This wasn’t exactly our best performance of the season, but we sank Leyton Orient with Gradel’s superb goal in the 89th. minute.

Leeds were unchanged for this game, with Howson again playing out of position wide on the right instead of Robinson, which may be another indication that the tubby one doesn’t feature highly in Grayson’s plans for the rest of the season.  We struggled down that flank for much of the game, due to Howson’s habit of wandering inside and leaving our makeshift full-back (Bromby) exposed against Orient’s nippy left-winger. 

The game started a few minutes late, possibly because of the number of people still outside (there was still a long queue at the West Stand ticket office when I went past at about 7.30) but those who failed to make it inside for kick-off didn’t miss anything of great significance. It has to be said that for the first half Orient were much the better team, as they worked hard to deny us space, and passed the ball around much better than Leeds.  

There was an early scare when the visitors had the ball in the net from a free kick, only to be pulled back when the referee ruled that they had taken it before he’d given the signal. And they continued to mount the more incisive attacks, with Townsend forcing Casper to get down smartly to turn his shot round the post. Another good move needed ended with a couple of shots being blocked before Hughes finally managed to scramble the ball to safety. 

Although Leeds enjoyed plenty of possession, our main attacking idea was for the midfield to keep trying to send long defence-splitting balls through to Beckford in the manner of the second goal at Brighton, but in the swirling wind this tactic was never likely to work. Some of the through balls were close to coming off, but others were  hopelessly adrift of their intended target. 

Grayson made his first change a few minutes after the break, with Hughes making way for Aiden White. He explained on Radio Leeds afterwards that Hughes had picked up a groin problem and the change wasn’t tactical, but White gave the defence some much needed balance (a left footer at left back, whatever next?) as well as giving us another option coming forward. It’s possible that he might have to start on Sunday, so let’s hope he can find the stamina to get through a full ninety minutes. 

But the game really turned with our second substitution on 62 minutes, when Gradel came on for Vokes. This left Beckford as a lone striker, (though with Vokes non-contribution he may as well have been on his own anyway until then), but Gradel  got the crowd going with some excellent runs down the right, as well as allowing Howson to move inside to his more favoured position. As time started to run out Gradel raced thirty yards to pick up the ball for a free kick, which was much appreciated by the Kop, with a chant of “he’s Leeds, and he knows he is!” 

Orient still managed to mount a couple of attacks on the break, but by now their efforts didn’t carry quite the same menace as in the first half, and we could rely on them to shoot either well wide or over the bar. At the other end Gradel produced our first decent attempts on goal in the whole game, first an overhead kick that landed on top of the net, then a shot from a narrow angle that Jones needed to push over the bar. 

Grella replaced Howson to give us an extra striker for the last nine minutes, but as full time approached one or two fans started to drift out of Elland Road, thinking that it was going to end in a frustrating draw. I started to hope that they would miss something special right at the end, and I certainly wasn’t going to be disappointed.  

I’m far too tight to leave a match early when I’ve paid for the full ninety minutes, whatever the circumstances. With one minute left of normal time Gradel beat one defender on his way into the box, but then himself with his back to goal as his path was blocked by another. As the bloke next to me shouted “that’s too much, get rid!” the ball seemed to be tied to Gradel’s foot as he turned and went past the defender, before hammering a shot past Jones from twelve yards.  Such a quality goal seemed completely out of place in the midst of such a substandard Leeds performance for most of the game. 

The Orient players looked shattered, as well they might, as they deserved something out of the game for their first half performance alone. There were still four minutes of injury time to survive, and we held on for the win without too much trouble. This was the fifth time we have won a game with a goal in the last few minutes (the others being Exeter, Walsall, MK Dons and Norwich) and on the balance of play I wouldn’t say we deserved to win any of them. What is it they say about teams who keep winning when they haven’t played well? 

Photo: Action Images

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