Leeds United clean up after Birmingham display littered with errors
Guardian 20/10/13James Riach at Elland Road
Brian McDermott should get Lucas Radebe to turn up at Elland Road more often. The former Leeds captain, still revered in these parts, made a rare appearance before kick-off and then watched his old club dismantle Birmingham City with surprising ease.
Perhaps it was Radebe's presence that proved the catalyst for a highly impressive display full of attacking vim. More likely, however, was a woefully inept first-half performance from Birmingham that gifted their opponents a foothold in the match and ensured that Leeds scored three or more goals in a league game for the first time since December 2012.
Birmingham have not travelled well this season and their manager, Lee Clark, familiar to West Yorkshire following his spell with Huddersfield, will have been aghast at a display littered with errors. Clark prowled the touchline throughout the match as if he was about to implode, but can have absolutely no complaints about the result. Indeed, there were even warning signs before Ross McCormack opened the scoring after 18 minutes, Darren Randolph in Blues' goal having already denied the Scot when one-on-one.
It was an error from Randolph, though, that gifted Leeds an early lead, dashing out and miscontrolling to allow McCormack time to finish into an empty net from 25 yards out. Dan Burn, at the heart of Birmingham's defence, appeared a risk to his own side and was withdrawn at half-time. By then, however, any chance of a comeback had vanished.
Rodolph Austin, a commanding presence in the centre of midfield for Leeds, started and finished a fine move shorty after half an hour. The Jamaican picked up the ball in his own half and spread the play to McCormack on the left flank, who checked before curling a precise cross to the onrushing Austin to head in Leeds' second from close range.
More slack defending from City gifted Matt Smith a third just before half-time. The striker flicked a header on for McCormack whose left-foot shot was parried by Randolph but only as far as Smith, who finished calmly into the bottom left corner.
Clark sent his side out early for the second half and, while Birmingham improved, Leeds continued to find ample space in attack.
City came close when Chris Burke, the only Blues player to emerge with any credit, drifted a ball over Paddy Kenny that was cleared off the line by Tom Lees before David Murphy hit a post with a free-kick.
Yet Birmingham's misery was compounded when Smith, latching on to a fine cross from the youngster Alex Mowatt, thundered a header past Randolph with 16 minutes remaining.