Leeds twice battled back from behind to earn a deserved point from the trip to West Ham United, with the second equaliser coming from Adam Clayton in injury time.
In my preview I suggested that we should stick with two men up front, and that Brown should be the one to make way for the returning Howson. And I got my way, even though this particular change was forced onto Grayson as Brown went down with a calf injury before kick-off. The other change from the Hull game saw Gradel starting on the left at the expense of Nunez, with the Honduran having to make do with a place on the bench.
West Ham still have a number of top Premiership players in their ranks, notably the Green-Parker-Cole spine of their team, so you could say that we were unlucky to play them before the transfer window shuts and some of them could be leaving to help to reduce the club’s massive debts. The Hammers are justifiably among the promotion favourites, so when they dominated the early stages of the game I thought that we might be about to take a bit of a beating.
The hosts forced a couple of corners, with Lonegran having to tip the ball over the bar from looping headers by Cole and Tomkins. And from the second corner Carlton Cole was first to the ball, and made no mistake as he knocked it past Lonegran to put West Ham in front. But Leeds reacted well to going behind, and had much better of the game for the remainder of the first half. Clayton began to drive us forward from midfield and Gradel made a nuisance of himself down the left in an impressive performance against the club who are looking to sign him.
Keogh wen close with a fierce shot, Snodgrass rattled the bar, and then we were presented with the best opportunity of the lot when Taylor handled a cross and the referee pointed to the spot. But when Gradel stepped up to take the spot kick he could only drag it wide of the post. At the other end the Hammers had a case for a penalty of their own when Cole was challenged by Kisnorbo, but this time the referee didn’t oblige. Cole was starting to get frustrated after a couple of decisions had gone against him, and was close to getting booked after complaining to a linesman.
Gradel was close to making amends for the penalty miss with a fierce shot that was saved by Green, but Leeds went in at half still trailing 1-0, though we could be satisfied that if anything we’d been the better of the two teams. The second period was only a few minutes old when there was yet another penalty appeal, as White was felled by a challenge from Parker as he made his way into the box, but the West Ham man had probably just about got to the ball first.
Leeds were still putting the hosts under pressure, and the first equaliser came in the 59th. minute as we put together a great passing move that ended with Mc.Cormack smashing the ball past Green from ten yards. But all our efforts in getting back into the game were undone only two minutes later when Faubert’s cross from the right was met by Kisnorbo, who could only succeed in volleying into his own net. If he’d scored at the right end you’d have said that it was an excellent finish.
The goal seemed to deflate Leeds, and for the next ten minutes or so West Ham seemed likely to put the game beyond Leeds, as Longeran was forced into making fine saves from Tomkins and Reid, before Parker hit the post. In the 67th minute Simon Grayson made his first change as Nunez came on for Mc.Cormack, and he put in a typical busy performance, including a fierce shot from distance that Green managed to palm away to safety.
As we moved into injury time and Leeds seemed to be heading for another defeat we built another move down the right and when Howson’s shot came back off the bar it fell kindly for Clayton to hammer past Green into the net. Clayton showed his delight at scoring his first Leeds goal by running to celebrate with the Leeds fans at that end, getting engulfed by the ecstatic fans in the front rows.
It was no more than Leeds deserved, and after our difficult start it seems that the season is starting to shape up nicely. We now have the right formation, with Keogh giving Mc.Cormack some much needed support up front and the defence looking more solid now that Lees has come in for O’Brien, and I think that if we can keep hold of our best players we could be about to go onto a decent run. Bring on the Ipswich!