Leeds United 2 Bolton 1: YEP jury verdicts

Our YEP Jury have their say on Leeds United's 2-1 home victory over Bolton Wanderers.
Mustapha Carayol weaves his way past Jay Spearing and Josh Vela.Mustapha Carayol weaves his way past Jay Spearing and Josh Vela.
Mustapha Carayol weaves his way past Jay Spearing and Josh Vela.

MATTHEW EVANS

As I walked into Elland Road on Saturday there was a real smell of anticipation in the air. Seeing your team play bottom-club Bolton Wanderers is always a moment to savour and we’ve been blessed with the opportunity to watch the fixture no less than three times this season.

It was a hot ticket. Everybody was smiling with excitement at what might unfold in the coming 90 minutes. Could we win this crucial game as we approach the end of the season? Obviously, with it being such an occasion, the club had set the ticket prices at category A, the highest available and still quite the bargain.

Mustapha Carayol weaves his way past Jay Spearing and Josh Vela.Mustapha Carayol weaves his way past Jay Spearing and Josh Vela.
Mustapha Carayol weaves his way past Jay Spearing and Josh Vela.
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Except most of that is only a dream. Our football became meaningless a month ago, the only smile inside Elland Road is stitched onto Lucas the Kop Cat’s face and we can safely assume that the only reason this game was deemed category A was the same reason as it always is; greed.

Another dream, or more accurately a nightmare, unfolded outside the stadium pre-match where a premonition of the club’s death was played out by protestors complete with coffin, eulogy and wake. The club might not be dead yet but it is in serious decline.

Apart from the protests, which also included slogans being towed around Elland Road by car and aeroplane, the signs of decay included the thousands of empty seats that are increasing game by game as fans stay away. The once-famous atmosphere is silent while the pitch is in a terrible state and the team worse than that.

We got our expected win on Saturday but not before making very heavy weather of it. The same mistakes we made against Brighton were in evidence once more but not as readily punished this time around.

Mustapha Carayol weaves his way past Jay Spearing and Josh Vela.Mustapha Carayol weaves his way past Jay Spearing and Josh Vela.
Mustapha Carayol weaves his way past Jay Spearing and Josh Vela.
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It was a very poor game of football played out by two very poor teams where most of the entertainment value was found in the comedy of each side’s ineptitude.

Most of us didn’t buy our top price tickets for comedy yet we were still treated to an encore in the post match interviews.

Steve Evans decided that with three points safely in the bag he could show his face to the fans this time and his continued assertion that he, and this side, could be the foundation of a promotion challenge next season brought tears to my eyes.

If Steve, or anybody else, thinks that selling our talent, letting our young players’ contracts run down, running a skeleton backroom staff, constantly fielding players out of position and maintaining utter chaos off the field is a recipe for promotion, he must be dreaming.

Man of the match: Mirco Antenucci.

KEITH INGHAM

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Leeds United registered their first home win since January 23rd and only their second win in 13 league games.

Leeds were first to show and ex-Leeds keeper Paul Rachubka had to be alert to Mirco Antenucci’s cross with Souleymane Doukara hoping to prosper if the keeper spilled the ball. Bolton weren’t far away though from taking the lead when both Spearing and Feeney’s efforts were saved by Silvestri.

Just before the break Leeds got the goal they so needed, a corner from Mustapha Carayol was flicked home by Antenucci, he nearly made it two but his cute back heal just went past the post.

Bamba replaced Cooper after the break, he was injured clearing his lines in first half injury time. Bolton had a half chance to equalise but it was squandered by Osede, shortly after Leeds got some breathing space when Antenucci scored with a superb curling effort after his first effort was blocked.

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Instead of deflating Bolton they were spurred on and substitute Woolery fired in Moxey’s cross with the clock passing 75 minutes, Clough nearly equalised but his effort went wide.

Leeds did just enough to claim the three points and the relief at the end was visible from players and fans alike.

Man of the match: Mirco Antenucci.

STEPHEN CLARK

Leeds picked up a much-needed three points by beating Bolton with a double from Mirco Antenucci.

With Rotherham and Charlton both picking up wins away from home the result almost certainly dooms Bolton to the drop but means Leeds are not quite out of the danger zone just yet.

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It was a surprise to see Antenucci in the starting line up, but he repaid the faith shown in him by Steve Evans with two good goals.

Man of the match: Mirco Antenucci.

GARY NEWBOULD

It wasn’t pretty but is was ultimate effective as United registered a priceless three points against Bolton Wanderers courtesy of two excellent goals from Mirco Antenucci. The visitors pulled a goal back on 75 minutes to ensure the traditional biting of fingernails, but the Whites held on to end a traumatic week on a high.

Man of the match: Charlie Taylor.

DAVID WATKINS

All that mattered was that Leeds added three points to their season’s haul and that we did. Along the way, Mirco Antenucci found his goal-scoring boots again and that may come in very handy as we try to ensure we keep a comfortable distance between ourselves and the bottom three in the coming weeks.

As a performance, I’m not sure we were that much better or worse than we were at Brighton the other night with the one major exception that our flimsy defence only went AWOL once and not four times as we did last Monday although we did need a last ditch stretch by Liam Cooper to save Silvestri’s blushes at the end of the first half. I’ll remember this game for that sublime Antenucci strike though; we know he can do that, he just needs to do it more regularly.

Man of the match: Mirco Antenucci.

JAMES HARRISON

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It was a must-win game and the lads delivered. It wasn’t a great match but it was all about the three points and we needed to get them. Mustapha Carayol was really poor. He and a few others didn’t seem interested but maybe that was because of the poor opposition.

Man of the match: Giueseppe Bellusci.