Leeds Utd Match Zone

Disappointing start for Leeds

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Leeds United went down to a 2-0 defeat on the opening day of the season at Millwall on Saturday.

Millwall beat a lacklustre Leeds thanks to an early goal from Mark Beevers and a late penalty from Shaun Williams.

David Hockaday handed debuts to Marco Silvestre, Nicky Ajose and Souleymane Doukara in his first game in charge of the whites.

Millwall went ahead on 8 minutes when Mark Beevers found space in the penalty area to sweep home from a corner.

Leeds rarely threatened in the first half and they were very lucky not to go in two down at the break when Alan Dunne was completely unmarked at a free-kick but he could only head straight at Silvestre.

Leeds had a great chance to equalise in the opening minute of the second half. The lively Ajose capitalised on a mistake by Millwall goalkeeper David Forde and he set up Noel Hunt, who could only fire straight at Dunne on the goal line. Almost immediately, Leeds were almost made to pay when Martyn Woolford waltzed through the Leeds defence only for Silvestre to deny him.

Matt Smith came on for Leeds in attack, he was causing problems for the Millwall defence, and he would have been disappointed not to hit the target when he headed wide shortly after coming on.

Michael Tonge also had a good chance but his weak header was easy for Forde as Leeds searched for an equaliser.

Substitute Dominic Poleon then forced a good save from Forde. Poleon got in behind the Millwall defence and Forde did well to get a hand on Poleon`s shot from a tight angle.

Millwall confirmed the win with just two minutes remaining. Leeds had brought on 17-year-old midfielder Lewis Cook and he was at fault for the decisive goal. A loose ball put Millwall striker Lee Gregory through and after being forced wide by Silvestre, Cook looked to make minimal contact with Gregory, who went down and referee Oliver Langford quickly pointed to the spot.

Shaun Williams stepped up and despite Silvestre going the right way, Williams found the corner of the net.

A disappointing start to the season for Leeds, who look like they have a long hard winter ahead on this showing.



Teams
Millwall:
Forde; Edwards, Dunne, Beevers, Malone, Abdou, Williams, Martin (Gueye 67), McDonald, Woolford (Easter 67), Fuller (Gregory 81)

Subs not used:
Bywater, Webster, Briggs, Wright.

Leeds United:
Silvestri, Byram, Wootton, Pearce, Warnock, Murphy, Austin, Tonge, Ajose (Poleon 79), Hunt (Smith 57), Doukara (Cook 64)

Subs not used:
S Taylor, Killock, Berardi, Benedicic


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