'Ken Bates' Dad's Dog's Dead'
Afternoon all, and what a glorious day to be alive! The Super Reds are super and Dirty Leeds are despatched. One way traffic from start to finish, aside from Ross Barclay's turn and shot which hit the bar for them. Harewood cuts inside and hits the post (though it was a surprise it even hit the post, looked wide) and Crainie flicks a corner onto the same woodwork (though it was a surprise it even hit the post, looked a nailed on goal). On top of that, the Flying Pig (Kenny) made a number of saves from long distance, while I simply cannot remember Steele making a save in our net.
At 2-0, the game was over and we enjoyed a stress free last 20 minutes as any time DL got within 25 yards of our goal, they handily cleared it into the Ponty. Good lads. And in their longest spell of possession (note: 'possession' not pressure) it was a joy to watch someone else pass square, square, backwards, square, before hoofing it out for a throw. Are Leeds the new Barnsley? I can also listen to Leeds fans booing their side off all day every day. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Ha ha haaaa.
Of course, it wouldn't be a game against Dirty Leeds without the obligatory carrying off of a Reds player. This year proved to be the turn of Jim O'Brien. O'Brien nipped in ahead of their player, knocked the ball of his shins and their bloke went straight through him. In this day and age, it's a booking at least. So naturally the ref waves play-on and once Steele collects and kicks it into the stand, on comes the stretcher and off goes Jim. So when Leeds fans were later chanting 'We only get s*** refs', I presume they were meaning decisions such as these. Or the penalty they got to beat us at their place, the foul being 2 yards outside the box??? Good to see Jim (with crutches) on the pitch at the end to celebrate. (Well, it would have been good: I didn't see it, but the others did.)
On comes Mellis and off goes hope, or at least a little of it, as part of our success at that stage was the high tempo pressing game of O'Brien, Perkins, Dawson and Dagnall which they revel in. A team as poor as Leeds was unable to pass it's way out of trouble. Another key ingredient was the fluid system we had. Arguably Kennedy was key to this, as Stones and Golbourne were allowed to get up the park without worrying about the lack of cover behind. Didn't we reach the Prem playing something resembling 3-5-2? At one point, Stones chased Leeds down and ended up being in the centre forward spot, while Harewood (Harewood!!) ran back 60 yards to cover him.
This was a joyous team perfromance, and without doubt the best of the season at home. The front partnership of Harewood and Dagnall tore them to bits, with Harewood holding the ball up, winning corners, while Dagnall's movement had them tied up. It's also amazing what keeping the ball on the floor can do for this front 2.
The atmosphere was very good, though the crowd numbers were worrying. If Leeds brought 4800 and the crowd was 13999....Having said that, it felt busier than 9200 Reds fans in the ground. There weren't any empty seats around me, though it seems the East lower, towards the away end, was kept empty after the trouble v Washday and some of them had migrated to the posh seats.
*** Dagnall. Ran Leeds ragged. Turned them inside out for the pen, so when all was done and dusted and he was insisting on taking it himself, folk all round Oakwell were saying 'DON'T let HIM take it, FFS'. My mind was made up. He'd been awesome all game. He'd earnt the right to take it. And if he missed, I wouldn't blame him. He didn't, Kenny went the wrong way and it was 1-0 Barnsley. And to prove an albatross had been lifted from his neck, he then went and buried a left footer into the far corner. You could see what it meant to the little fella. (Mind, it's still not enough for me to stop mistakenly calling him Shuker, as I did later on. There is something deeply embedded in my consciousness about dark haired dwarves with receding hairlines wearing red shirts.)
** Harewood. Ran the channels, held the ball up, took a bit of the physical and linked up perfectly with Dagnall. Best forward display of the season, save for Davies and Dagnall at Brum.
* tough one. Anybody apart from Mellis (continues his stroll through the Championship) or Steele (nothing to do). I'll go with KENNEDY. Simply cos his inclusion made it feel like it wasn't the usual back 4: Stones Foster Wiseman Golbourne.
Despatches:
Leeds fans. Now, I'm all for a bit of un-PC, but if I was giving some of these lads any credit, it's that they must be deliberately doing these things to get up people's noses, so, QED, I have to ignore it. But I'm not sure they even have THAT intellect. How do you follow 'He's Jimmy Savile, he shags who he wants' with 'Davie Jones is a paedophile' (note: found not guilty in court). Do you have to be a pr*ck to support Leeds? (it helps). Maybe they could do stickers in the club shop: 'You don't have to be a pr*ck to support us...but it helps!' They obviously pick up more than their fair share, see also the bloke from Gloucestershire who slapped Kirkland at Washday.
I was sorry I missed the teams coming out. Rumour has it P. Hicks (formerly of Harrow) was 'flying the flag' (quite literally) for Barnsley. He'll be pleased to know previous allegations of his gayness once again came up on the train, together with a select few chanting his name.
Davies: Good riddance. I rated him, but if the extent of his ambition is turning out for another struggling side with no hope of the play-offs, I'll take the £300k thank you very much. I wish players would be honest and just say 'I went for the money'.
Flitcroft: I note in the Chron he said it was time for Wiseman to move on. 'The emergence of Stones and the fans love of Hassell have made it difficult for him.' He missed the bit about 'not being good enough' and 'getting picked every week however s*** he was'. On the positive, as I write this, Flitcroft's been given the manager's job. And after 4 months without a home win, we've now won every home game this year (two). Based on yesterday, I wish him luck. I was very impressed at the fluid nature of the set-up and it augurs well for the rest of the season. The fight starts here, kids!
Onwards and upwards! COME ON YOU REDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment