Leeds United v Derby County: County finally deliver Neil’s knock-out blow
YEP 2/4/13
By Phil Hay
As the supporters in Elland Road’s North Stand subjected Neil Warnock to familiar chants of “time to go”, the Leeds United manager looked back at them and waved.
This is over and not a day too soon, for Warnock or the club. Convenience was no longer a facet of their marriage, no longer an excuse for further delay.
The argument about the likelihood of Warnock delivering promotion ended some time ago. For the best part of two months, the debate has been about the wisdom of leaving him to see out a dead season.
The 64-year-old thought Leeds were better off in his hands in the interim; the bitter reaction to their defeat to Derby County said otherwise. So did results and, eventually, Warnock himself.
United were beaten for the third game running yesterday and for the eighth time in succession by Derby, a nemesis of Leeds’ in their own way.
Warnock’s players made nothing of a lead given to them by a spectacular Ross McCormack strike and conceded the winning goal to a soft Jake Buxton header, the sort of goal which tells its own story.
McCormack’s aggressive reaction to his 67th-minute finish – mouthing obscenities in the direction of United’s bench – told another: that of a camp which was coming apart at the seams. Large swathes of the crowd were lost earlier in the year but some closer to Warnock appear to have strayed too. The obvious decision for Leeds was staring them in the face at full-time and they took it soon after.
Sky chose yesterday’s game for their live Easter Monday broadcast and must have wished they’d seen the light before paying for a lame meeting between two teams destined for mid-table. Only the uncertainty surrounding Warnock made Sky’s presence worthwhile. Mathematics do not disguise the fact that neither side meet the benchmark for promotion. Whatever goals from Paul Coutts and Jake Buxton do for Derby, they will not take them up.
A year of transition or a year wasted? Either way, United and County are no further forward in terms of their competitive prowess than they were when they met on the same religious date a year ago. There was a glimpse of life for Leeds in the form of the debut given to their tiny starlet, Chris Dawson, but nothing more to make the occasion worthwhile. Six more and counting until the summer saves United and Derby from themselves.
Their encounter at Elland Road had all the facets of a nothing contest – no attempt on goal for 33 minutes and no actual sniff of a goal until Paul Green struck the frame around his former club’s net with the first half petering out. McCormack and Coutts struck at either end during an engaging six-minute period but the crowd saw most of the football in front of them as an indictment of United and Warnock in particular. Derby for their part were just as poor but Buxton’s 87th-minute header earned them the honour.
Such is the idiosyncrasy of the Championship that Derby’s victory gave them another sight of the play-offs, at least until Brighton host Charlton Athletic this evening.
But the time for aggressive movement has long since passed and both Warnock and Nigel Clough realise that. The only question for Leeds was how much longer Warnock would be left to hold the reins of their club with so little left to play for. He quickly answered it by advising United’s owner, GFH Capital, to sack him and name academy coach Neil Redfearn as caretaker. GFH Capital did exactly that.
Amid the wider agenda and cold, windy weather, Dawson –one of Redfearn’s boys – distracted attention until the microscope moved back onto Warnock. The Wales Under-21 international is an open secret at Leeds, regularly touted as the cream of the academy crop and slated for a first-team game for months. If Warnock had intended to delay his debut until a meaningless stage of the season – and comments from him last week gave that impression – then yesterday’s match came close to that category.
Dawson embodies one of the arts that United’s squad in its present state lacks: midfield playmaking and free abandon. He also embodies hope and the bones of a better future, both of which are in short supply at Elland Road. Warnock compared the 18-year-old to a young Johnny Giles but Dawson need not be that talented to improve the Leeds midfield. He will only need more time on the ball than United were able to give him during 57 minutes on the pitch and Dawson’s composure and tidy touches warmed cold feet in the ground.There was a cry for a penalty at the end of United’s first attack, in the 13th minute, but Jake Buxton took the ball cleanly as he flattened Luke Varney inside the box and Jason Pearce’s flicked header from Stephen Warnock’s corner was hooked away from Derby’s far post.
