Yet again Elland Road witnessed one of those horrible home outcomes ala Preston, Blackpool, Birmingham and Forest in recent seasons. On Saturday however the defeat was far more sickening as Rodolph Austin was stretchered off with a suspected double leg break but was the chain of events triggered by the inept performance of referee Trevor Kettle who had already dismissed Jason Pearce?
Funnily enough, I thought Leeds had done alright and started brighter than they had done in recent weeks. David Norris had struck the post following a six man move and Luke Varney was a little unlucky to see ex Arsenal keeper Manuel Almunia smother a one to one after Diouf cleverly threaded him through.
Watford's pacey Udinese loan-men were always going to cause Leeds problems and on 27 minutes, one of them Matej Vydra was through one-on-one with Paddy Jenny after Geijo out him through. Vydra easily beat Kenny lofting the ball over him from outside the box but Leeds felt Geijo was two yards offside when he played his Czech mate through.
Leeds might have gone further behind when Almen Abdi wriggled into the box, saw Kenny save his shot but managed to beat Pearce to the rebound before putting his follow-up wide.
With the first half about to end, Leeds faced a further disadvantage when Jason Pearce was shown a straight red card by Kettle for hacking down Abdi. Personally it was a bad challenge as a result of a shocking short ball played through by Diouf however Pearce's cause was not helped by Abdi rolling around in the mud like he had been shot, miraculously once Pearce had been shown the red card he stopped squealing to allow the physio to deliver minimal treatment. Watford's foreign legion also en masse raced to referee Kettle brandishing imaginary red-cards thus sealing Pearce's fate.
Neil Warnock responded immediately by bringing off Paul Green for Tom Lees, which drew a chorus of boos from some sections of the crowd. At half-time, the Leeds boss who pre-match had spoken about going gung-ho did just that by using his last two subs, Ryan Hall replaced Aidy White which was a no brainer but Michael Brown for Diouf was a bit less obvious.
However even Warnock's most staunch critics and there is evidence that these are growing, would concede even the Leeds boss could not have legislated for the horror that followed. Pearce's absence meant Warnock moved Rodolph Austin into central defence however on 47 minutes the sickening sight of the Jamaica international receiving oxygen and being carried off via the tunnel at the North West corner to an ambulance meant Leeds were down to nine men.
Kettle's eagerness to dismiss Pearce under duress from the blue shirted Watford players meant poor Austin had to revert to centre-back and suffered a suspected double leg break as the price for his versatility.
From thereafter it was shooting season as far as Watford were concerned. A taste of things to come came when Yeates trebled Watford's advantage with a 25 yard free-kick. This sparked the last stand of the Alamo from the nine men and on 79 minutes Leeds won a penalty, in my opinion a sympathy penalty after Varney simply launched himself into the box chasing a loose ball whilst battling with Elkland. Tonge stepped up to smash home the penalty and the optimists dared believe again.
However it was a false dawn and Watford's three goal advantage was restored again three minutes later when Andra fed Vydra to score his second, again there were protests of offside. Ten minutes of time added on due to Austin's misfortune and Abdi had followed him to hospital with a suspected dislocated shoulder.
It was a case of damage limitation and Leeds managed to keep the tally against to six following almost identical 25-yard-drives from Murray and sub Deeney.
At least Leeds have a week and a day to assess the damage another serious injury and a ruck of suspensions will have on their depleted squad before setting off to that delightful cauldron of hate Millwall next Sunday!