Yorkshire Evening Post 24/9/08
Leeds United cash in with late gem
By Phil Hay
Leeds United 3 Hartlepool United 2
Lower league clubs are trained in the business of milking cup competitions for every possible penny, but there comes a point where the line between money and ambition begins to blur.
Andy Robinson's focus was spread over two alternative scenarios last night after his goal of supreme skill or obscene luck – only he knows which – entered Leeds United into the fourth round of the Carling Cup.
A draw against Liverpool would be nice, he confessed, but no better than another tie at Elland Road against a team in United's metaphorical league. Gary McAllister agreed in principle, unable to hide his inherent taste for cup football.
"I'd be pleased with a home draw against anybody," he said.
This is not, yet, a competition that Leeds can expect to seriously influence or, in their wildest thoughts, plan to win but the arrival of the last 16 should play on the competitive spirit of their squad.
To describe their progression through three stages as an exceptional achievement is not an exaggeration – give or take six months, Leeds were playing in the Champions League as recently as they were the fourth round of the League Cup – but who in McAllister's camp would want to stop at that?
The Scot, after all, was a knockout specialist during his two seasons with Liverpool.
United's performances in both the Carling Cup and the Johnstone's Paint Trophy this season have reached if not exceeded his standards, and the club's aspiration shone throughout another excellent tie at Elland Road last night.
The value of the draw which paired Leeds with Hartlepool was highly debatable for both McAllister and his counterpart Danny Wilson, producing a tie which both managers might have preferred to avoid.
Hartlepool, from United's point of view, were eminently beatable and Wilson may have aired a similar opinion about Leeds, but there was little of material worth to be gained from yesterday's match, other than a place in round four.
For all the stylish craft with which Leeds removed Chester City and Crystal Palace from the Carling Cup last month, the resulting financial reward has been meagre.
Sky's decision to televise their first-round match at the Deva Stadium increased their earnings slightly, but the tie against Palace pulled in just under 11,000 supporters.
"This evening is our fourth cup match," wrote Ken Bates in United's programme. "We haven't made much extra money so far."
Last night's respectable attendance of 14,599 failed to significantly up their income, and although every ticket was value for money, in the absence of opposition whose profile would have been lucrative in victory or defeat, United's game against Hartlepool was not worth losing.
A better plan would have been to bail out immediately at Chester.
McAllister's starting line-up listed nine alterations but his selected team did not indicate a feeling of disinterest.
He no doubt concurred with his chairman's admission that the Carling Cup could offer Leeds more than it had already.
It seemed doubtful after two minutes that the competition was about to yield any additional wealth to Bates or his club.
No sooner had McAllister's revised defence – displaying changes in all five positions, his goalkeeper included – taken their positions than Casper Ankergren was fishing the ball out of his net.
A free-kick delivered by Ritchie Humphreys in the second minute took a flick off the head of Joel Porter and presented Andy Monkhouse, Hartlepool's Leeds-born winger, with a free header at the back post.
Without a defender to hassle him, Monkhouse picked his spot and nodded the ball calmly across Ankergren.
Ben Parker and Neil Kilkenny drove shots wide of the visitors' goal – Parker's a wasteful finish six yards from goal – after Leeds walked through Wilson's defence, and a moment of hesitation from Sam Collins in the 14th minute laid United's equaliser on a plate.
The defender ran the ball out of defence and allowed Robert Snodgrass to pinch possession from his feet, leaving Hartlepool keeper Arran Lee-Barrett exposed to the Scottish forward.
Snodgrass considered playing in Enoch Showunmi before realising that Lee-Barrett was beyond help and stabbed the ball low to the keeper's right.
The level scoreline was more befitting of a game which had been played out almost entirely in Hartlepool's half, but Wilson stood delighted in an atmosphere of disbelief when his team ventured forward tentatively in the 33rd minute and conjured their second goal.
