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Leeds United: Snodgrass out to avenge Dons defeat
Leeds United's first engagement with MK Dons came at what might have been their moment of greatest weakness, and Robert Snodgrass has promised Roberto Di Matteo's players a rougher ride at Elland Road on Saturday.
United's loss of form and confidence under Gary McAllister was perfectly exploited by the Dons in December, and their 3-1 victory in Milton Keynes was the straw which broke the faith of Ken Bates in his then manager.
With the possible exception of an FA Cup defeat to Histon, United's loss at stadium:mk and the ramifications of that result represented the lowest point of their unpredictable season, but the frailty shown five days before Christmas is a distant memory, not least for Di Matteo.
The 11-point lead his club held over United after their convincing win three months ago has been steadily trimmed to three, and it is Leeds who lie directly behind them in the League One table, unbeaten in seven games and enthused by their strongest period of home form for a decade.
Snodgrass, whose sublime strike was United's one memorable moment in a fateful game in Milton Keynes, acknowledged the importance and difficulty of Saturday's return fixture, but he can at least be certain of a more forthright performance from Leeds at Elland Road.
The Scottish winger said: "I know we're going to give them a better game because you've seen what we've been doing in recent weeks.
"We've put that (the time of McAllister's sacking) behind us and it'll be a different game.
"They seem to be slipping up and we're on the way up, but I said back when things weren't going so well under Gary that we'd be up there and fighting. That's exactly what we're doing and come Saturday we'll be fighting again."
MK Dons' setbacks have come most recently in the form of a 1-0 defeat at home to Millwall and Saturday's goalless draw with Yeovil Town, a result which followed two matches in which Yeovil conceded nine goals without reply.
Having lost 3-2 to Leeds in a bizarre match at Gresty Road three days ago, Crewe Alexandra are tonight's visitors to stadium:mk for the game in hand which MK Dons hold over every club in the top half of League One.
It is a fixture which Di Matteo must inspire his squad to win if their pursuit of Peterborough United – the team who are presently favourites to win automatic promotion alongside champions-in-waiting Leicester City – is to continue, and the next five days will have a pivotal bearing on the final positions of both his club and Simon Grayson's.
Grayson described Saturday's meeting with MK Dons as a "cracking fixture", and Leeds' outside chance of automatic promotion rests heavily on it.
United lie 10 points back from Peterborough with a game in hand but Snodgrass, like Grayson, does not agree that plucking second place from the hands of the clubs around them is an impossibility.
"We'll make it very difficult for the teams above us and I hope we'll sneak second place," said Snodgrass.
"We're undefeated in a good few games and it's now about giving it everything until we kick the last ball of the season.
"Everyone's looking forward to Saturday and we'll prepare ourselves for a hard game.
"We nearly threw the win over Crewe away with some sloppy defending and that could have haunted us but we can't look at the bad side of it. It's all about points at this stage because that's what takes you up the league."Snodgrass was the chief instigator of Saturday's victory at Gresty Road, though the panache with which United outclassed a 10-man Crewe side and took a 3-0 lead before half-time faded during a nervous second half.
Crewe overcame their numerical disadvantage by scoring twice through Julien Baudet and Tom Pope, and after an initial 45-minute spell which delighted Grayson, United's manager was unexpectedly relieved to see his side avoid an equaliser in the final minutes.
Snodgrass admitted to disappointment in United's dressing room after Crewe's fightback, but the Scot was pragmatic about a final result which gave Leeds their first away win for two months and protected their lengthy unbeaten run.
In a month when MK Dons have consistently dropped points – their 6-2 rout of Oldham Athletic, which again cost a manager his job, is their only win in seven matches – United have discovered the consistency that McAllister enjoyed in September but had lost completely by the time his players were beaten in Milton Keynes.
Grayson's target of an unbeaten run to the end of the season seems increasingly realistic, and automatic promotion would almost certainly depend on such a flawless collection of results.
Snodgrass accepted that Crewe's fightback had denied Leeds an impressive victory over a team who lost left-back Billy Jones to a red card after 17 minutes, but he refused to bemoan the value of a win against one of League One's in-form clubs.
Snodgrass said: "The second half was silly and it felt like a defeat because of the way the gaffer and some of the lads were going on in the dressing room, but three points are three points.
"The manager was unhappy because he told us we could have had a nice second half and a good second half by scoring more goals and not letting them back into the game. We did the complete opposite by giving them two goals.
"We started making it difficult for ourselves and they had nothing to lose once they went down to 10 men, but we had chances to kill them off as well. It's another win and we're three points closer to second place."
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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