By CCFC Sid
January 3 2005

Following an unconvincing win against Rotherham on Saturday, Bank Holiday Monday saw Leeds visit Highfield Road - and leave with all three points. And once again CCFC lacked the basic essentials to compete with the opposition.... Scrappy goals from Williams and John (Who went on to miss an absolute sitter later) versus Rotherham denied CCFC the embarrassment of losing to the basement side (An honour bestowed on Leeds, Leicester, and now Millwall!), and, with the rest of the bottom six picking up points at the weekend, this stopped CCFC dropping closer to the brown smelly stuff - for two days at least....

CCFC were booed off the pitch at half-time versus Rotherham, and must be getting fairly used to it now, having been booed off at both half-time and full-time versus Leeds. And in both games CCFC were undone by a set piece. Is Reid not bothering to put this right? Or are the players just not listening to him?

Leeds were without three defenders, with Paul Butler suspended, as was Gary Kelly, while Stephen Crainey is out for the rest of the season. So the logical idea, with the opposition missing three-quarters (Three-fifths?!) of their defence, would be to have a real good go at attacking them. The logical idea was ignored, with passing backwards whenever possible preferred by CCFC....

The first 20 minutes saw yellow cards for Kilgallen, Carey, Healy, and very few chances created by either side. A Hughes free-kick saw Eddie Johnson test Sullivan with a header, which he collected with ease.

Richardson managed to blaze over for Leeds when a goal looked on the cards, and two minutes later a brave block from Carey denied Leeds another chance.

Steele came out to deal with a Leeds attack after 24 minutes, but a ball back in saw him in no man's land, and Leeds supporters appealing for a penalty after a block from Williams, but nothing was given (With the referee well placed to see the incident).

Soon after, Eddie Johnson was replaced (Injured, following an earlier challenge), to be replaced by Barrett. The reality is CCFC might as well have stayed with the 10 men as Barrett was totally ineffective. One time CCFC target Pugh surely had one of his easiest afternoons of the season following the change, with Barrett brushed off the ball far too easily (Please send donations of Guinness and eggs to: Mr. G. Barrett, c/o Coventry City, Highfield Road....).

A Leeds goal was on the cards (With their corner count for the first half almost running into double figures), and so it arrived thanks to journeyman Nathan Blake - who was then booked for his goal celebrations. The goal was too easy, and with only a minute of the first half left, Leeds wasted another easy chance to double their lead, with Blake's free-header flying over the bar.

Adebola was replaced by Wood at half-time (Possibly due to the virus sweeping through the club - or possibly because he was very poor).

Minutes into the second half McSheffrey was denied what looked a good shout for a penalty, with Kilgallen looking to have brought the CCFC man down. Soon after came one of Barrett's only contributions to the match, as he gestured to the West End to make some noise.

Soon after, they did! `Reid Out!' and `Sack The Board!' chants were heard by CCFC supporters (Both chants earning applause from Leeds supporters, who have also suffered recently), and, from where I was sitting, I could not hear any replies in support of either Reid or the board. Having read criticisms of a good friend of mine for supposed anti-Reid and anti-McGinnity comments on his own match reports, I would like to state this is not propoganda, this is fact.

A quality through ball from Hughes (After his original attempt failed dismally) released McSheffrey, but he blasted his effort over the bar - though the linesman's flag had been raised long before.

Soon after, another quality pass (This time from Wood), released McSheffrey, and his shot was saved well by Sullivan. With the rebound falling at McSheffrey's feet, but with Sullivan blocking any attempt at a shot, he squared the ball to Stern John, whose dismal effort, not even hitting the target, showed exactly why he is disliked by a lot of supporters.

Said person who criticised my friends report also seems to think their is an agenda that sees everything McSheffrey does being classed as quality, and everything John does as rubbish. Bullsh*t! Stern John is close to being a quality player, a potential match winner, but just doesn't seem to be giving his all.

McSheffrey is young, and still learning his trade - John is probably as close to the finished article as he's going to get. McSheffrey tries, John doesn't always seem to. John also seems far to bothered about trying the fancy stuff, when a simple pass would do. Criticism of SJ seems justified to most....

There is no intentional bias towards or against certain players in match reports!!

John's miss proved costly, as minutes later, Shaw's decision to wait for the ball to come to him saw a Leeds player steal in, and seconds later Healy had made it 2-0. Football as it should be - simple, but effective (Rather than Reid's version: Hard to watch, and almost totally ineffective).

CCFC made their third and final change, with Staunton replacing Giddings. Whereas Leeds have a potential match-winner in Julian Joachim to bring on (Hate him, or hate him even more, he does have the ability to change a game), CCFC's last throw of the proverbial dice was an ageing left-back.

Just to underline why some people dislike Stern John (Again!) a CCFC corner from Doyle arrived at his feet, and he totally messed up any attempt at a shot or pass - yet the ball still somehow arrived at the feet of Gary McSheffrey, who pulled a goal back for CCFC with a quality strike (I have checked with other, more unbiased sites for their verdict on the goal, and they too use the word "quality"....).

The unlikely site of Richard Shaw in the opposition penalty area was possibly a sign of just how desperate CCFC were, and one decent cross saw the dreadlocked one attempt a scissor kick six yards out. Sadly, he's no Ian Wallace, and the ball sailed past him.

My bet for the first player to leave the pitch was Louis Carey (Again!), but it was Leeds' Clarke Carlisle that had first dib's on the opposition soap! He picked up two yellow cards in quick succession, the second for denying Stern John a run at goal (Though with the goal being some 40 yards away, it is possible he would have given up way before that point in time....).

While CCFC did join in, and threaten to steal an unlikely point, they failed to capitalise on the numerical advantage....

A late header from Barrett almost gave CCFC a point, but his effort was saved.

The after-match interview on CWR was given by Adrian Heath, who claimed that there "wasn't a level playing field" regarding the CCFC and Leeds sides - rubbish (Yes, I am aware of what I have just written about the quality of the substitutes). The only difference in the "playing fields" was Leeds' desire to win. Leeds wanted the ball more, passed the ball around far better, and looked as though they were bothered. Sadly, CCFC didn't....

Most callers to CWR again expressed massive disappointment at another poor display, with most of them wanting a change in management - sadly, Teletext isn't reporting that Reid has quit the club .... yet! Most also complained that it took until CCFC were two-nil down before they showed any desire to win this game - by which time it was too late.

Victories for Cardiff and Brighton (And Rotherham!), and a point for Gillingham mean CCFC supporters are once again approaching brown trousers time....

"We have to look forward to the next game" - Adrian Heath. Not all of us....