By Andy Baggott
September 25 2004

Leeds turned in a shocking performance, and can have no complaints about finishing empty handed on Friday evening - despite having a goal wrongly disallowed and missing a penalty. Throughout the entire 90 minutes, Leeds had one shot on target - and that was Ormerods weak penalty, which was saved by Poom. It may all have been different but for a terrible refereeing decision. Pugh's corner was headed home by Deane, but was ruled out for a push by Ormerod on the goalkeeper. However, how the referee came to that decision is a mystery, as replays quite clearly showed Ormerod stranding still until Poom shoved him out of the way. That was early in the first half, and Leeds never threatened again.

Sunderland came out after the break with more energy, but didn't look like scoring either, until a quick free kick led to Robinson getting the only goal.

Where did we go wrong? In my opinion, we relied far too much on Brian Deane's head. Far too many balls were puped towards the big striker, and we hoped to latch onto a knock down. Sunderland soon sussed this out, but we didn't seem to be able to change our style. Much of Leeds' success this year has come down the flanks, but neither Pugh or Richardson got much of the ball, and both were largely ineffective. We also lack flair - someone who can produce a bit of magic, go past a man, or play a 50 yard sweeping pass to open the game up. We have a group of honest pro's, some journeymen mixed up with players with a point to prove. Blackwell knows he needs to get 1 or 2 more players, and he needs some quality, one way or another, otherwise we will struggle against certain teams. The plus points of the night were the performance opf captain Butler, who was a rock at the back, and a 15 minute cameo from Michael Ricketts, who showed some good touches, and strength when he came off the bench - he now needs to produce that form when he starts, and the former Middlesborough striker could yet hold the key to our success....