Leeds United 2 Brighton & HA 1: Cool hand Luke gets United out of jail
YEP 5/8/13
by Phil Hay at Elland Road
Handball or not? Brian McDermott wasn’t sure and Elland Road didn’t care.
Leeds United are in a happy place with no intention of descending from the clouds so McDermott kept his verdict succinct. “To win with the last kick of the game... you’d take that on the first day of the season.”
It was not quite the last kick of the game and the debate raged about whether Luke Murphy, the man of the moment in the 94th minute, had used his arm to control the ball before chipping it into Brighton’s net but the technicalities were moot. It seemed fitting that United’s million-pound signing should raise the roof at the end of a week in which the club and their supporters were made to feel a million dollars.
In mundane terms, Leeds’ 2-1 win was a creditable result against an Albion team whose skill and panache will serve them well during 45 Championship games to come. But to Leeds, the club’s owners and the 33,000 who filled a ground which often looks patchy on the first weekend of the season, it meant much more. When Murphy ran into Brighton’s box and dispatched the ball with all the poise he could muster it was arguably meant to be.
For days leading up to the game a bubble began to swell as United’s relentless marketing and inclusive ethos gradually generated the largest opening-day attendance at Elland Road for 10 years. Between boardroom bloodbaths, off-field initiatives and the defiant commitment of McDermott in the face of few signings, the club and their following have rediscovered a sense of belonging and the spirit of co-operation. The threat on Saturday was a game which deflated all and sundry. Murphy’s goal on his debut had the opposite effect.
McDermott was told to expect a crowd of more than 30,000 but was not ready for the ferocity of the atmosphere which greeted him. He decided on Saturday to switch dug-outs, moving from south to north and standing as close as he could to the Kop. “The goal at the end, I’d love to know the volume of the noise,” he said. “The atmosphere was phenomenal.
“I’ve been here before with away teams but the atmosphere was never like that. It was good before, don’t get me wrong, but that was a different level, extra special. They dragged us over the line.”
His shift from one technical area to another fell into the category of what McDermott likes to call detail. “For me,” he said, “any detail that might make a difference is a detail that might make a difference. So I do it.”
In a wider sense, his particular attitude came good on Saturday as United’s fitness and conditioning did for Brighton with seconds to spare. There were tense moments and times when Albion rattled McDermott’s team but Leeds closed out the game with more strength and more ambition. “We deserved it in the end,” McDermott said as his counterpart, Oscar Garcia, admitted that “concentrating for 89 minutes” left Brighton prone to late problems.
“Both sides could have won that game,” McDermott admitted. “It could have been a draw too. But in the Championship you try and win every game and give yourself a chance. Three points are better than one.
“Do I think Luke handballed? I think the ball connected with his hand. Whether it was handball or not I don’t know. But I thought we deserved a break and maybe we got a break.”
Garcia – a summer replacement for Gus Poyet but very much on Poyet’s wavelength and a disciple of the same style of football – spoke highly of the atmosphere himself, admitting that Leeds away was his ideal opening fixture. The Spaniard will be in less of a hurry to reacquaint himself with Paddy Kenny, a goalkeeper who beat back everything Brighton threw at him after Leonardo Ulloa opened the scoring on 13 minutes.
The opening goal came before either team could properly settle. Bruno fed Ulloa from the right and the forward stepped clear of Tom Lees before smashing the ball past Kenny. McDermott argued later that Ulloa was offside but the goal stood and the noise dropped, if only for six minutes. An equaliser materialised before Brighton had time to work the crowd to their advantage.
Michael Tonge, who for much of the first half dictated United’s play, worked enough space out of a tight spot by in the corner to hook a cross into the path of Ross McCormack close to Brighton’s penalty spot. The Scotland striker – watched by his national coach, Gordon Strachan – brought the ball down with one touch and cracked it through Tomasz Kuszczak’s left hand. The keeper buried his head in the turf as the shot skipped over the line.
Leeds warmed to the contest with parity restored and the few chances that arose before half-time were theirs. Murphy produced the best of them, hacking two shots over Kuszczak’s goal, but the key moment was a two-footed tackle by Luke Varney, rash and clumsy, which referee James Adcock punished with a yellow card. Back in April, when three players were dismissed in the same fixture, Varney would have walked.
The delicate balance of the game at half-time was shown by the cagey quarter-of-an-hour which followed it. United did much of the running but a third goal was elusive until the addition of Kemy Agustien and Will Buckley to Brighton’s midfield opened the match up.
Kenny produced two immense saves in the blink of an eye, parrying Andrew Croft’s side-footed effort before bundling the rebound wide, and McDermott responded by hooking Dominic Poleon from the bench. The young forward went close three times, once with a volley, again with a miscued header and finally with a shot which Kuszczak punched clear.
Brighton dug in gamely but their class created one last opportunity, a point-blank header from Buckley which Kenny clawed away from under his crossbar. There was a temptation to settle for a point there and then but Murphy stole the show by anticipating Matt Smith’s flick, cushioning it contentiously and stabbing it past Kuszczak. In those seconds McDermott struggled to hear himself think but his composure returned in no time at all. “It’s a start,” he said. That it most certainly is.
by Phil Hay at Elland Road
Handball or not? Brian McDermott wasn’t sure and Elland Road didn’t care.