Porter collected a deflected pass on the edge of United's box and, like Monkhouse before him, found defenders conspicuously absent as he flighted a deft left-footed shot over Ankergren and into the same corner of the net as Monkhouse's finish.
The annoyance for McAllister was that, two concessions aside, his team had not played badly.
Jermaine Beckford was introduced before half-time, though not for reasons of panic on United's bench.
Snodgrass' game instead ended early when a stomach upset forced his hasty retreat and substitution in the 36th minute, heralding Beckford's entrance earlier than McAllister would have liked.
Leeds were at least spared from a deficit of two goals when a lovely counter-attack from Wilson's side – reminiscent of the build-up to Beckford's strike at Carlisle United on Saturday – ended with Ankergren parrying a volley from Ritchie Jones, and his weak finish was a consolation for Leeds in the face of a peculiar half and a scoreline which was difficult to fathom.
Wilson's recurring problem was breaking United's domination of possession, and the second half did not bring a change in momentum.
Lee-Barrett pulled off an instinctive save to block Showunmi's shot low to his left after the striker sprinted through a gap between Hartlepool's centre-backs in the 51st minute, but the keeper could not prevent the striker from laying claim to a second equaliser six minutes later.
A quick free-kick found David Prutton running into space close to the byline, and his cut-back invited a shot from Beckford which deflected on to the bar.
Lee-Barrett dived backwards in search of the ball and fell helplessly to the ground as Showunmi bundled an unmissable opportunity over the line.
The onslaught from Leeds was signalled but after shots from Beckford and Prutton flew wide of the same post by the same tight margin, the tension created by the delicately-balanced scoreline became apparent for the first time.
It took Robinson's outrageous goal to drag the teams apart at the very end of the 90th minute.
Howson played the ball to Robinson on the right wing, and a piercing shot which might well have been intended as a cross lobbed Lee-Barrett with blinding pace and stretched the net at the keeper's back post.
It's the result that counts, said Robinson with a smile, aware that this hitherto minor adventure is about to get interesting.
Yorkshire Evening Post 22/9/08
Still room for improvement says Mac
"Excellence I can reach for," remarked a famous American actor when asked about the pursuit of greatness in his profession. "Perfection is God's business."
In that respect, God and Gary McAllister are patently like-minded.
Saturday's victory at Brunton Park was McAllister's opportunity to thrust out his chest and mock with impunity the mild murmuring which accompanied Leeds United's fluctuating results last month, but he chose instead to talk with a level head which left many listening scratching theirs.
A deserved victory, he confessed in response to Leeds grinding three points out of the least accommodating stadium League One has to offer, but not a victory without its faults.
Unreliable ball retention and unforced errors were cited as the margin for improvement in McAllister's keen eyes, his desire for excellence bordering on perfection prompting one journalist to remark that he was struggling to imagine Leeds at their best.
John Ward's appreciation of their performance was more succinct.
"I expect them to win the league," admitted Carlisle United's manager.
McAllister's concerns were astute criticisms of Leeds after Saturday's match in Cumbria, but he was virtually alone among the crowd of 12,148 in finding time to think of them.
That, it could be argued, is what separates a high-level manager from the average onlooker, but the times are few when a coach can find fault with his players while analysing a result as welcome as United's victory at Brunton Park.
Picky or otherwise, McAllister must have been secretly buoyant.
Carlisle's stadium revels in its formidable reputation – a mere 21 of the last 100 league matches played at Brunton Park before Saturday have resulted in away victories – but Leeds are finding the venue more agreeable by the visit.
United were the last club to win at Brunton Park during the second leg of a play-off semi-final which seems increasingly distant, and they are now the first club to have earned any points from a trip to Carlisle this season.
Prior to Saturday, their home record after three matches was perfect.
The numerical facts concerning the Cumbrian venue were only ever of statistical value – comments made by Leeds' players and coaching staff before the game revealed their suspicion that the concrete facade of Brunton Park had an element of the emperor's new clothes about it – and the reality for Ward after full-time was another discussion about a borderline contest against Leeds which his club had lost.
