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Has pre-season optimism finally hit the Wal?

A bit like the heat wave, there was something of a rain check at the Bescot Stadium yesterday as a lacklustre but strong Leeds side never recovered from a Craig Westcarr strike.

The 2000 or so travelling Leeds fans who had the unusual experience of having to buy advanced tickets for this one probably wished they hadn't have bothered. Leeds slipped to their third defeat in a row and Brian McDermott described it as the worst day in his short-time as Leeds boss.

"There is not a lot you can say. You have to move on after a performance like that really quickly and get ourselves ready for Tuesday, because I didn`t see it coming," McDermott told Yorkshire Radio.

"It was really disappointing today. There wasn`t enough energy in the team.

"You have to be concerned when you see a performance like that. I do not get carried away when we have a great victory and performance and I do not when we see a performance like we did today. We certainly don`t want to see many more like this.

"Today was the worst day I have had as the Leeds manager."

Leeds head to Stevenage on Tuesday before taking on FC Nurnberg next Saturday at Elland Road, just a week before the curtain raiser on August 3rd against Brighton.

Obviously the old adage not to read too much into pre-season results does apply, however it is worrying to hear McDermott talk of the side lacking energy at this stage of the season.

Lets hope the boost of a new signing or two over the next week is forthcoming, so our worrying form of late does not tip over into the new campaign.

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