Leeds United are in a happy place with no intention of descending from the clouds so McDermott kept his verdict succinct. “To win with the last kick of the game... you’d take that on the first day of the season.”
It was not quite the last kick of the game and the debate raged about whether Luke Murphy, the man of the moment in the 94th minute, had used his arm to control the ball before chipping it into Brighton’s net but the technicalities were moot. It seemed fitting that United’s million-pound signing should raise the roof at the end of a week in which the club and their supporters were made to feel a million dollars.
In mundane terms, Leeds’ 2-1 win was a creditable result against an Albion team whose skill and panache will serve them well during 45 Championship games to come. But to Leeds, the club’s owners and the 33,000 who filled a ground which often looks patchy on the first weekend of the season, it meant much more. When Murphy ran into Brighton’s box and dispatched the ball with all the poise he could muster it was arguably meant to be.
For days leading up to the game a bubble began to swell as United’s relentless marketing and inclusive ethos gradually generated the largest opening-day attendance at Elland Road for 10 years. Between boardroom bloodbaths, off-field initiatives and the defiant commitment of McDermott in the face of few signings, the club and their following have rediscovered a sense of belonging and the spirit of co-operation. The threat on Saturday was a game which deflated all and sundry. Murphy’s goal on his debut had the opposite effect.
McDermott was told to expect a crowd of more than 30,000 but was not ready for the ferocity of the atmosphere which greeted him. He decided on Saturday to switch dug-outs, moving from south to north and standing as close as he could to the Kop. “The goal at the end, I’d love to know the volume of the noise,” he said. “The atmosphere was phenomenal.
“I’ve been here before with away teams but the atmosphere was never like that. It was good before, don’t get me wrong, but that was a different level, extra special. They dragged us over the line.”
His shift from one technical area to another fell into the category of what McDermott likes to call detail. “For me,” he said, “any detail that might make a difference is a detail that might make a difference. So I do it.”
In a wider sense, his particular attitude came good on Saturday as United’s fitness and conditioning did for Brighton with seconds to spare. There were tense moments and times when Albion rattled McDermott’s team but Leeds closed out the game with more strength and more ambition. “We deserved it in the end,” McDermott said as his counterpart, Oscar Garcia, admitted that “concentrating for 89 minutes” left Brighton prone to late problems.
“Both sides could have won that game,” McDermott admitted. “It could have been a draw too. But in the Championship you try and win every game and give yourself a chance. Three points are better than one.
“Do I think Luke handballed? I think the ball connected with his hand. Whether it was handball or not I don’t know. But I thought we deserved a break and maybe we got a break.”
Garcia – a summer replacement for Gus Poyet but very much on Poyet’s wavelength and a disciple of the same style of football – spoke highly of the atmosphere himself, admitting that Leeds away was his ideal opening fixture. The Spaniard will be in less of a hurry to reacquaint himself with Paddy Kenny, a goalkeeper who beat back everything Brighton threw at him after Leonardo Ulloa opened the scoring on 13 minutes.
The opening goal came before either team could properly settle. Bruno fed Ulloa from the right and the forward stepped clear of Tom Lees before smashing the ball past Kenny. McDermott argued later that Ulloa was offside but the goal stood and the noise dropped, if only for six minutes. An equaliser materialised before Brighton had time to work the crowd to their advantage.
Michael Tonge, who for much of the first half dictated United’s play, worked enough space out of a tight spot by in the corner to hook a cross into the path of Ross McCormack close to Brighton’s penalty spot. The Scotland striker – watched by his national coach, Gordon Strachan – brought the ball down with one touch and cracked it through Tomasz Kuszczak’s left hand. The keeper buried his head in the turf as the shot skipped over the line.
Leeds warmed to the contest with parity restored and the few chances that arose before half-time were theirs. Murphy produced the best of them, hacking two shots over Kuszczak’s goal, but the key moment was a two-footed tackle by Luke Varney, rash and clumsy, which referee James Adcock punished with a yellow card. Back in April, when three players were dismissed in the same fixture, Varney would have walked.
The delicate balance of the game at half-time was shown by the cagey quarter-of-an-hour which followed it. United did much of the running but a third goal was elusive until the addition of Kemy Agustien and Will Buckley to Brighton’s midfield opened the match up.
Kenny produced two immense saves in the blink of an eye, parrying Andrew Croft’s side-footed effort before bundling the rebound wide, and McDermott responded by hooking Dominic Poleon from the bench. The young forward went close three times, once with a volley, again with a miscued header and finally with a shot which Kuszczak punched clear.
Brighton dug in gamely but their class created one last opportunity, a point-blank header from Buckley which Kenny clawed away from under his crossbar. There was a temptation to settle for a point there and then but Murphy stole the show by anticipating Matt Smith’s flick, cushioning it contentiously and stabbing it past Kuszczak. In those seconds McDermott struggled to hear himself think but his composure returned in no time at all. “It’s a start,” he said. That it most certainly is.