becchio seized on a bouncing ball to pounce from close range.
Leeds doubled their lead before the half-hour with El-Hadji Diouf putting a clever pass through for Becchio and although he was foiled by an excellent tackle from Forest centre-back Daniel Ayala, Poleon followed up and lashed the ball into the net from the left-hand side of the box.
Forest boss Sean O'Driscoll responded to their first-half drubbing by introducing two substitutes at half-time, with Henri Lansbury and Lewis McGugan's influence allowing them greater control of midfield and led to them reducing the deficit on the hour.
Full-back Greg Halford used one of his trademark long throws to locate Blackstock, who outjumped keeper Paddy Kenny to head Forest back into the match.
A direct freekick from McGugan with 12 minutes remaining also went narrowly close to denying Leeds victory.
'The opening goal changed things and gave us some belief,' said Leeds manager Neil Warnock. 'We should have been out of sight by half-time but we haven't got many goalscorers really. With all the problems we've had in the last week or so with injuries, we should enjoy the win.'
O'Driscoll admitted being annoyed at the performance of referee Andy D'Urso, who he believes missed two penalties, one for a foul on Blackstock in the first half and a hand-ball from a McGugan freekick after the break.
'I thought the ref's performance was baffling,' he said. 'I thought it was a difficult game to referee. but when you get both sets of players and both dugouts up in arms over certain things then you have to look at it and look at where it went wrong.'
But O'Driscoll conceded that Leeds deserved victory, despite Forest's second-half revival, adding: 'We didn't deserve anything after that first half.
'We started well in the first 15 minutes and had an effort disallowed, but in the blink of an eye we were two goals down. We responded well, but it wasn't enough.'