It was certainly anything but a game for the light-hearted of players.Dean Furman had hoped dearly to give the South Yorkshire outfit the lead with a long effort which Paddy Kenny saved.Leeds then had a super header put over by Ross McCormack from Alex Mowatt's corner.
Mowatt would then be the provider for his side.A free-kick on 19 minutes was perfectly executed by former waiter Matt Smith-who was at Leeds' service.SMITH tapped the ball home.
Ross McCormack,arguably the best player in the league and without a doubt Leeds' finest forward,then struck an effort over the bar from the edge of the area after 30 minutes.Soon after,Chris Brown couldn't convert a cross and before the interval,Theo Robinson fired wide.
After a stoppage on 50 minutes due to Khumalo being hurt in a challenge,Richie Wellens wanted to finally score following some criticism that he doesn't try his luck.He did-but Kenny saved his low shot.With under 25 minutes left,Robinson was denied a goal,despite an angry call from his manager saying he was onside.
76 minutes played and it was the obvious name ROSS MCCORMACK who sealed the points almost indefinitely.Against the run of play,he slotted a solo effort under Turnbull.And even better for him,the fans in the CASE Construction stand were roaring with cheer.
Paul Quinn had been important in the backline and wanted to add to the one he scored against QPR.He tried,but proved luck was not going to help.Jamaican Rudi Austin made it 3-0 after converting a cross from McCormack.
This is Leeds' first away win in six but a confidence blow to Doncaster who face unbeatable Derby next week.
VIEWS FROM THE TOUCHLINE
DONCASTER BOSS PAUL DICKOV:
"It must be said that it was unfortunate that in the second half their two shots on target both fell to their best players.It was obvious would the end result would be in that case and our defending was poor for each goal,especially Matt Smith's as he's quite deadly from there due to his height."
"The first half was scrappy and it made matters worse by conceding a poor goal.I regenerated the lads' momentum and in the second half we played a better game against a brilliant rival opponent."
""I know this will make me sound daft but I'm more than pleased with the majority of the performance, I thought we were excellent. The way we moved the ball, second half especially limited Leeds to two shots on target."
LEEDS MANAGER BRIAN MCDERMOTT:
"That was a tough game - there's no getting away from that.
"I thought we were good value for the lead in the first half but we just couldn't get out of our half after the interval."
"Doncaster came out in the second half and played really well. We had to change our system to combat that and we did better when Michael Brown came on midway through the second half."
TEAMS
Doncaster Rovers
- 01 Turnbull
- 02 Quinn
- 31 Stevens Booked
- 19 Wellens
- 14 Khumalo
- 12 McCullough
- 04 Furman Booked (Duffy - 66' )
- 17 Woods
- 09 Brown
- 10 Macheda (Coppinger - 82' )
- 22 Robinson
Substitutes
- 07 Duffy
- 08 Paynter
- 11 Cotterill
- 13 Maxted
- 15 Wakefield
- 26 Coppinger
- 30 Peterson
Leeds United
- 01 Kenny
- 02 Peltier
- 16 Pugh Booked
- 05 Pearce
- 24 Zaliukas
- 04 Lees
- 06 Murphy Booked
- 08 Austin
- 44 McCormack (Poleon - 92' )
- 20 Smith
- 36 Mowatt (Brown - 73' )
Substitutes
- 11 Varney
- 15 Warnock
- 17 Brown
- 18 Tonge
- 25 Byram
- 26 Poleon
- 33 Cairns
No comments:
Post a Comment