Stevenage 0 Leeds United 3: Varney’s rapid-fire treble lifts the gloom
YEP 23/7/13
by Phil Hay
Watford went to Stevenage on Saturday and wiped the floor with them, despite the story a 2-0 scoreline told.
An easy afternoon was had by last season’s play-off finalists, a club who are gathering in numbers again for a second attack on the Championship’s top end.
Leeds United will soon find Watford and their ilk where Stevenage stood last night and a visit to the Lamex Stadium asked more of Brian McDermott’s players but Luke Varney’s hat-trick earned them a heavier win. Stevenage, McDermott hoped, would right the wrongs of Saturday’s sorry defeat to Walsall. The second half did just that.
Prior to the interval, United’s manager was finding more questions than answers and wondering where to turn next.
He has 72 hours to draw his conclusions before Leeds meet Nuremberg – the final friendly of the summer – and it might be that he reverts largely to the team bullied by Walsall in the hope that Saturday was an off-day.
There was little in yesterday’s match for him to nail his colours to, aside from the lively running of Aidan White, until Leeds and Varney found the taste for blood and began to run riot in the last half-hour.
Crucial to that surge in performance was the 60th-minute arrival from the bench of Ross McCormack and Rodolph Austin, both of whom pressurised a tiring Stevenage team and broke them open.
It is McDermott’s misfortune to have Austin suspended on the first day of the season. With momentum gathered, Varney struck on 71 minutes and again four minutes later before converting a penalty to stem a run of three straight pre-season losses. The flurry of goals was a welcome shot in the arm.
McDermott is still at the stage where he needs a big weekend, full of energy, electricity and players putting their hands up as Varney, White and others did in Stevenage. Signings he needs too but circumstances at Elland Road seem to be tying his hands.
He is no further forward than he was when he outlined a one out, one in transfer policy after full-time in Walsall. His midfield diamond survived last night but most of the players beaten over the weekend did not.
Eight lost their places and Zac Thompson and Adam Drury were asked to supply the width from full-back which was chronically absent at Walsall.
If anything, Thompson and Drury were more restricted and reluctant than Lee Peltier and Stephen Warnock had been but the game opened up eventually and Stevenage began to suffer.
Without wingers on whom he feels he can rely, McDermott’s right-back and left-back are two of the more critical links in the chain, there in theory to attack freely while Paul Green covers the open space behind.
Green kept his place against Stevenage, as did Tom Lees and Paddy Kenny, but McDermott cut the rest of his team to pieces. Niggles accounted for Matt Smith and Jason Pearce.
The is no likelihood of United’s manager pressing ahead with Danny Pugh in the centre of defence or a line-up identical to last night’s but the only alternative to a complete rethink was to allow the loss at Walsall to pass quietly, something McDermott refused to countenance. He might still find himself returning to his original ideas when Nuremberg come to Leeds.
The brighter moments in the first half - few in number as they were – belonged in the main to Stevenage, much to McDermott’s consternation. To describe Stevenage’s early openings as chances was stretching credibility but Oumare Tounkara and Jordan Burrow were dispossessed before they could shoot from close range and Luke Jones’ free header from a deep header would have done well to beat Kenny, even if the centre-back had not sent the ball towards the corner flag.
As Stevenage persisted, their misses became closer. Tom Lees dispossessed Tounkara with a risky sliding tackle on the edge of the six-yard box and Kenny dived to beat Jon Ashton’s header off his goalline. United’s goalkeeper could consider himself the form player at Elland Road.
Stevenage’s Chris Day made his first save in the 25 minute, clasping an overhead kick from Varney after Poleon failed to connect in the same manner, but Green’s swipe over the crossbar after the home defence lost their bearings summed up most of the half. Tansey’s deflected attempt on the half-hour was inches from slipping inside Kenny’s left-hand post.
Only on the cusp of half-time did United finally click, with Aidan White exploiting his pace on the left wing and dinking a cross to Poleon at the far post. The ball held up nicely but Poleon headed it into the ground, allowing Stevenage to clear amid suspicions of a foul on Varney.
For the first time, Leeds took hold of the friendly and Day used his feet to keep out a Michael Brown free-kick and repel Poleon’s follow-up in the last minute of the half but Kenny dug Leeds out of trouble 10 seconds after the interval, bundling Tounkara’s strike wide after the striker ran away from Pugh.
David Norris hacked a volley over at the other end after a purposeful exchange of passes with Poleon and his effort prompted another flicker of promise leading up the hour mark as United’s passing and running wore their hosts down.
Tom Lees drilled a header wide with the game flowing deeper into Stevenage’s half, and McDermott turned the screw by throwing McCormack and Austin into the fray. But Varney took it upon himself to bring the night to life with a hanging header at the far post on 71 minutes, a chance teed up by Austin’s delivery, and his close-range finish four minutes later settled the contest. When Varney was felled inside the box with 10 minutes to play, the crowd of 1,400 behind Day’s net saw to it that the penalty had one name on it. Varney made no mistake.
Stevenage: Day, Wedgbury, Ashton, Jones (Deacon 75), Charles, Freeman, Heslop, Tansey (Dunne 68), Tounkara, Lopez, Burrow (Hills 60). Subs (not used): Thompson, Akins, Ball, Shroot, Bruna.
Leeds United: Kenny, Thompson, Lees, Pugh, Drury, Green (Austin 60), Brown, Norris (McCormack 60 (Murphy 82)), White, Varney (Hunt 81), Poleon. Subs (not used): Cairns, Peltier, Warnock, Lenighan.
Referee: Mick Russell (Herts).
