Despite only 9 players training in the week, our team wasn’t severely affected. By far most importantly, Gradel was present during the warm up, giving us at least some hope of creating some chances in the game. The only new absentees from the squad were Tessem and Bradbury.
Forde replaced Pryce in goal, giving us a bit more physical presence between the sticks and a little more experience.
The back four comprised Young at right back, Gowling and Pearce in the centre, with Cummings at left back.
In the first half we played with a 5 man midfield; Gradel on the right and Kuffour on the left, with Hollands,
Bartley and Cooper in the middle.
Vokes worked the front line on his own.
An entirely home grown bench, with Pryce, Partington, McQuoid, Pitman and another forward in Hutchings.
The game started evenly, not much being created by either team. The poor pitch made a fluent passing game difficult for both sides. Disaster arrived in the tenth minute, with a hopeful punt forward by Leeds causing trouble for Young.
With the ball bouncing up and under pressure, he hesitated for a while to deal with it. By the time he decided to head it back Forde had met him at the edge of our area, and the ball rolled past them invitingly for 2 Leeds players to decide who would roll it in.
Both our players were at fault. Forde should have stayed 5 yards further back at least, and Young should either have played it back earlier, or when seeing the situation develop aim to put the ball away from danger.
The goal dented our confidence, but with the vocal and continued support from 720 travelling fans we slowly took control of the game. Gradel was causing problems running at their back line, but often had to go it alone with only Vokes usually available in the area. Vokes was also single-handedly causing trouble for both their centre backs with his strength and pace. Between him and Gradel, we had 2 good chances to equalise, Vokes pouncing on a spill from Ankergren to poke wide, and Gradel firing just over the top corner from the edge of the area following great build up play from Vokes.
At half time we were arguably the better side, with only one massive defensive mix up costing us (and, as we all know, not for the first time).
The second half started even better for the Cherries, with even more possession and chances being created than in the first half. Kuffour was pushed a bit further forward to support Vokes, giving us more of an attacking threat. The 20,000 Leeds fans were almost silent for most of this spell, and probably felt an equaliser coming.
It should have come, with Vokes again missing 2 good chances. One after shrugging off a defender then lobbing their keeper from 16 yards, but the ball sailed over. He then had a one on one that he created brilliantly, only for the shot to be tamely shot at the keeper.
Gradel and Hollands also had speculative long range efforts that flew miles over. The hold up play and running of Vokes and Gradel was causing Leeds all sorts of problems, with Kuffour’s pace also pushing their back four deeper.
This spell of sustained pressure was ended when Leeds went on the attack, and after 5 minutes of pressure they found a second. Our midfield had drifted further and further back, inviting pressure and when Kilkenny picked the ball up he was allowed to take a few strides forward and shoot from 20 yards into the bottom corner completely unchallenged.
After this we didn’t really look like scoring, and the rest of the game was played out without any real incident. Pitman replaced Bartley, and set up a few chances from the left hand side. Any shot we did get in was closed down well by the Leeds defence.
Full time 2-0.
Player Ratings
Forde 6.5
Apart from the goal was composed and saved our poor back 4 with a few smart clearances.
Young 5
Lack of pace was exploited defensively and also restricted our attacking threat down the right, with Gradel not receiving much support. Perhaps Cooper at RB with Partington in the middle at Oldham?
Gowling 6.5
Coped well with one of the best strikers in the league. Did ok in the air and his pace meant that Beckford couldn’t get clear as easily as he’s probably used to.
Pearce 6
Fairly solid performance
Cummings 6
A couple of runs forward that caused a few problems, but often let his man have far too much room defensively.
Gradel 7.5
Typical tricky attacking display. Constantly getting past 2 or 3 Leeds players, with only his finishing occasionally letting him down.
Hollands 7
Got stuck in and started a few attacking moves. Not his usual commanding performance but did well on a difficult pitch.
Bartley 6.5
Lots of energy but didn’t really get into his stride.
Cooper 6.5
Also got stuck in with other 2 in the middle. Some very nice through balls to Kuffour and Gradel but, along with Bartley and Hollands, was guilty of not carrying the ball forward and leaving Vokes isolated.
Kuffour 7
Lost the ball on a few occasions, but his pace was a constant threat. Did much better in the second half when playing further forward
Thoughts on Team
A game that we at least deserved a draw from, but a mixture defensive suicide and poor finishing has cost us. A similar game to the home fixture, where we were not second best, but did not take our chances like they did.
With 3 central midfielders, one was needed to push forward to support Vokes and this rarely happened, leaving him isolated.
Report by Joey14
