At the moment, whoever is running Leeds United are trying to woo long-suffering season ticket holders into renewing with a video including some cute kids, Eddie Gray, Norman Hunter, David Batty, Neil Redfearn and current crop of academy graduates Sam Byram, Lewis Cook and Charlie Taylor. Cynics argue one or maybe all of the golden trio (not forgetting Alex Mowatt) may well be sold. Having sold Jonny Howson three-years ago to Norwich, our former skipper returned to haunt us. May this be a lesson to whoever is in charge!

Howson, now 26 was in the thick of things throughout this evening proceedings. Despite a seemingly constant flow of talent being siphoned from West Yorkshire to East Anglia, Howson was the solitary Leeds old-boy with Messers Snodgrass moved on since to the delights of Hull City whilst Becchio and Johnson were absent.

Neil Redfearn made three changes from the side that performed so feebly against Cardiff three days earlier, but kept the 4-5-1 formation. Billy Sharp was preferred to Mirco Antenucci as the lone-striker, Liam Cooper replaced Guiseppe Belusci in the centre of defence and took the captains armband from Sol Bamba. We were also treated to our first glimpse of Grandidi N' Goyi. Three-months after Sporting Director Nicola Salerno signed an unfit player from Palermo, he was finally able to make his debut at the expense of young Kalvin Phillips. For the first half at least, N'Goyi had a solid enough game, sitting in front of the back for and providing some insurance for a defence which has been tortured more often than not this season.

During the first half I thought we at least had some fire in our bellies, something which was criminally lacking against Cardiff. Although the rout I predicted wasn't on the cards, I didn't think we looked capable of breaking down a very well organised Norwich side who were able to keep possession, pass the ball with ease as opposed to our typically untidy build up play. Ruddy barely had anything to do other than punch several lingering high balls out of the box.

Howson had been jeered by some of the home fans, conveniently forgetting it was then Chairman Ken Bates decision to accept £2m for him in January 2012 which sparked furious protests at the time. However when he appeared to tumble easily in the box after a tussle with Liam Cooper, he earned a few more detractors. Luckily on-loan West Brom midfielder Graham Dorran's crashed the spot kick onto the crossbar.

Another Canary who was getting a rough ride was striker Cameron Jerome. Jerome of course accused Giuseppe Belusci of making a racist remark towards him during the 1-1 clash at Carrow Road back in October. Belusci was cleared and the home-fans made it clear to Jerome what they thought of him by booing his every touch.

I thought we were worthy of the 0-0 score line at half time, however after the break Norwich stepped up a gear and as well as their passing and possession, they had aggression too picking up four yellow cards but proof you need a bit of quality and grit to get out of this division.

Alas it was Howson on 57 minutes who broke the deadlock, coolly he stepped inside onto Nathan Redmond's pass and cooly finished past Silvestri. He even held his hands up to the South Stand in apologetic mode before being mobbed by delirious team-mates who celebrated along with 1600 or so Norwich fans on his behalf.

This seemed to knock the stuffing out of us. Norwich went on a 10 minute spree where they kept possession. Sharp was isolated as a lone-striker and curiously Taylor and Byram seemed to be operating on alien flanks to them, eg Byram was on the left and Taylor down the right. Eventually Redfearn made a change, bringing on Antenucci who apparently was courted by the Canaries last month prior to the emergency loan market closing. However the noisy Norwich fans may well have wondered what all the fuss was about as the Italian barely got a sniff. In fact our best chances fell to Scott Wootton who with uncharacteristic neatness switched to his left and saw his firm shot deflected and Alex Mowatt rifled in a goalbound drive after a mad scramble in the box, which took a deflection and was pushed away by Ruddy for a corner.

However Norwich consolidated their second place standing in the last minute when Dorrans atoned for his penalty miss by tucking home Jerome's cross.

In isolation this defeat was no disgrace, although Norwich aren't the best footballing side I've seen here thus season they were the most organised and packed with expensive recruits their quality shone through. For the first-half at least we gave it a good go and battled with them.

However we cannot even put this defeat down to a meaningless, end of season loss with one eye on next season. The truth is we do not know what playing staff we will have next year, with so many of the squad on loan and the nagging doubt our rich seam of academy graduates will be picked off by Premier League suitors. The future of Neil Redfearn is uncertain as is the ownership of the club itself. There was more worrying news today that exiled owner Massimo Cellino was back in court in Italy on Tuesday to face yet another charge of tax evasion, this time over unpaid VAT on a Land Rover.

Photo: Action Images

TimWhelan added 13:37 - Apr 15 That's exactly what I thought when I saw that video, with "The Future" as part of the final caption. Two of the three young players have already been linked with Premier League clubs, so will they be at Leeds next season? With 20 minutes to go last night I don't remember being so certain that Leeds wouldn't get back in the game, despite being only 1-0 down. The only thing I was pleased about was that Bellusci wasn't able to continue his feud with Jerome as he wasn't picked.

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