After an awful first half performance Leeds came from behind for an opening day victory, roaring on to a total of minus twelve points, the winning goal coming from the much-maligned Tresor Kandol.
As expected, plenty of Leeds fans took the opportunity to get tickets on the day for the home parts of the ground, but the stewards and police were kind enough to move them to the Leeds end rather than throwing them out. So before the end our section got a little bit crowded and chaotic, but this simply added to the fun. As at most grounds, the home crowd included a section of chavs who spent the whole time trying to provoke us rather than watch the game, though Tranmere seemed to attract a larger number of these kiddies than most other clubs.
Leeds lined up with Casper in goal, and took the risk of not including a substitute keeper on the bench, possibly because we don’t have any other fit keepers in the squad. Lewis was at left back, the rest of the defence consisting of Richardson, Heath and Marques. Weston made his debut on the right of midfield, and Hughes also came straight into the side a couple of days after signing from Norwich. Thommo and Westlake made up the midfield and we had the deadly duo of Beckford and Kandol up front.
The first half was completely forgettable, with Leeds belting the ball aimlessly down the field and Tranmere trying to deny us possession with a high tempo pressing game. Westlake and Heath in particular were looking out of their depth despite dropping down a division. Our goal led a charmed life right from the start, with Zola first shooting just past the post from the edge of the area and then heading narrowly wide from a corner.
Our best chance of the half fell to Kandol, who managed to head well wide despite being unmarked, and he later had a shot so far off target that it nearly went for a throw in instead of a corner. Tranmere’s chances kept coming and Shuker was put though against Casper, but our noble keeper came out and managed to take the pace off the ball as it went past him, giving Rui enough time to run round and clear. But a goal was coming, and the move began down the Tranmere right, after Lewis was caught out of position after supporting a Leeds attack. The ball was played across the field to Shuker, and as Frazer was also AWOL Shuker had time to fire the ball across the goal, where Greenacre was on hand to knock it home.
And Tranmere could have had a penalty just before half time, when Health had a tug on Shuker’s shirt as the Tranmere man went past him, and Shuker took a couple more steps before he fell down. We were fortunate that the ref didn’t have the same view that we did from behind the goal. The Leeds fans booed the team off at half time, and it was beginning to look like a long season.
As the second half began we had the first “Bates out” and “Wise out” chants, but these were quickly drowned out. Tranmere had a goal disallowed a few minutes into the half, when Zola’s through ball was deflected into Skuker’s path, and when he shot home from a narrow angle the linesman had his flag up for offside. From the other end I couldn’t tell if the official was right, and the TV coverage this morning is no clearer, with Shuker being out of shot when the ball was played forward.
But whatever Wisey said to the team at half time seemed to have the desired effect, as from then on Leeds began to get back into the game, and we equalised in the 55th. minute. Thompson floated a free kick over from the left and their defence was generous enough to leave Heath completely unmarked beyond the far post, and the big man made no mistake. A few Leeds fans celebrated in the top section of the stand to our right, and as the stewards moved them on the chavs in the bottom section rushed towards them, even though there was no chance of them actually getting to the Leeds fans. It was hilarious to see some of them getting thrown out as a result.
The game could have gone either way, with both sides having chances as the match wore on, but it seemed that Tranmere were tiring faster, so maybe Wise’s fitness regime is doing our players a bit of good. I thought the ref had a good game in the first half, but then he went into ‘if in doubt book everyone’ mode, and we ended up with four yellow cards by the end. We can’t afford to keep getting bookings like this with our threadbare squad, but this is probably the standard of officiating we can expect in this division.
Just as I was thinking that a draw would be a good result after all we’ve been through, Leeds conjured up a winner in the last minute of normal time. Richardson crossed left footed from the right, and Kandol got his head to the ball, which went between Coyne’s legs as the keeper failed to react in time. Cue pandemonium in the Leeds end, as fans dived on top of each other in celebration.
For some reason the ref played seven minutes of injury time, though I couldn’t remember any long stoppages since half time. But by now it looked like Tranmere were never going to score again, and we managed to deal with the pressure and hold out for the three points. On the balance of play this was a fortunate victory, but a win’s a win, and the team’s group hug at the end showed that the siege mentality has nurtured a great team sprit inside Elland Road. Twelve more points to go…