Yorkshire Evening Post 13/9/08
United pass test of mettle
Swindon 1 Leeds United 3
Last week's victory over Crewe Alexandra won Leeds points for style, but United showed the fight needed to complement that flair during a performance at Swindon which was every bit as creditable.
Leeds hit a purple patch eight days ago, dispatching Crewe with a flamboyant swagger and five excellent goals, but the result secured in dire circumstances yesterday cannot rank any lower in the list of quality displays under Gary McAllister.
United's boss predicted that their visit to the County Ground would be a grinding contrast to the swashbuckling fixture seen at Elland Road last Saturday, but he could not have guessed the extent to which Leeds would be asked to scrap for their points. Nor could he have complained with the response of the 10 players who took up that exhausting fight.
Leeds lost Alan Sheehan to a red card eight minutes into the League One clash, a dismissal which did the left-back little credit and put United's afternoon in jeopardy before it had begun in earnest.
United's mettle underwent a severe test in Wiltshire on March 1, but not to the extent it did yesterday. For McAllister, however, the performance was proof that his squad have the stomach for this season, as well as the class. That much was proven by the fact that Leeds never allowed themselves to look happy with the prospect of a draw.
Jermaine Beckford opened the scoring with his ninth goal of the season, 15 minutes after Sheehan's red card, and it was not until a slight defensive lapse in the final minute of the first half that Swindon teased an equaliser out of McAllister's 10 men.
An inexplicable mistake from Swindon keeper Phil Smith allowed Neil Kilkenny's free-kick to limp over the line five minutes into the second period, and a late third goal from Beckford brought McAllister a victory which he might have thought unlikely, if not impossible, with eight minutes gone.
An unchanged line-up would have been his preference yesterday, but the dismissal of Lubomir Michalik at the end of last Saturday's commanding victory denied him that option.
Rui Marques linked up with Paul Telfer in the centre of defence for the first time, creating a partnership with a combined age of 67.
Long in the tooth the pairing may have been but it was not a combination which McAllister can have lacked confidence in. Yet, considering the fate which had befallen Michalik seven days previously, it was far from ideal to see Marques booked inside five minutes after catching the trailing leg of Simon Cox outside United's box.
Worse still was the two-footed tackle from Sheehan on McGovern which shattered McAllister's plans, referee Darren Deadman taking his time before drawing his red card from his back pocket.
For Sheehan, the dismissal was reminiscent of the sending-off he suffered at Yeovil last season, costing him his place in the play-offs, but United were already a goal to the good by the time he walked at Huish Park. His early departure yesterday left Leeds under desperate strain.
The disruption had an immediate effect when Anthony McNamee's corner was headed into the box by Jerel Ifil, and Cox's hooked volley brought a fabulous one-handed save from David Lucas.
The first riposte from Leeds was a shot from Kilkenny which lacked the pace and direction to trouble Smith, and a weak strike from Luciano Becchio dribbled wide in the 21st minute, but United's efforts were coming from long range at a time when Becchio and Beckford were itching to see the whites of Smith's eyes.
Two minutes later, however, Beckford was given that chance, and he took it ruthlessly with a typically sharp finish. Becchio's low cross was allowed to reach Beckford by a woeful misjudgement from Ifil, who missed the ball with his attempted clearance and watched as United's leading scorer drove a deft volley into the top corner of the net from 12 yards out.
Immediately, Marques was forced into a crucial block as the Leeds defence opened up and gave Cox space to shoot at Lucas, but the goal restored the visitors' composure and allowed them to re-establish their shape.
Andrew Hughes, by then, had reverted to the left side of a defensive unit who knew they would be asked to dig in resolutely for an hour.
Such was United's conviction in defence, however, that Swindon failed to produce another shot on target until Cox replied to Beckford's goal in the final minute of the first half, finishing off a neatly-constructed move and the first coherent attack of note from Swindon.
McNamee stole a yard of space from Frazer Richardson on the left wing and curled a delightful cross to the far post where Cox arrived with a flying volley which Lucas had no chance of stopping. After a half which had been surprisingly comfortable for Leeds, it was a demoralising blow.
But inspiration and fortune came in the form of a dreadful mistake from Smith, who was utterly accountable for Kilkenny's goal in the 50th minute.
The keeper was positioned perfectly to collect the midfielder's direct free-kick after a foul on Becchio but, despite appearing to grasp the ball initially, it slipped through his hands and rolled over the line.
A second equaliser would have materialised immediately but for another exceptional save from Lucas, who nudged Cox's close-range header past the post, and Ifil's header then looped onto the roof of the net after a McGovern corner caused chaos.
McAllister's players understood the script, though, and they stuck to it closely, defending in numbers and counter-attacking whenever the opportunity arose.
One such counter saw Fabian Delph and Jonathan Howson slice open Swindon's defence and play in Beckford, whose accuracy deserted him. But with five minutes left, he tucked away a chance set up by David Prutton to leave McAllister punching the air.