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Matches
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19
November 2005 - Southampton 3 Leeds United 4
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Championship - St Mary's - 30,173 |
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Scorers: Butler (71), Blake (77), Healy (84 pen), Miller (86) |
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Southampton: Niemi, Delap, Lundekvam (Hajto 45), Svensson, Higginbotham, Oakley, Wise (Fuller 45), Quashie, Pahars (McCann 45), Walcott, Ormerod |
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Leeds United: Sullivan, Kelly, Butler, Kilgallon, Harding, Richardson (Healy 67), Derry, Miller, Lewis, Hulse, Blake |
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After a 2-1 win over Southampton at Elland Road on 18 October,
United lay fourth in the table with 24 points from 13 games. In
the five games that followed, Leeds managed just two goals and
three points, also seeing their Carling Cup chances dashed by
Blackburn. A tame goalless draw at home to Preston on Bonfire Night left
Leeds sixth, 14 points shy of an automatic promotion place. The
only positive note came with a promising performance by Irish
international midfielder Liam Miller on his debut. United boss Kevin Blackwell had seen red after a poor performance ended
in defeat at second bottom Crewe on 1 November. He said, 'I am very angry
and have let the players know that I can't tolerate that. If they think
they can play sixteen or seventeen good games and then have one day off
they are wrong. We got our noses bloodied here tonight and Crewe thoroughly
deserved it. 'You can prepare teams, you warn them about what to expect and they go
and play like that. I am bloody angry tonight and I have told the players
that. People say we have come a long way but I do not want to be going
backwards at this stage. If the players are not good enough then we wouldn't
be where we are. They are good enough and I won't accept what happened
last night. 'There's no one going to rest on their laurels at this football club
thinking they've got the shirt and that's it because I've only got 19
players. That's not good enough for me and it won't be good enough for
them.' Days later, the club announced the loan signing of 24-year-old Miller
from Manchester United, where he had been declared surplus to requirements
by Sir Alex Ferguson after the Reds had suffered their own early season
problems. Blackwell: 'I felt it was right to bring someone in because we need to
make sure we are covered in midfield over these next few months. We have
a few players one card away from a suspension and if I lose one of them
then my options are limited. Bringing Liam in allows us to cover midfield
and also to freshen things up.' Miller had some good moments against Preston and showed the creativity
that United had been lacking in midfield. The manager commented, 'Liam
is accomplished and he made some There was a two-week international break after the Preston match, and
Blackwell took his men away for a friendly in France to try and freshen
things up a bit. They beat Rodez 1-0 and Miller impressed the manager
once more: 'Liam hasn't had too many first team games and he needs to
be playing consistently. If he had rounded that run off with a goal, it
would have been sublime, but I want him to be positive and get at people.
He's box to box, he likes a tackle and if he get into the last third unnoticed
it'll be interesting to see how he does. I knew he wasn't playing regularly
at Manchester United and it's about getting as many games as he can while
he is here.' United's return to Championship action brought a tough looking trip to
relegated Southampton. The Saints had drawn too many games as they chased an instant return
to the Premiership (10), but had only suffered two defeats thus far and
were dangerous opponents. They had been the last team beaten by United, and strongly resented the
fact. They felt they should have won after 16-year-old Theo Walcott scored
and gave the United rearguard a real chasing over the final hour, forcing
Blackwell to bring Matthew Kilgallon on for a struggling Sean Gregan. A 30,000-plus crowd, beating the Saints' season-best by almost 4,000,
was in attendance for the three o'clock kick off and anticipated a victory
for the home team. Saints boss Harry Redknapp sprang a few surprises in a bid to solve some
problems in front of goal. Mindful of the way things had gone at Elland
Road, he opted for pace rather than power up front. Brett Ormerod, who
had played a few games on loan for Leeds a year earlier, was recalled,
with Ricardo Fuller dropping to the bench. Marian Pahars was given his
first start since April 2004 and Theo Walcott retained his place. United's sole change was Robbie Blake in for David Healy. The Northern
Irish international was still nursing an ankle injury. The St Mary's crowd gave Pahars a terrific reception after his long lay
off and the diminutive Latvian had some good early moments, encouraging
the home supporters. His team mates clicked quickly into gear and United
were fortunate when the referee gave a foul for a push on Kilgallon after
Michael Svensson headed a Dennis Wise cross goalwards. Neil Sullivan had to react urgently when a Nigel Quashie cross threatened
danger as Ormerod and Svensson challenged, and then a slack back pass
by Dan Harding caused the keeper some concern with Walcott rushing in. After 27 minutes, Southampton earned the breakthrough their promising
football fully deserved. Walcott's pace unsettled the United defence again and his low cross had
to be hacked behind by a back pedalling Gary Kelly. From Quashie's looping
corner from the right, Svensson looked to have misfired badly with his
header back across goal, but an unmarked Pahars headed in from an acute
angle two yards wide of the near post. Rob Hulse was booked for arguing
too fiercely about the goal. Within eight minutes, the Saints added a second and again Walcott's pace
was key. He was released down the right by Quashie and stormed past Kilgallon.
He pulled the ball across goal for the unmarked Quashie to sidefoot round
a rooted Neil Sullivan from 15 yards. If that was not bad enough, things got worse on the stroke of half time.
