By Rich Baggott
March 22 2009

Leeds clung on to fifth spot following their first away win in the past 6 attempts against a 10 man Crewe side, although they made the job a lot harder after commanding a three goal lead. Simon Grayson said after the match that it felt like a defeat as Crewe threatened to spoil the fun, and share the points.

In front of a crowd of just over 7,000, the game started brightly with both teams having chances and new loanee signing, Liam Dickinson went close to opening his Leeds account with a shot just wide.  The game took a turn on 17 minutes though when Crewe's Billy Jones was first booked for a foul and then immediately shown a second yellow after some becoming involved with the Leeds fans.

The sending off was the boost Leeds needed to take command of the match and on 27 minutes, Neil Kilkenny hit a good shot that left the keeper no chance.  Leeds didn't let up though and three minutes later, Becchio connected with a cross to head home goal number two!  Another six minutes and another goal for Leeds with Snodgras getting a much deserved goal after a mix up at the back.

Heading for half time and Leeds were in command and cruising!

They say it is a game of two halfs, and this was no better demonstrated than in this match.  Both sides created chances but it fell to Crewe to turn these into a goal. On sixty minutes Crewe connected with a corner and reduced the defecit to two goals.  Still seemingley out of reach for a side down to ten men for over 70 minutes.  They kept up the pressure and Leeds, although breaking with the ball, could not stamp their authority on proceedings and Crewe battled away.  On 73 minutes, they got their second goal and another header, setting up an interesting 17 minutes until the final whistle.

Both teams had several opportunites to score in the final stages, but it was left to Ankergren to pull out a stunning save in injury time to save Leeds' blushes and ensure three points for the promotion hopefulls.

With eight games of the campaign left, and Leeds 10 points adrift of the second automatic promtion spot, it seems any hope of moving to the Championship will have to be done through the hard route of the play-off's - although this is Leeds, they like to do things the hard way!

Crewe 2 - 3 Leeds

Discussion started by Unofficial Leeds United (IP Logged), 22/03/2009 06:24

Unofficial Leeds United
22/03/2009 06:24

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