The individual victim of Ken Bates' ire over the most contentious 15 points in the history of the Football League halted his walk from the stadium to his car to explain why criticism from Leeds United's chairman had cast him as a scapegoat.

Scally took the opportunity to respond to questions over his integrity but the matter of his broken relationship with a former friend must have seemed trivial in comparison to Gillingham's relegation.
Bates, in any case, had ignored him all day.

On the road away from Elland Road, two of football's more vocal characters might have concurred that their clubs have more relevant matters to worry about.

As entertaining a stand-off as Bates versus Scally may be, it was an unnecessary sideshow to the issues of real relevance on Saturday.

United's supporters took Gillingham's chairman to the cleaners and Tresor Kandol's 89th-minute goal took his club into League Two, but Gary McAllister found nothing to celebrate in the demise of Leeds' opponents, even though his employer had requested such an outcome.

Behind Scally are players and a manager whose season has ended in failure, a sickening sensation which Leeds do not need reminding of.

To pour scorn on a club on account of their chairman is an unforgiving attitude, just as those who screw their faces up at Bates fail to properly appreciate the scores of selfless people involved with his club.

Bates is not Leeds, and Scally is not Gillingham.

They are simply part of the fabric. Saturday was the right time at which to draw a line under nine months of dispute during which United's attention has been too regularly drawn away from the field of play. Time to forget, if not to forgive.

The failed attempt to recover their 15 points via arbitration last week was a keen disappointment, but a final resolution was welcome nonetheless.

The longer this season has run, the more impressive the unswerving attention of McAllister's players has been, blind to an argument they could never influence.

At the point when the disagreement between Leeds and the Football League reached its height, United's form has boomed, culminating in a sixth win from seven matches on Saturday.

Gratifying though it might be to vilify the likes of Scally – and Bates will feel a degree of satisfaction after his week concluded with Gillingham's demise – the swing of attention towards the manager and the squad at Leeds should now be complete.

A 27th victory of the season was produced at Elland Road on Saturday, and it is criminal that a team of such consistency and excellence should have been asked to share their box seat with a political argument.

To paraphrase a song favoured on the terraces, 15 points, who gives a monkey's?

The squad at Elland Road could not agree more. United's argument with the Football League was clearly important, but it was only ever as important as their team's performance allowed it to be.

Fifteen points returned at this late stage could have been decisive, but where would Leeds have been without their team?

A mid-table position was United's projected finish at the start of the season; their involvement in the play-offs is a tour de force in every possible sense.

Delight at Gillingham's demise was a diversion from the real point of note at Elland Road – the sight of Leeds flexing their muscles in way that Carlisle United cannot have failed to notice.

The Cumbrian club have been confirmed as United's adversaries in the play-off semi-finals – a draw which, on the basis of form, could scarcely have been kinder – and Saturday's game created two problems for John Ward to consider.

The first was an attendance at Elland Road of 38,256, the Football League's biggest crowd of the season and a congregation which is beyond the comprehension of most statisticians who take an interest in League One.

A similar attendance is a guaranteed factor of the first leg of United's semi-final, which will be played at Elland Road, as is the return of those players who were not involved in the game with Gillingham.

Leeds were not at full-strength on Saturday; they were not even close.
The fact that they overcame a Gillingham team with so much at stake says everything Ward needs to know about the depth of McAllister's squad.

United were far removed from the realms of vintage football – more Cava than Veuve Clicquot – but there is no justification for criticising their stuttering display.

McAllister's line-up showed six changes, rightly protecting Leeds against any avoidable absentees during the play-offs, and the loss of continuity told in the time it took his collection of players to merge into something approaching a fluent team.

They conceded a goal to Simeon Jackson in the 20th minute and required a blistering strike from Bradley Johnson to negate their deficit with 21 minutes to play.

But if the sign of a successful club is the ability to win when their performance level drops then United are in perfect shape for the two games ahead of them. Carlisle, by contract, have a solitary victory to show for their last eight games.

Jackson's goal was a defensive catastrophe which Paul Huntington would prefer to forget, but if ever there was a weekend for the talented youngster to be given what racing circles call a reminder, this was it.

Huntington made an attempt to dribble possession from his own box in the 20th minute but was robbed of the ball by the outstretched foot of Jackson.

The mistake left Casper Ankergren with no protection, and Jackson's low finish swept past him and also beat Huntington, who had attempted to guard the goalline.

In a half of virtually no serious chances, an error was the most likely source of a goal.

McAllister provided the necessary instructions at half-time, and the improvement in the pace of United's performance was immediate.

Peter Sweeney's shot from the edge of the box was blocked by a sliding tackle from Mark Bentley, and Jonathan Douglas curled the ball over the crossbar from a position where a goal should have been forthcoming.

It was Johnson, however, whose quality brought United level in the 69th minute.

The midfielder, who had been included at left-back with promising youngster Scott Garner on the other side of defence, arrived at the edge of the box to flash home a hanging cross from Sebastien Carole with the most lethal of volleys.

Gillingham knew then that their goose was almost certainly cooked.
With caution blowing in the wind, the visiting defence was predictably absent when, in the 89th minute, Tresor Kandol broke towards the box from a position which carried a hint of offside and drove a shot into the roof of Derek Stillie's net.

Gillingham still had time to hit the post but Nicky Southall's strike would have been of no consequence had it crossed the line. Their relegation was already confirmed.

Gillingham deserved the praise that McAllister offered, in much the same way as Leeds have deserved so much of the praise denied of them.
For all the talking and backbiting, football is still a sport where the majority of clubs earn what they are worth.

For that reason alone, Wembley should be calling Leeds United.