CEO Shaun Harvey urged Leeds fans to "turn their backs" on any vile chanting aimed at us eg Istanbul, but most punters seem to be staying away as the lowest league crowd of the season so far at Elland Road saw Leeds grind out a painful draw with Charlton.

On the plus point, following Friday night's Sheffield Shenanigans maybe a quiet night at home was what we needed and we didn't lose, however it was a painful spectacle to watch and had it not been for the heroics of Paddy Kenny we could have really not complained had we suffered our second home defeat of the season.

Neil Warnock was boosted by the return to full fitness of David Norris and Paul Green therefore Michael Tonge dropped to the bench and Rodolph Austin was rested after a scan on his ankle and is not even certain for Saturday's visit of Birmingham following the fiasco of his international call-up for Jamaica which left Warnock seething that his midfield enforcer was flown back economy class.

As in the performances against Barnsley and at Hillsborough first-half, Leeds were second class and Charlton were exploiting acres of space in midfield and if their finishing had been better they could have easily been well on the way to three points.

Green looked rusty and thrice gave away possession, Varney toiled forlornly on the wing and Norris barely contributed until the 37th minute when following a wise decision by referee Nigel Miller to wave play on following a foul in the build up and a suspect handball from Leon Cort, Norris applied an exquisite finish from justninsidethe box, twisting himself onto the ball in a rare moment of brilliance to smash the ball past Ben Hamer to give the whites' the lead.

Charlton responded positively and Leeds hung on until the break, the home side rode their luck when Tom Lees headed a Jackson corner onto his own bar and we held on to our advantage.

However there could be few complaints when Chris Powell's men equalised on 49 minutes, the Londoners were gleefully allowed to ping the ball around the Leeds area and Dervite finished from the edge of the area with Kenny unsighted by his own defender.

This amplified the flatness of the atmosphere inside an under half full Elland Road, the biggest cheer of the night game when the hapless Varney was relieved of his duties on 65 minutes, Warnock replacing the former Pompey man and Paul Green with Aidy White and Michael Tonge.

The injection of pace and panache intended by the substitution alas never arrived and on 77 minutes when Warnock ended Luciano Becchio's frustrating evening by throwing on Andy Gray it smacked of desperation.

The most likely source of inspiration came from El Hadji Diouf as ever, but despite some excellent crosses and precision delivered corners Charlton outmuscled the Leeds attack and the Addicks looked dangerous on the counter-attack.

If it had not been for two match saving stops by Paddy Kenny in injury time, Charlton would have made the long-journey back to South London with all three-points and in all honesty it would not have flattered them.

The result again asks questions of the overall quality of the squad and save Norris's goal, the contribution of those who were drafted in to replace injured and tired limbs was insignificant. I hope the visit of more glamourous albeit struggling opponents Birmingham City on Saturday will draw more effort and urgency from the squad and most certainly a more enthusiastic crowd.

Photo: Action Images

TimWhelan added 13:47 - Oct 24 For most of the game we just kept hoofing it forwards, even though Becchio was winning nothing in the air. The only spell when we looked like getting on top was towards the end of the first half when we actually passed it around a bit on the floor. All very frustrating when we would have gone fourth if we'd won.
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Harwich_White added 13:56 - Oct 24 I can see where they're coming from with this 'turn your backs' idea, but whatever I think of the chants I'll keep looking at the pitch while the game is in progress. I hope nobody thinks that fans who continue to watch the game are condoning the chants because they haven't turned their backs.
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