Leeds United 0 Carlisle United 2

Just when we thought that in the brave new world of Simon Grayson Leeds would be storming up the table towards the play-offs, we suffered yet another disappointing defeat, this time at the hands of Carlisle United. Whilst we shaded the game in terms of possession, we lost due to some all too familiar failings at the back.

Outside the stadium the deep overnight frost was still very much in evidence, even in the early afternoon, but while matches throughout the country were falling victim to the weather our famous undersoil heating ensured this game would go ahead. There was just one enforced change from the team who won at Stockport, with Beckford succumbing to his dodgy hamstring once again.

The game took a while to get going, and the only entertainment we had in the opening quarter of an hour was a disturbance in the Carlisle section, which led to a couple of their fans being thrown out. Leeds were having slightly the better of it and an early chance came when Snodgrass put Becchio through, but a poor first touch meant he ended up with a narrow angle and he shot into the side netting when a cross for Christie might have been a better option.

But despite all the reassuring words on the official site about confidence returning to the back four under the new boss, normal service was resumed as we conceded a couple of soft goals within eight minutes. In the 27^th minute a long ball down the left found Taylor, who outpaced Sheehan and pulled the ball back to find an unmarked Graham racing into the area, and the Carlisle forward made no mistake.

And the second arrived when Bridges and Graham exchanged passes down the right, with Sheehan once again left floundering. As Bridges raced into the area Lubo and Casper first left him to each other and then collided. Bridges still had a lot to do, but despite his injury problems down the years he’s still got a great touch, and he did well to score from a very narrow angle.

In between the two goals we had a great chance to get back into the game, when a cross from Snodgrass gave Becchio a free header, but the Argentinian could only put it straight at the keeper. When the rebound came to Hughes he could only put his cross behind all our forwards, and the chance was gone.

During the second half we increased the tempo and created enough chances to have drawn level and even won the game, but without Beckford we never seemed to have enough penetration. Christie was taking up some intelligent positions whenever we attacked, but at the moment he doesn’t seem to have the pace to worry defences, and he was replaced by Trundle in the 57^th. minute. Trundle seemed keen to impress and tried a lot of clever turns and flicks, but quite often he didn’t seem to be on the same wavelength as his new colleagues.

At the same time Johnson came on for Sheehan and was greeted like a returning hero, and did indeed look a bit slimmer and fitter than when we went down to Brighton. The third substitution was five minutes later as Robinson replaced Hughes to give us a bit more bite up front, with Grayson going for broke by leaving only three at the back.

The changes nearly paid off within a couple of minutes. Krul turned a shot from Becchio onto the post after Robinson had put the Argentinian through on goal, and when the rebound fell to the tubby one six yards out, he slipped and could only scoop the ball into the keeper’s grateful arms.

But at the other end Bridge-Wilkinson could have made the scoreline even more embarrassing when he broke free (looking suspiciously offside I thought) but thankfully he could only shoot wide of an open goal. We kept on creating chances, which Johnson having a couple of shots saved or blocked, and Trundle going close with a free kick, but we run out of time and went down to our third home defeat of the season.

The best you can say is that this was better than the abject surrender of the Colchester game before Christmas, as we did at least show plenty of spirit and desire to get back into the game, even though it didn’t come off. But it’s so disappointing to see the same defensive failings still letting us down, so we can but hope that once Grayson has had the chance to get to know the players, things will start to improve. But he’ll have to get it right sooner rather than later, or he might find that even the play-offs will be out of reach.

Photo: Action Images

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