Attendance: 2,751 (1,400 Leeds).
Watford went to Stevenage on Saturday and wiped the floor with them, despite the story a 2-0 scoreline told.
An easy afternoon was had by last season’s play-off finalists, a club who are gathering in numbers again for a second attack on the Championship’s top end.
Leeds United will soon find Watford and their ilk where Stevenage stood last night and a visit to the Lamex Stadium asked more of Brian McDermott’s players but Luke Varney’s hat-trick earned them a heavier win. Stevenage, McDermott hoped, would right the wrongs of Saturday’s sorry defeat to Walsall. The second half did just that.
Prior to the interval, United’s manager was finding more questions than answers and wondering where to turn next.
He has 72 hours to draw his conclusions before Leeds meet Nuremberg – the final friendly of the summer – and it might be that he reverts largely to the team bullied by Walsall in the hope that Saturday was an off-day.
There was little in yesterday’s match for him to nail his colours to, aside from the lively running of Aidan White, until Leeds and Varney found the taste for blood and began to run riot in the last half-hour.
Crucial to that surge in performance was the 60th-minute arrival from the bench of Ross McCormack and Rodolph Austin, both of whom pressurised a tiring Stevenage team and broke them open.
It is McDermott’s misfortune to have Austin suspended on the first day of the season. With momentum gathered, Varney struck on 71 minutes and again four minutes later before converting a penalty to stem a run of three straight pre-season losses. The flurry of goals was a welcome shot in the arm.
McDermott is still at the stage where he needs a big weekend, full of energy, electricity and players putting their hands up as Varney, White and others did in Stevenage. Signings he needs too but circumstances at Elland Road seem to be tying his hands.
He is no further forward than he was when he outlined a one out, one in transfer policy after full-time in Walsall. His midfield diamond survived last night but most of the players beaten over the weekend did not.
Eight lost their places and Zac Thompson and Adam Drury were asked to supply the width from full-back which was chronically absent at Walsall.
If anything, Thompson and Drury were more restricted and reluctant than Lee Peltier and Stephen Warnock had been but the game opened up eventually and Stevenage began to suffer.
Without wingers on whom he feels he can rely, McDermott’s right-back and left-back are two of the more critical links in the chain, there in theory to attack freely while Paul Green covers the open space behind.
Green kept his place against Stevenage, as did Tom Lees and Paddy Kenny, but McDermott cut the rest of his team to pieces. Niggles accounted for Matt Smith and Jason Pearce.
The is no likelihood of United’s manager pressing ahead with Danny Pugh in the centre of defence or a line-up identical to last night’s but the only alternative to a complete rethink was to allow the loss at Walsall to pass quietly, something McDermott refused to countenance. He might still find himself returning to his original ideas when Nuremberg come to Leeds.
The brighter moments in the first half - few in number as they were – belonged in the main to Stevenage, much to McDermott’s consternation. To describe Stevenage’s early openings as chances was stretching credibility but Oumare Tounkara and Jordan Burrow were dispossessed before they could shoot from close range and Luke Jones’ free header from a deep header would have done well to beat Kenny, even if the centre-back had not sent the ball towards the corner flag.
As Stevenage persisted, their misses became closer. Tom Lees dispossessed Tounkara with a risky sliding tackle on the edge of the six-yard box and Kenny dived to beat Jon Ashton’s header off his goalline. United’s goalkeeper could consider himself the form player at Elland Road.
Stevenage’s Chris Day made his first save in the 25 minute, clasping an overhead kick from Varney after Poleon failed to connect in the same manner, but Green’s swipe over the crossbar after the home defence lost their bearings summed up most of the half. Tansey’s deflected attempt on the half-hour was inches from slipping inside Kenny’s left-hand post.
Only on the cusp of half-time did United finally click, with Aidan White exploiting his pace on the left wing and dinking a cross to Poleon at the far post. The ball held up nicely but Poleon headed it into the ground, allowing Stevenage to clear amid suspicions of a foul on Varney.
For the first time, Leeds took hold of the friendly and Day used his feet to keep out a Michael Brown free-kick and repel Poleon’s follow-up in the last minute of the half but Kenny dug Leeds out of trouble 10 seconds after the interval, bundling Tounkara’s strike wide after the striker ran away from Pugh.
David Norris hacked a volley over at the other end after a purposeful exchange of passes with Poleon and his effort prompted another flicker of promise leading up the hour mark as United’s passing and running wore their hosts down.
Tom Lees drilled a header wide with the game flowing deeper into Stevenage’s half, and McDermott turned the screw by throwing McCormack and Austin into the fray. But Varney took it upon himself to bring the night to life with a hanging header at the far post on 71 minutes, a chance teed up by Austin’s delivery, and his close-range finish four minutes later settled the contest. When Varney was felled inside the box with 10 minutes to play, the crowd of 1,400 behind Day’s net saw to it that the penalty had one name on it. Varney made no mistake.
Stevenage: Day, Wedgbury, Ashton, Jones (Deacon 75), Charles, Freeman, Heslop, Tansey (Dunne 68), Tounkara, Lopez, Burrow (Hills 60). Subs (not used): Thompson, Akins, Ball, Shroot, Bruna.
Leeds United: Kenny, Thompson, Lees, Pugh, Drury, Green (Austin 60), Brown, Norris (McCormack 60 (Murphy 82)), White, Varney (Hunt 81), Poleon. Subs (not used): Cairns, Peltier, Warnock, Lenighan.
Referee: Mick Russell (Herts).
Attendance: 2,751 (1,400 Leeds).