Subdued Whites settle for a point
By Phil Hay
From the chaos and hostility of Hillsborough to the relative slumber of a 1-1 draw at home to Charlton Athletic; there are ways of keeping a crowd in check and last night’s game at Elland Road was one.
As a contrast of football, emotion and scandal, Leeds United’s derby at Sheffield Wednesday last Friday felt like a different sport.
The ramifications of that controversial game have been all-consuming and a FA investigation into it has some way to run but United’s meeting with Charlton will not resonate in the corridors of Soho Square. It made hard work of encapsulating Elland Road.
There was, in truth, no harm in United’s first game since Hillsborough passing off without any choice headlines and it would have suited Neil Warnock had his team teased three points from an hour-and-a-half of unremarkable entertainment. David Norris’ 37th-minute goal – an isolated moment of poise and inspiration – gave United that chance.
But Dorian Dervite’s soft reply at the start of the second half retrieved a point for Charlton amid a general lack of conviction all over the field.
Results are not lacking in Leeds, however, and the unbeaten spell which reached six games while all were losing their heads in Sheffield took another step forward last night.
United have been on the fringes of the Championship’s play-off positions for a while and, with the semblance of form behind them, they sat a point adrift of sixth at full-time.
A livelier performance would have done for Charlton, who made no great attempt to throw caution to the wind until the closing stages, but Tuesday night fixtures involving United are not renowned for champagne football and United hung on anxiously at the death.
They earned their point but no more than that.
The same might have been said about their clash with Sheffield Wednesday had anyone felt like discussing the game.
As the fall-out from Friday’s derby consumed Leeds, reflection on their display at Hillsborough went almost unheeded.
Warnock claimed the match-defining assault by a United fan on Wednesday goalkeeper Chris Kirkland drew the sting from the contest at a time when his side were more likely to win it but Wednesday’s dominance in the first half had been palpable.
So exhausted did Rodolph Austin look in Sheffield, hours after flying home from an international appearances with Jamaica, that his half-time substitution at Hillsborough was followed by a complete omission from Warnock’s squad yesterday.
Michael Tonge’s blistering volley on Friday – the unintentional catalyst for the trouble which followed – also failed to protect his place, and Warnock’s changes ran to four, giving his midfield an experimental look.
Among the players included was Paul Green, a player last seen limping from the field at Elland Road on the first weekend of the Championship season.
Charlton were beset by a limping midfielder of the own before last night’s game even began.
A hamstring strain ended Dale Stephens involvement in the pre-match warm-up and Bradley Pritchard took his place at short notice. It did not do Charlton a great deal of good.
Parts of the first half belonged to them but the chances fell routinely to Leeds. Most stemmed from hard and direct counter-attacks, the speed of which Charlton struggled to cope with.
An early header from Jason Pearce cleared the visitors’ crossbar from too long a range to trouble goalkeeper Ben Hamer, and a timely clearance from Leon Cort prevented Norris’ 14th-minute volley from testing Hamer’s reflexes.
The ball looked destined for the corner of the net until Cort met it with his head. None of those glimmers of promise harnessed the enthusiasm of a quiet and half-full stadium.
The highlight of the first 20 minutes was the struggle of one linesman to mend a flag which kept falling apart in his hands.
Pritchard avoided a yellow card for tripping Luke Varney but Rob Hulse – a striker known well to Leeds and Warnock – deservedly incurred one after catching Adam Drury with his studs.
It was as lively as the first half got before Norris produced a goal that had not been coming.
Luciano Becchio summed up the mood on the half-hour by lashing the ball into the crowd after needlessly running it out of play.
Referee Nigel Miller booked him for a show of dissent which was more akin to personal frustration.
Minutes earlier, Cort had headed a Johnnie Jackson free-kick wide of Paddy Kenny’s goal but Kenny and Hamer spent more time plucking aimless crosses from the air. More often than not, they were not involved at all.
But Hamer found himself exposed and unable to react when Jason Pearce met Michael Brown’s cross with a downward header.
The ball caught a Charlton arm but Miller allowed play to run and Norris took advantage with a shot on the turn which swung inside Hamer’s left-hand post.
Charlton saw trouble afoot and threatened to equalise three times before half-time: once when Jackson pulled a feeble finish wide with United’s defence stretched, again when Hulse drove an ambitious if worthwhile volley into the advertising boards, and for a third time when Tom Lees headed a corner against his own crossbar. The near-miss was reminiscent of Kenny’s fumble in the opening minutes of Friday’s derby at Hillsborough.
The break intervened soon after but Charlton’s manager, Chris Powell, was not asked to wait much longer and four minutes into the second half, Lawrie Wilson laid off a pass to Dervite whose weak shot from 20 yards rolled past an unsighted Kenny.
A sense of deflation was evident all round but the concession provoked in Warnock’s players a short burst of energy.
Repeated attacks down the right wing weighed heavily on Charlton and Sam Byram lifted a header over the bar after Drury picked out his run with curling cross.
Charlton should have scored again on the hour when an off-balance Salim Kerkar bundled Wilson’s low delivery wide of an open goal but the visitors seemed content to allow Leeds to press.
Warnock attempted to exploit their tactics by introducing Tonge and the pace of Aidan White, a means of forcing the issue, but stray passes and offside forwards killed most of the minutes that remained.
Only after two sensational saves from Kenny denied substitute Bradley Wright-Phillips in injury-time could United even be sure of a point.