Carlisle have been here before – notably after last season's play-off semi-final – and the difference in quality between the teams on Saturday was not great enough to leave Ward fearing for his players' ability to bridge it.
The match in the main was dormant, buzzing with energy but minus the explosions that the pick of the weekend's matches was expected to produce.
When major chances fell to Leeds the visitors accepted them with precision and efficiency ensuring that, in an important game between two promotion candidates, they did not go to waste.
But moments in the fixture when a different result seemed possible were very scarce once United established a lead.
McAllister's mild dissatisfaction may have been a response to the first 15 minutes, during which time his side's retention of the ball was feeble.
Stray passes flew around inside their own half and the speed with which Carlisle settled was due to the encouragement given to them by United's casual air.
It was a temporary deficiency and the lack of a complete performance was not entirely the fault of Leeds. Crewe Alexandra were woeful a fortnight ago and Swindon Town were arguably worse.
But delighted though McAllister would have been with a similar trouncing of Carlisle, such an outcome was never likely.
The teams who play Carlisle off their own pitch this season will be few in number.
Tension took hold of Carlisle in a nervous play-off game at Brunton Park five months ago, their demise aided by United's invigorated display, but the outcome on Saturday came down to Leeds' constant ability to create unmissable chances and their confidence in finishing some which are.
Luciano Becchio scored the opening goal in the 32nd minute and a brilliant counter-attack which flew at full speed from one end of the pitch to the other was turned into the net by a sliding Jermaine Beckford with four minutes left, recording his 11th finish of a season which has no obvious personal limits.
Beckford's double figures deserve to be the talk of League One, but Becchio's goal rewarded another effective display of physical effort, hard running and intelligent movement.
He is, unfortunately, in Beckford's shadow but not for a want of trying.
The partnership has become so firmly established that McAllister does not see a need to include Enoch Showunmi among his substitutes.
In the minutes leading up to Becchio's finish, the skillful Simon Hackney – Carlisle's best player though one compared somewhat hopefully to Cristiano Ronaldo in the post-match press conference – had flighted a cross against the crossbar and Jonathan Douglas' volley bounced two yards past Carlisle's goal, but the game was meandering in no particular direction before the opening goal.
Ben Williams, Carlisle's goalkeeper, held his ground when a low shot from Neil Kilkenny struck his legs and bounced behind in the 32nd minute, but the corner which followed immediately broke the deadlock.
Williams came to collect Kilkenny's delivery but backtracked at the last minute and the cut-back provided by Paul Telfer gave Becchio the chance to stab the ball towards goal.
With Williams stranded, the shot took a slight deflection off the head of Andrew Hughes and rose into the roof of the net.
Carlisle's response to what seemed a poor concession consisted of shots from Hackney and Marc Bridge-Wilkinson, both from outside the box and both failing to unnerve Lucas.
Ward's strategy was then complicated by the loss of his leading striker, Danny Graham, to a head injury at half-time.
Graham's presence would have been valuable in the second half, but Ward admitted later that onset of possible concussion had forced the sensible decision.
With the forward retired to the dressing room, Hackney led the assault with a shot which struck a defender as it flew towards goal and another low strike that Lucas held well.
The point of no return arrived in the 83rd minute when a third effort from Hackney slipped past Lucas' far post with Jennison Myrie-Williams desperately attempting to scramble the ball into the net, and Carlisle were picked off three minutes later by a goal of immense quality.
A direct exchange of passes drilled the ball from United's area to the left wing where Robert Snodgrass predicted Beckford's run and picked out the striker with a glorious cross which Beckford caressed passed Williams.
The second goal might have come against the run of play but it also arrived six minutes after Frazer Richardson's left-footed strike clattered the bar, and Ward was not in the mood to complain.
McAllister, in contrast, delivered a verdict which amounted to 'can do better and will do better'.
Just what his managerial colleagues wanted to hear.