Leeds United Football Club - The Butler Did It! Plymouth 0 Leeds 1

The Butler Did It! Plymouth 0 Leeds 1
United put in a magnificent performance at Home Park to destroy Plymouth's 18 month unbeaten record and record their first win against Argyle for 41 years. Paul Butler was the man with the header but it was a collective performance that may just signal a turning point in United's season.

Plymouth 0 United 1
Goals: Butler 42

Team news: Both United and Argyle are unchanged for this the first trip by Leeds to Home Park in 14 years.


It means Matthew Spring is again left to kick his heels on the bench as he awaits his debut for The Whites.

Teams
Plymouth: Larrieu, Friio, Coughlan, Norris, Evans (Crawford 71), Capaldi (Hodges 24), Wotton, Makel, Keith, Keith, Connolly, Gilbert. Subs: Hodges, Lasley, Milne, Crawford, Adams.

United: Sullivan, Kelly, Butler, Carlisle, Crainey, Wright, Pugh, Richardson, Joachim (Ricketts 82), Walton (Spring 66), Deane (McMaster 82). Subs not used: Carson, Duberry, .

The Match
The first ten minutes belonged to Plymouth as the home side looked to put United under severe pressure, fortunately Leeds weathered the storm well and the early gusto was soon gone from Plymouth's play.

Those ten minutes had not been without incident though, a number of free kicks were nervously hacked away at times but in Paul Butler Leeds had a calming influence and the skipper was heading everything lumped into the box straight back upfield.

The most nervous moment came on seven minutes when David Norris crossed into the penalty area from the right flank and it was flicked on towards goal by Mickey Evans to force Sullivan into a scrambled save by his far post, the United keeper forced to concede a corner.

Leeds survived as Sullivan was fouled following the corner and began to play their way back into the game.

Leeds won their first corner won by Richardson 12, Wright swung ball in and Pugh knocked into the penalty area but the Argyle skipper was out quickly to claim the ball ahead of Joachim and Deane.

United's best early move came from a throw by Crainey to Deane who had positioned himself on the byline. Deane managed to get the ball across the face of goal where Joachim was not far off getting on the end of the ball but Gilbert cleared for the home side.

Gilbert was then the instigator of Plymouth's most dangerous move of the half when he went round Gary Kelly only for the United full-back to recover superbly and put in an excellent tackle in the box. Plymouth screamed for a penalty but referee Steve Dunn was well placed to see Kelly got a clean foot on the ball to knock it behind.

The corner caused more danger for Sullivan's goal as the cross threatened to curl beneath his bar only for Simon Walton to head it clear, although Sullivan had been clearly fouled by Coughlan.

The home side made a surprise change on 24 minutes when they took Tony Capaldi off and brought former West Ham United youngster Lee Hodges on.

United should have taken the lead with a glorious chance on 26 minutes.

A break down the right by Jermaine Wright saw the former Ipswich man leave the Argyle defence in his wake and when the ball came in he had two men waiting for the cross inside the area. In it came and Walton looked certain to get there but somehow as he slid in the ball went past him and he collided with the post.

It was one of those injuries that makes grown men cringe that left Walton crumpled in a heap on the floor. After a few minutes treatment the 17-year-old was cleared to carry on.

Another opportunity came Leeds way just after the half hour mark when Deane met Wright's ball into the box to force a great save out of the keeper and Pugh headed the loose ball wide.

Joachim then fired a shot wide as he leaned off balance, but bar the first ten minutes the half had belonged to United.

Leeds needed to score to make the most of their superiority and the goal eventually came on 42 minutes, a great time to score to break the spirit of the home side.

First Joachim went for a high ball inside the area that Plymouth frantically cleared away but Walton fired it back in where eventually Paul Butler emerged to get the last touch on the ball with a goalwards header that the defender on the line could not keep out.

It was a deserved lead for United, but they could easily have been further infront.

They nearly lost that lead right on the stroke of half time though when Marino Keith beat the offside trap to be faced with just Sullivan to beat. Once again Sullivan was United's hero as he produced a brilliant stop to leave the striker banging the turf in frustration.

Leeds made no changes at half-time, and why would Blackwell want to change it when the side was playing so well?

Leeds continued to dominate at the start of the first half and created an early scare for the hosts when a corner was played out to Kelly, he then swung the ball in for Joachim to stoop down and direct his header at goal, with the ball just coming back off the post. Before anybody could react though the referee blew for an offside flag.

On the hour mark Leeds survived after a mistake in midfield nearly led to the equaliser. Norris robbed Crainey with the ball and knocked it forward looking to make a run at goal, but Butler got back to prevent Norris from taking the ball on and scoring.

Matthew Spring finally made his Leeds league debut when he came on for Simon Walton with 66 minutes gone.

United survived a barrage of balls into the box as Plymouth grew more desperate, and when they finally broke clear with Pugh in possession, Friio got himself booked for bringing down the midfielder just as Leeds had the numerical advantage.

On 72 minutes Joachim chased a lost cause to win a corner for Leeds and spark another spell of near chances for The Whites.

The corner was played short for Kelly to cross in again and it fell to Deane but his snap shot was blocked and half cleared away. Pugh stopped the clearance on the edge of the area but his shot on goal was also blocked.

Matthew Spring gave Leeds fans the first taste of what is to come from him this season as he took aim from 25 yards and would have scored one of the goals of the season if the keeper hadn't pulled off a great save just under his crossbar.

United should have been awarded a penalty when Lee Makel clearly handled Wright's cross into the area, but the referee called no penalty.

The game was briefly held up by a pitch invader wearing a tartan kilt who evaded the ground staff but not the rugby tackle that would have graced Headingley that came from a fleet-footed policeman.

With less than ten minutes left to play Blackwell made another change by bringing Brian Deane and Julian Joachim off and replacing them with Michael Ricketts and Jamie McMaster.

Leeds were looking to kill the game with a crucial second goal and Richardson missed the chance to do just that when Pugh put him clear but the winger lost control at the vital moment and Plymouth managed to get across and cover the danger.

Jermaine Wright could have also wrapped it up a minute before the start of five minutes of extra time when he took aim from the edge of the box, but his shot was deflected behind for a corner.

Leeds had Sullivan to thank again as he prevented Plymouth from snatching a point out of the game by tipping a shot over by Hodges in the fifth minute of extra time.

In total the referee played eight agonising minutes of extra time, but Leeds played it cool and wound down the time expertly.

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