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Leeds United: Jermaine on the mark for Whites
Shelbourne 2 Leeds United 2 Prospective purchasers of Jermaine Beckford will have hoped that, as a transfer-listed employee of Leeds United, the wedge driven between the striker and his club would be wide enough to force a rapid parting of the ways.
Beckford invited United's displeasure when he turned down their offer of a new contract in May, just as Leeds were in danger of incurring Beckford's wrath when they reacted by making him available for transfer, but the grounds for an acrimonious divorce have not been dwelt on by either side.
It went without saying that, for as long as he remained on United's books, Beckford would be the most keenly scrutinised of Simon Grayson's players this summer – moreso than Fabian Delph, who is free from the stigma of sitting on the transfer list.
but the initial impression is that of a player with the appropriate attitude to remain at Elland Road next season, however the land around his contract lies.
Beckford can make no promises about his future any more than Grayson can – a deal which is now into its last 12 months has muddied those waters – but his manager must already be convinced that the striker, worth no fewer than 54 goals to Leeds in two seasons, is capable of remaining on board without rocking the boat.
Given Beckford's persona and the intermittent role he can have in matches, it was inevitable that his performances in pre-season would be scanned for evidence that he was sulking or unsettled, but an outing in Dublin last night, which brought two goals and followed on from a steady warm-up at York City, said otherwise.
His finishes in a first half when he might have scored four times and when United's two-goal lead could easily have been trebled, were characteristic efforts from a player who relies on instinct and benefits visibly from confidence.Grayson has insisted for long enough that Beckford is relaxed about his contractual situation but last night the player gave credence to that claim.
He was not alone in impressing before half-time, a period of football which, from United's point of view, was error-free, thoroughly fluid and an undeniable improvement on the game at KitKat Crescent two days earlier.
Until the interval there was enough bite in his team's display for Grayson to claim that his pre-season is progressing as planned, though for the benefit of Shelbourne it should be noted that the team they chose to field against Leeds is not the team whose hands are crawling all over Ireland's first division title.
Shelbourne's competitive credentials are proven by their standing at the top of their domestic league and, with that commitment evidently in mind, their line-up selected yesterday was a random collection of trialists, youngsters and the odd experienced player.
As the teams left the field after 45 minutes, with United leading 2-0, it was apparent that Leeds were benefiting from a wide margin of class, but in a virtual repeat of Sunday's friendly at York, the visitors' aura slipped in the second half as Shelbourne found their teeth and replied with two goals, plucking a draw from a game in which they should long since have been routed.
As contrasts go, the fluency of the first half and the disjointed battle that broke out in the second could not have been more different and the lack of sparkle after the interval was more relevant than the loss of a two-goal lead for the second time in as many days.Grayson will worry if that habit exists when August arrives but he was not about to savage his players for a result which carried no palpable cost.
Shelbourne were free to treat last night's match as the friendly it was and a glance over the club's competitive schedule explained the weakened team chosen by manager Dermot Keely.
The Irish club are at the height of their domestic season and the height of their league, leading the competition by four points.
That they had agreed to host Leeds in between games against UCD and Sporting Fingal – the teams immediately beneath them in the table – spoke volumes about Shelbourne's hospitality, just as their line-up said everything about their priorities.
Grayson will have anticipated opposition below full strength, as he does when Leeds play Glentoran on Saturday afternoon, but his team was more akin to a typical starting side, listing Casper Ankergren in goal, Andy Robinson, Jonathan Howson and Delph in midfield and Beckford up front.
The side picked out by United's manager also gave first appearances of the summer to Alan Sheehan and Mike Grella who, for reasons related to their fitness, had been unable to take to the field at York.
The presence of Grella in a three-man line of forwards – alongside Beckford and Enoch Showunmi – gave United valuable width initially and it took no time for the strength in United's ranks to stretch Shelbourne's defence.
Grella in particular settled quickly, hassling Shelbourne keeper Vinny Whelan into a bad mis-control in the second minute, which Beckford almost punished and shooting low into Whelan's grasp after controlling a high cross from Showunmi with his chest.
By the eighth minute, Grella was sprinting onto a well-timed pass from Robinson and laying the ball off to Beckford whose side-footed shot was saved with one hand by Whelan. The quality of the block instantly redeemed his earlier, careless error.
The pressure on Whelan did not relent, though, and he called on the sliding frame of Jordan McMillan to clear another shot from Beckford off Shelbourne's goalline after the striker received a through ball and out-manoeuvred the keeper inside the box, lacking only a deadly finish.
Five minutes later, Beckford's clinical instinct returned to him. The increasingly impressive Grella won possession 30 yards from Shelbourne's goal and fed a tidy pass through to Beckford, giving the forward sufficient time to size up Whelan and curl the ball to the left of the keeper.
Whelan would have been beaten again soon after had Beckford's header from Andrew Hughes' cross sneaked under the crossbar rather than catching the frame of the goal and Shelbourne's last line of defence failed again in the 41st minute after Robinson and Aidy White laid on a simple tap-in for Beckford.The half-time scoreline still made surprisingly gentle reading for Shelbourne, who had failed to involve Casper Ankergren, but it improved drastically in the first 10 minutes of the second half, soon after the buoyancy of a rampant United team was tempered by seven substitutions.
Guy Bates struck quickly with a diving header at the end of Ritchie Baker's deep cross and Shelbourne were awarded a penalty on 56 minutes when Hughes was harshly penalised for handling Baker's shot in a congested goalmouth.
David Crawley's left-footed finish from 12 yards was too accurate for Ankergren to reach.
The Dane was able to beat away Bates' 70th-minute free-kick with a two-handed parry and that save was necessary to keep Leeds from defeat.
The reversal over the course of 45 minutes gave the impression that while a number of United's players might have captured Grayson's imagination, certain others had not.
United (first half): Ankergren, Hughes (Darville 65), Lees (Crowe 46), Michalik (Huntington 46), Sheehan (Parker 46), Robinson (Johnson 46), Delph (Prutton 46), Howson (Snodgrass 46), Showunmi (White 29), Beckford (Becchio 46), Grella (Elliott 65). Subs (not used): Martin, Higgs.
Shelbourne: Whelan, McMenaman (Farrell 60), Crawley, McMillan (Sinnott 33 (Moran 73)), Doherty, O'Brien (Kavanagh 73), Costigan (Flood 60), Cassidy (Murray 73), Klanas, Georgescu (Bates 46), Baker (O'Reilly 61).
Referee: P Tuite
Attendance: 3,343.
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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