The fourth official had just signalled The official spoke to Neil Sullivan for too much movement on his goal
line as Quashie prepared to take the kick. The Scottish international
midfielder wasn't fazed by the delay and blasted the ball high into the
right hand corner of the net. Leeds were 3-0 down and rocking. Only a miracle could save them now… Gerry Cox in The Observer: 'Simon Clifford, the Brazil-inspired
coach appointed in September, left last week amid recriminations and suggestions
that the players are neither fit nor hard working enough, and the coaching
staff are immune to innovation. Yet by half-time, that assertion looked
like nonsense as Southampton raced into a three-goal lead, while Leeds,
as the great Len Shackleton once said, were lucky to have nil. Kevin Blackwell,
their bright young manager, admitted: "Let's be honest, at 3-0 down
and not playing very well you would have to be an eternal optimist to
think we could get anything out of it. But we thought if we could get
a goal back and test their psyche, who knows?"' Harry Redknapp was forced into three changes at the break with Pahars
(knee), Lundekvam (rib) and Wise (torn thigh muscle) all withdrawn to
be replaced by Hajto, Fuller and McCann for the second half. Blackwell declined to make any substitutions, effectively snapping, 'You
got us into this mess, you get us out.' He said later: 'We were not playing
well and at 3-0 down you couldn't be any lower. I didn't make any changes
at half time, I know when you work with people every day you believe in
what they can do and how they're doing it, but when you are losing 3-0
and not playing well it's a kick in the wotsits.' After the resumption, a fourth from Southampton looked much more likely
than any United revival with Neil Sullivan having to save at point blank
from Ormerod. The match seemed certain to peter out into a boring formality with twenty
minutes or so remaining. Then, suddenly inspired by something from the
ether, United found a reviving spark. In the 67th minute Liam Miller blazed
a free kick from the edge of the area narrowly over Antti Niemi's crossbar.
Kevin Blackwell had already decided to make a change and threw David Healy
on for Frazer Richardson immediately afterwards, opting to play three
up top with Rob Hulse and Robbie Blake. The Irishman prompted some stirrings of life and won a corner as the
clock ticked on to 71 minutes. Gary Kelly's high corner was met perfectly
by skipper Paul Butler in the middle, eight yards out, and his header
looped over a Saints defender and into the net. Even though the ever optimistic United fans chanted gleefully, 'We're
going to win 4-3,' it looked like the goal would be a mere consolation.
However, it brought divine inspiration - all the confidence came flooding
back into a resurgent Leeds as the Saints started to wobble. Harry Redknapp:
'They got nervy. Who knows why? But the team was still dominating. They
didn't start suddenly to hammer us. We had corner after corner.' With 13 minutes left, United snatched a second. A deep ball from the
left was not properly dealt with by a Saints defender and was fed neatly
to David Healy on the right corner of the area. His angled shot across
the area ran perfectly for Blake to turn home his third goal of the season
from eight yards. He said later: 'I think when the first went in you think
"okay, we've got one back.! I was happy to get the second - it was
a great ball back from Dave and The Saints were now all over the place and incredibly, after 84 minutes,
Leeds were back on level terms. Healy was again at the heart of a move
deep inside the box and fired against Danny Higginbotham's hand. The referee
had no hesitation in pointing to the spot and Healy fired the ball into
the roof of the net from the spot kick. There was only one side in it now and the home team was a shambles. With four minutes to go, and only fifteen since they had been 3-0 down,
Leeds snatched a fourth goal. Rob Hulse pulled the ball back across the
area from the right and a deflection took it right to Liam Miller around
the penalty spot. He drove it home precisely with the outside of his left
foot, leaving Niemi completely flatfooted. That was the signal for spectacular and unbelievable scenes of celebration
as players, staff and fans joined together in ecstatic frenzy to mark
the comeback of the season. There was no way there was going to be any other outcome and Leeds secured
the most memorable of victories without a scare. Kevin Blackwell was over
the moon at the end, saying, 'It's up there with the top victories I've
been involved in because at 3-0 down nobody could see us winning that
game. I remember a night with Sheffield United against Leeds when we were
1-0 down with two minutes to go and we won 2-1. That was some night, but
Saturday was a lot more dramatic because the comeback had to be longer
and stronger. 'It was pure entertainment at the end - but it doesn't do anything for
managers' hearts. Not one person left the stadium and they couldn't because
it was just pure theatre.' The manager was mistaken on that particular point, because a horde of
depressed United fans had trudged out of St Mary's at the interval, convinced
that their favourites were going to be badly embarrassed. The Leeds
Leeds Leeds magazine's April 2006 issue featured one of them, Angela
Kevin Blackwell went on: 'I sent the lads out at half time and said you've
got yourselves in the mire, now get yourselves out of it. Not many teams
will come back from that sort of situation. We were not playing well and
at 3-0 down you couldn't be any lower, but they've shown unbelievable
team spirit. We are frustrated because we feel this is a good side, but
we don't feel they know how good they can be. They weigh the opposition
up without getting on with their own game. 'What went wrong in the first half? Everything went wrong. We turned
up! 'I have said we will get more belief and understanding in the second
half of the season and certainly they've shown the ingredients every team
needs to have around the promotion places, and that's spirit. We had that
in abundance.' David Healy, the catalyst for the revival, said, 'It's never easy coming
on as a sub, but sometimes you get lucky and come on and do something
that changes the game. The gaffer wants people to come on off the bench
and make an impact. We got lucky Saturday because we got a goal early
on when I came on and from there on they took their foot off the gas and
we caught them out.' Harry Redknapp was understandably in less positive mood, saying, 'Unbelievable,
I don't know what to say. One of the worst results of my career. With
20 minutes to go I couldn't see Leeds scoring one, let alone four.' |