Leeds Vital member Gromjo descended on Elland Road this weekend from his native Ireland to watch the Whites the team that he`s grown to love and adore from the emerald isle.
Where to start?
Friday night and flying straight to Manchester, a night there and then the train to Leeds in the morning.
Get to Leeds and straight into the pub with my dad for a brunch and a few pints. We then hop onto the bus bringing us to ER.
Buy a scarf outside the ground ‘Leeds United Forever Damned and Proud” or something along the lines of that.
Then into the old Peacock for a pint.
Get into the ground nice and early with an hour to spare and sit in row EE in the Kop, three rows from the front. A light shower worries us because we weren`t fully covered but the rain held off for the rest of the day.
First thing that caught my attention was their Keeper who can only be described as a black Andy Robinson…He would be in for a tough day, slow first fifteen minutes for the lads and MK Franchise did well to keep the crowd quiet, Becchio, Delph and Sodje shined in the first half with their determination, as did Naylor and Snodgrass to a lesser extent.
We were a little vulnerable when the ball spread wide as Douglas and Parker were being left alone by he Midfield drifting forward but Grayson fixed that in the second half.
Leeds picked it up and started showing themselves as a good attacking threat after about 20 minutes but the referee never rose to the occasion.
At this stage it must be added, my dad (the Middlesbrough fan) was now getting cold so he threw on my spare Leeds scarf!
There were also a few shouts out of him during the match which I was surprised to here.
So the goal came after a stupid free kick given by the referee.
The free kick should have been about 20 yards closer to the goal but the ref gave a free kick for a previous challenge, much to the dislike of the 26,000 Leeds fans.
A long floating ball found its way to Becchio at the back post who did brilliantly to put some power behind a header across the goal to you know who, who made no mistake…1-0!
Leeds kept up the pressure until half time looking for a second goal and for one of the first times this season,
A very impressive first half performance…
Half time came I have to say it was brilliant, Dickinson was messing around with a ball with someone else?
I was too far away to see and then Lucas Kop Kat starts setting up the crossbar challenge but first has a go from 35 yards out…And Hits It!!! Brilliant
He then stands at the edge of the six yard box and gives Dickinson a look as to lob him, Which he does, and as Lucas jumps backwards to make a fingertip save he misses the ball completely, hits the ground, and his head falls off…only to reveal???…Only the people in attendance will ever know!
Brilliant entertainment, then the announcer comes up to the Kop for the crossbar challenge and walks straight towards where I was sitting! He looks in my direction! Points! And picks the kid two rows behind me! I was gutted as you can imagine and he was fairly poor at it which cheesed me off!
So the second half kicks off and we keep up the pressure in attacking, I don`t know how the goal came and I can`t wait to see the replay.
A nice ball played Beckford through who set himself up to strike it but as he struck it the defender got across him and groans went around the stadium yet somehow it blasted into the bottom corner???
I don`t know how but I didn`t really care.
Sodje had a brilliant debut and was quite comical in the amount of times he used his head unnecessarily…The man behind me assured me that Paddy Power had odds on how many times he would head the ball in the game, a solid performance overall.
Leeds sat back at the end which wasn`t a bad thing because MK Franchise showed no threat.
A great three points for Simon Grayson`s men, they now looking forward to next weeks clash at Colchester.
The game finished and we hopped on a bus back to the train station, the train to Manchester and plane back home. An eventful, brilliant day and hopefully I can go to Wembley in eight weeks time.
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