Leeds United laboured to a 1-1 draw at home to Charlton Athletic last night, with manager Neil Warnock bemoaning a flat display, a flat crowd and admitting: “I’m surprised we took a point.”
United extended their unbeaten run to seven matches through a first-half goal from David Norris but Warnock found little to praise in his side’s performance in front of the lowest league crowd of the season at Elland Road. The attendance fell to 17,484 and Charlton claimed a deserved point when Dorian Dervite converted a soft strike early in the second half.
Leeds relied on two outstanding saves from goalkeeper Paddy Kenny to protect a point in injury-time and Warnock told his players to forget their ineffective outing as he looked ahead to Saturday’s home clash with Birmingham City.
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The Leeds boss said: “There were two poor sides out there. The atmosphere was flat, the game was flat and I think we did brilliantly to get a point playing like that. I said to the lads ‘well done. You surprised me coming out of that with a point.’
“We were so lethargic. Plodders really. It’s a game we should have won, even though we were hanging on at the end. We’d have won if we’d played anything like we can. But it’s out the way and we’ve got to forget it. I’m looking forward to Saturday now. There’ll be a bit more zip about us and the crowd too. They were absolutely flat. I’ve never seen or heard them like that – really quiet.”
United were without captain Lee Peltier and midfielder Rodolph Austin last night, both of whom underwent scans on ankle problems yesterday and are doubtful for Saturday’s fixture at Elland Road.
“I’m hoping they’ll be back for Birmingham but I’m not counting on it,” he said.
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