To Ell and Back
Saturday 22nd August, 2009
By Keith Jones

It was an early return to Elland Road for the Rovers faithful, hoping to avenge the disappointing 3-1 reverse from April. Whilst the result turned out the same, the performances was very different.

Team news

Barnes again named an unchanged side, with injury doubts Goodison and Thomas-Moore making the starting 11 and Ricketts earning a place on the bench.

The match

The brilliant sunshine matched Rovers luminous new lime green away kit, but there was nothing bright about the performance. The warning signs were there as early as the 1st minute when Beckford escaped from Goodison but shot weakly at Daniels who saved comfortably. Just 3 minutes later the Leeds hitman, who before the game had been presented with the League 1 Player of Year award, again found himself one-on-one with Daniels, this time beating him, but his shot hit the post and Rovers were fortunate that Becchio couldn’t reach the rebound.

On a rare foray into the Leeds half, Mahon had a speculative long range shot saved by Higgs, but the one way traffic continued with Beckford blazing over from 12 yards when he should have done better. Rovers couldn’t hang on much longer and the hosts took the lead on 14 minutes. Two missed tackles down the Rovers left, allowed the impressive Crowe to deliver a perfect cross onto the head of Becchio. A powerful header from just 6 yards out by the Argentine striker was brilliantly saved by Daniels, but Johnson reacted quickest and slotted in the rebound.

Rovers then had their best chance of the game but Patrick Kisnorbo denied Thomas-Moore with a well timed tackle. The white tide continued and Daniels saved well from Beckford and got up bravely to beat Becchio to the rebound. On 35 minutes it was 2-0. A long ball forward was misjudged by Goodison whose weak header left Beckford clear and this time he made no mistake clipping the ball in off the left upright. Goodison did not look fully fit, and Ash Taylor was seen warming up on 40 minutes, but it was Gunning who went off having failed to recover from a collision on the far touch line. Johnson should have scored just before half time, but was denied by the excellent Daniels.

Barnes shuffled the pack at half time, bringing on Ricketts for Curran and switching Mahon to the right and Shuker to the left. It made no difference as Leeds continued to pile on the pressure. Beckford missed two gilt edged chances, one coming back off the underside of the bar, and Daniels pulled off a stunning save from a Kisnorbo long ranger that was deflected. The Beckford show continued with a first time strike from 30 yards coming back off the post. Daniels made 2 further good saves and the post was struck yet again, this time by Becchio following a scramble from a corner. The woodwork was hit for a sixth time by Johnson in the 86th minute but this time Rovers luck was out as the ball looped up nicely for Becchio to power in a header. Rovers offered nothing of any note going forward throughout the entire second half.

The Good

• Luke Daniels – looks to have a big future.

• Ash Taylor - was decent enough against a powerful strike force and will have come on for the experience.

• Ricketts – looked strong (but unfit) and could hold the ball up which is something we have missed since Bas was injured.

The Bad

• Powder puff midfield – completely outclassed and outfought. Leeds had Robinson, Kilkenny and Prutton on the bench which shows their strength in depth. You can therefore accept being outclassed but there is no excuse at all for being outfought.

• Goodison – looked unfit and out of sorts. Was destroyed by Beckford.

• Barnes subs – no Barnett or Gornell.

Man of the Match

Daniels - by a distance.