Dawson, with a licence to roam, was unintimidated by County’s players but often inhibited by a game which refused to properly open up. The gaps that appeared – like that which Rodolph Austin overshot with a heavy pass in front of the on-running Sam Byram – closed as quickly as they opened and Varney’s shot across Frank Fielding on 33 minutes broke the gathering silence. It cleared Fielding’s left-hand post by a couple of feet.
Six minutes later, Dawson flicked a pass to Diouf inside Derby’s box and when Varney steered the ball back to the edge of the area, Paul Green smashed it against the underside of the crossbar. In a dismal half, a strike of that quality deserved a goal. Kenny’s close-range save from Conor Sammon soon after ensured that Derby did not pinch one in return.
Neil Warnock and Clough had ample justification for revising their line-ups at the interval but both preferred to sit tight. Away slipped another 10 minutes until Jeff Hendrick stung Kenny’s palms from 20 yards and provoked a bit of end-to-end sparring. Austin pulled an effort wide of Fielding’s goal and Dawson made way soon after, giving McCormack a welcome invitation to influence proceedings.
It was a big ask at that stage. Derby had the ball in the net when it ricocheted over the line as Jason Pearce – a replacement for the suspended Tom Lees –slid in to defend a low cross. But when Stephen Warnock’s corner bounced out to Green in the 67th minute, McCormack took a short pass from him and cracked a brilliant finish into the top corner of Fielding’s net.
Elland Road had been waiting for that all afternoon.
The lead lasted until the 73rd minute as Pearce appeared on the wrong side of Chris Martin and clipped the striker’s heels, conceding an indisputable penalty.
Sammon hit the inside of a post but Coutts followed up and converted the rebound before he lost his balance on the six-yard line.
The cameras would have had a third goal to broadcast immediately after, had Byram not driven a header against the bar but Derby rode their luck again and buried the knife in Neil Warnock’s back as Buxton met a corner with a point-blank finish on the run. There were no markers around him and precious little defence left for United’s beleaguered boss. The end was nigh.
As the supporters in Elland Road’s North Stand subjected Neil Warnock to familiar chants of “time to go”, the Leeds United manager looked back at them and waved.
This is over and not a day too soon, for Warnock or the club. Convenience was no longer a facet of their marriage, no longer an excuse for further delay.
The argument about the likelihood of Warnock delivering promotion ended some time ago. For the best part of two months, the debate has been about the wisdom of leaving him to see out a dead season.
The 64-year-old thought Leeds were better off in his hands in the interim; the bitter reaction to their defeat to Derby County said otherwise. So did results and, eventually, Warnock himself.
United were beaten for the third game running yesterday and for the eighth time in succession by Derby, a nemesis of Leeds’ in their own way.
Warnock’s players made nothing of a lead given to them by a spectacular Ross McCormack strike and conceded the winning goal to a soft Jake Buxton header, the sort of goal which tells its own story.
McCormack’s aggressive reaction to his 67th-minute finish – mouthing obscenities in the direction of United’s bench – told another: that of a camp which was coming apart at the seams. Large swathes of the crowd were lost earlier in the year but some closer to Warnock appear to have strayed too. The obvious decision for Leeds was staring them in the face at full-time and they took it soon after.
Sky chose yesterday’s game for their live Easter Monday broadcast and must have wished they’d seen the light before paying for a lame meeting between two teams destined for mid-table. Only the uncertainty surrounding Warnock made Sky’s presence worthwhile. Mathematics do not disguise the fact that neither side meet the benchmark for promotion. Whatever goals from Paul Coutts and Jake Buxton do for Derby, they will not take them up.
A year of transition or a year wasted? Either way, United and County are no further forward in terms of their competitive prowess than they were when they met on the same religious date a year ago. There was a glimpse of life for Leeds in the form of the debut given to their tiny starlet, Chris Dawson, but nothing more to make the occasion worthwhile. Six more and counting until the summer saves United and Derby from themselves.
