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PHIL HAY: Becks proves he's real match winner
The rise to prominence of Robert Snodgrass made the vote interesting, but Leeds United's player of the year award was sown up before the leaves fell last autumn.
Opinions differ about the most valuable player in a club's squad but it was telling that, in a ballot involving Snodgrass, Fabian Delph, Luciano Becchio and several others, Jermaine Beckford was able to attract more than 50 per cent of the votes from United's supporters. Goals continue to be football's major currency.
Beckford's receipt of the fans' player of the year award at Elland Road on Tuesday night does not obscure his faults, of which there are a few.
He has a petulant streak, which has come at the cost of two suspensions this season and is prone at times to inconsistency and distraction – traits that may explain why United's squad selected Delph as their player of the year – but there is no credible argument against 31 goals. The trophy he deservedly collected had his name on it months ago.
WATCH PHIL AND AND ANDY IN THE LATEST EDITION OF THE BOOT ROOM, OUR EXCLUSIVE ONLINE LEEDS UNITED MATCHDAY PREVIEW PROGRAMME. CLICK HERE TO SEE THE LATEST ONE.
His strike rate alone was enough to guarantee him a place near the top end of the supporters' poll, but his award should not be seen as merely a reflection of quantity. It should be viewed as an acknowledgement of how successfully Beckford has bettered his first full year as an involved Leeds United player and the extent to which he has carried the club at key stages of this season.
It was apparent by the end of September, at which stage the striker had scored 11 goals, that he would clear last season's total of 20 by a considerable distance. Beckford surpassed that mark before January was out, in spite of his absence from six matches before and after the turn of the year.
In accumulating 20 goals last season, the former Wealdstone player proved beyond question that he was suited to a far better standard than non-league, but there was rarely a feeling during the 2007-08 term that the forward was indispensable.
He scored only once in 10 games between January and March – a penalty against Nottingham Forest – and produced seven goals in total after Christmas, albeit hindered by a foot injury which almost prevented his involvement in the play-offs.
Influential though he could be, there was never an assumption that Beckford would drag Leeds out of trouble when all else failed.
It is precisely that talismanic quality which the 25-year-old has uncovered this season, delivering goals that are not only great in number but also high in importance.
In Simon Grayson's time as manager alone, his strikes against Peterborough United, Millwall, Scunthorpe United, Swindon Town and MK Dons stand out as moments when Beckford dictated the plot of matches which were not necessarily under Leeds' control. He is a player whom Leeds can now rely on not only to affect their fixtures but to settle them; a match-winner, rather than simply a goalscorer.
It was naturally worrying to hear before last week's draw at Leyton Orient that he was suffering from a torn thigh muscle. A long memory is not required to remember the injury which forced him to miss the final four games of last season, or the half-fit Beckford who made little impact during the play-offs.
It would, therefore, be encouraging to see him recalled to Grayson's squad tomorrow and given the time to prepare himself for the likely prospect of the play-offs with appearances in United's three remaining matches.
Several factors influence the outcome of the Football League's play-offs – luck, nerve and stamina – but the average manager would ask for nothing more than a squad of sharp, fit and available players.
Those descriptions must apply to Beckford when Leeds take the road to Wembley again.
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