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Leeds United: Becks brace puts Whites clear at top
Serious about being champions? As if there was any doubt. Back on the wagon after three days of reflection, Leeds United have not dithered over the answer to that question.
It required a response, if for no other reason than the question was posed by one of their own. Michael Doyle's analysis of last night's game at Bristol Rovers, 72 hours after Leeds' first league defeat of the season, was to view it as an examination of how capable the club were of not merely heading their division but of winning it. Very, came the reply.
Leeds were entitled to explain their loss to Millwall on Saturday as a blip on an upwards trajectory – precisely what it is with 14 matches played – but a similarly poor result in Bristol would have given rise to the thought that United were faltering in a month when five of nine available points had already been dropped.
Doyle spotted that scepticism hiding around the corner and knew how best to negate it. "People are going to love the fact that we've been beaten," he said.
"There's a point to be made now." Four unanswered goals at the Memorial Stadium made it perfectly.
The Irishman it was who created United's first in the ninth minute and helped nip a single result in the bud before it had the chance to become a streak.
When Grayson said on Saturday that he was delighted to be talking about a first league defeat of the season with November coming into view, he was not putting on a brave face.
He was rather considering the possibility that Leeds might stand four points clear of the rest of their division this morning.
When Sam Vokes added to Jermaine Beckford's ninth-minute goal early in the second half, that immediate target was realised, though not before Beckford and Tresor Kandol plugged the Pirates for a third and fourth time.
Leeds were free to journey home with the feeling that six points gained from three recent games against clubs with ambitions as high as theirs might be more than an acceptable return.
United are no longer unbeaten but they are, conversely, more secure in their leadership than they were before Norwich City came to Elland Road last Monday.
So trusting was their manager that he did not feel it necessary to take retribution for the adverse result at the New Den.
Grayson is scarcely renowned for changing his line-up at the best of times, and Saturday's defeat did not break that philosophy either.
All 11 players fielded in Bermondsey were used again last night, every one of them avoiding what might have been viewed as inevitable consequences of Leeds' first loss of the league term.
A hint at that continuity came from Grayson's demeanour at Millwall and his apparent satisfaction with the performance of his players at the weekend.
The defeat, however, begged the question of how tempted he would be to rethink his line-up. "I thought about it," he admitted, "but I made the right decision."
The worry beforehand was, in any case, as much Paul Trollope's as his, fresh from three successive defeats and a sharp reality check.
Rovers have struggled to sustain the sharp pace they picked up at the start of the season, and Grayson had the assurance of realising that last night's opposition were not in particularly fine shape.
Another thrashing will hardly help.
The vote of confidence he applied to his own players was vindicated inside nine minutes by the simplest of goals, created by a delicate through-ball from Doyle and claimed with finish which bore Beckford's hallmark.
Doyle's pass from a benign position split Rovers' defence and rolled to Beckford inside the box.
The striker's first touch was sound enough to tee up a shot across Mikkel Andersen and into the goalkeeper's net with the help of his right-hand post.
So quickly was the goal conceived that three-quarters of the stadium echoed with shocked silence.
If it seemed then that the night would be United's, the events of the 22nd minute, when Stuart Campbell struck the crossbar, did not dispel that mood.
The midfielder struck a speculative volley at Casper Ankergren and looked on as the Danish keeper misjudged the ball, allowing it to slip beneath his arms and ricochet off the turf before striking the underside of the bar.
Andy Woolmer, the referee, took a long look as the ball bounced down onto the goalline and, without any useful assistance from his linesman, he let the game continue.
Those close enough to see implied that Leeds had dodged a bullet and a clear goal.
That was the first half in a nutshell, without recanting the countless fouls and debatable decisions that disrupted the flow of the game.
Steve Elliott was booked for pulling Beckford's shirt in the first minute and Doyle received a caution towards the end of the half after catching the ankles of Jeff Hughes. With the exception of Ankergren's moment of suspect concentration, Rovers teased little in the way of space or chances out of Leeds' watertight defence.
Ankergren's error, however, was no more severe than Andersen's failure to collect Bradley Johnson's cross in the first minute of injury-time.
His mis-timed jump knocked the ball to Beckford's feet but the striker was not expecting such charity and could not hold his balance for long enough to turn it into the net.
A goal in those circumstances would have been fortuitous.
Vokes' strike 10 minutes into the second half was sublime. Beckford sparked panic in Rovers' defence with a clever pass to Robert Snodgrass who rampaged towards goal and generously laid the ball off to Vokes six yards from goal.
A striker of Premier League stock could not have asked for a simpler chance.
With that finish and the match sown up, United's confident swagger returned, apparent in a way that it has not been since Gillingham were routed at Elland Road last month.
Their penultimate goal oozed as much quality as their second, created by a long ball from Jonathan Howson that set Beckford's pace and skill against that of Byron Anthony.
The full-back attempted to contain the striker but was wrong-footed by Beckford's quick feet. Andersen could only dive helplessly as Beckford curled a shot to his left, a finish of enough brilliance to draw polite applause from the home crowd.
Not for the first time, Rovers were at risk of a severe flogging and Tresor Kandol lashed them again by converting Max Gradel's cross in the 87th minute, almost his first touch.
With the final throes upon them, Leeds were happy with their lot, a phrase which could be applied to the club's season.
In amongst so many good results, last night's stood out.
Some would call it the mark of champions.
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Weather for Leeds
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 8 C to 21 C
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Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
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