Leeds United coach admits striker making job ‘harder’ after team record fifth hat-trick of season - YEP 7/11/22
Leeds United’s Under-21 head coach Michael Skubala admits the striking options at his disposal are making his job difficult as Max Dean netted the side’s fifth hat-trick of the campaign
By Joe Donnohue
One of Leeds’ greatest ironies this season is that while a
consistent, well-suited No. 9 at first-team level continues to elude Jesse
Marsch, they’re bursting at the seams with them in the Under-21s. Teenage
forward Max Dean took home the match ball following United’s 4-2 win over
Newcastle in Premier League 2 Division 2 on Monday afternoon, netting three
times during the second half to send Leeds six points clear at the top.
In addition to Mateo Joseph’s three hat-tricks and Patrick
Bamford’s triple for the junior side, Dean’s exploits mean the team have
collectively scored five hat-tricks in nine PL2 fixtures this season.
Mirroring the first-team’s high-scoring win over AFC
Bournemouth at the weekend, Leeds went a goal in front early on, Kris Moore
finding the net with a towering back post header after less than two minutes.
Much like the Cherries’ response at Elland Road last Saturday, Newcastle
equalised before the clock had reached double digits, however Leeds’ youngsters
maintained control and stood firm.
At the break, Michael Skubala’s young side went in level.
Without the likes of Leo Hjelde, Darko Gyabi, Sean McGurk or top scorer Mateo
Joseph, Leeds had fared reasonably well against a Newcastle outfit who appeared
organised and engaged in closing the home side down inside their own half.
Shortly after the restart, though, Dean scored his first of
the afternoon. Wrestling his opponent as he bore down on goal, Dean latched
onto Cody Drameh’s pinpoint early cross before toe-poking his effort goalward,
underneath stopper Jude Smith, who had made several impressive stops already in
the game.
Dean’s second of the day came a minute later, capitalising
on an error in Newcastle’s defence to cheekily slot the ball home and open up a
two-goal cushion. Goalkeeper Smith had vacated his goalmouth to offer captain
Alex Murphy a short passing option, whose ball forwards was intercepted by Joe
Snowdon.
Newcastle pulled one back through Harry Barclay mid-way
through the second half to make the score 3-2, but it was Barclay who played
Dean onside as the forward – hungry for a third – fired underneath Smith to
re-establish Leeds’ two-goal advantage and dash any hopes of a black-and-white
comeback.
"He was good,” head coach Skubala said at full-time,
discussing Dean’s performance. “We talked about at halftime ‘keep challenging
the line and we think you'll get in’, because they had a high line at times.
“He's been in and out the squad, it's been a really good day
for him because he's come in and I thought he took his hat-trick and his goals
really well.
"It's a really proud performance by Deano today.”
"I said to three or four of them today: ‘Look, you've been
waiting for this. You've been ready for this. So, go and take a chance go and
show that you can perform and make it really difficult going into January who
I'm going to pick’, so that's what I really liked.
“They've made my job harder, if you like,” Skubala added.