Their encounter at Elland Road had all the facets of a nothing contest – no attempt on goal for 33 minutes and no actual sniff of a goal until Paul Green struck the frame around his former club’s net with the first half petering out. McCormack and Coutts struck at either end during an engaging six-minute period but the crowd saw most of the football in front of them as an indictment of United and Warnock in particular. Derby for their part were just as poor but Buxton’s 87th-minute header earned them the honour.
Such is the idiosyncrasy of the Championship that Derby’s victory gave them another sight of the play-offs, at least until Brighton host Charlton Athletic this evening.
But the time for aggressive movement has long since passed and both Warnock and Nigel Clough realise that. The only question for Leeds was how much longer Warnock would be left to hold the reins of their club with so little left to play for. He quickly answered it by advising United’s owner, GFH Capital, to sack him and name academy coach Neil Redfearn as caretaker. GFH Capital did exactly that.
Amid the wider agenda and cold, windy weather, Dawson –one of Redfearn’s boys – distracted attention until the microscope moved back onto Warnock. The Wales Under-21 international is an open secret at Leeds, regularly touted as the cream of the academy crop and slated for a first-team game for months. If Warnock had intended to delay his debut until a meaningless stage of the season – and comments from him last week gave that impression – then yesterday’s match came close to that category.
Dawson embodies one of the arts that United’s squad in its present state lacks: midfield playmaking and free abandon. He also embodies hope and the bones of a better future, both of which are in short supply at Elland Road. Warnock compared the 18-year-old to a young Johnny Giles but Dawson need not be that talented to improve the Leeds midfield. He will only need more time on the ball than United were able to give him during 57 minutes on the pitch and Dawson’s composure and tidy touches warmed cold feet in the ground.There was a cry for a penalty at the end of United’s first attack, in the 13th minute, but Jake Buxton took the ball cleanly as he flattened Luke Varney inside the box and Jason Pearce’s flicked header from Stephen Warnock’s corner was hooked away from Derby’s far post.
Dawson, with a licence to roam, was unintimidated by County’s players but often inhibited by a game which refused to properly open up. The gaps that appeared – like that which Rodolph Austin overshot with a heavy pass in front of the on-running Sam Byram – closed as quickly as they opened and Varney’s shot across Frank Fielding on 33 minutes broke the gathering silence. It cleared Fielding’s left-hand post by a couple of feet.
Six minutes later, Dawson flicked a pass to Diouf inside Derby’s box and when Varney steered the ball back to the edge of the area, Paul Green smashed it against the underside of the crossbar. In a dismal half, a strike of that quality deserved a goal. Kenny’s close-range save from Conor Sammon soon after ensured that Derby did not pinch one in return.
Neil Warnock and Clough had ample justification for revising their line-ups at the interval but both preferred to sit tight. Away slipped another 10 minutes until Jeff Hendrick stung Kenny’s palms from 20 yards and provoked a bit of end-to-end sparring. Austin pulled an effort wide of Fielding’s goal and Dawson made way soon after, giving McCormack a welcome invitation to influence proceedings.
It was a big ask at that stage. Derby had the ball in the net when it ricocheted over the line as Jason Pearce – a replacement for the suspended Tom Lees –slid in to defend a low cross. But when Stephen Warnock’s corner bounced out to Green in the 67th minute, McCormack took a short pass from him and cracked a brilliant finish into the top corner of Fielding’s net.
Elland Road had been waiting for that all afternoon.
The lead lasted until the 73rd minute as Pearce appeared on the wrong side of Chris Martin and clipped the striker’s heels, conceding an indisputable penalty.
Sammon hit the inside of a post but Coutts followed up and converted the rebound before he lost his balance on the six-yard line.
The cameras would have had a third goal to broadcast immediately after, had Byram not driven a header against the bar but Derby rode their luck again and buried the knife in Neil Warnock’s back as Buxton met a corner with a point-blank finish on the run. There were no markers around him and precious little defence left for United’s beleaguered boss. The end was nigh.
