Deadly Dougie sparks war of nerves
Last updated 11:41, Monday, 14 April 2008
Leeds Utd 3 Carlisle Utd 2: It took Leeds just over a quarter of an hour to salvage part one of the doomsday scenario which has Carlisle’s uneasy followers peering through their fingers.
Now United need the Football League’s lawyers to defend their ground better than John Ward’s team managed here if these Yorkshire tykes aren’t to complete their audacious raid on League One’s prized second place.
Was the wild, 19-minute spell on Saturday afternoon, when Leeds plundered three goals, the period when United’s automatic promotion challenge started unravelling? Not if you spoke to Ward’s defiant players after the event. And certainly not if Ken Bates’ QC parts the courtroom doors in a few days’ time without the 15 points the Elland Road club have been missing since last summer.
Expect this to be one of those weeks when sport’s journey from game to business stings the brain. Football’s evolutionary path has reached the depressing point where a contest for promotion is going to be influenced heavily – perhaps decisively – by legal arguments, not traditional disputes on grass.
So much for progress. Saturday’s riotous game therefore had the innocent feel of a throwback. Whatever happens when that tribunal convenes on Wednesday, it surely can’t match what happened at lunchtime two days ago for old-fashioned drama, ricocheting emotions and, if you’re a Cumbrian, bruising pain.
And not forgetting spoonfuls of controversy. Dougie Freedman’s two decisive goals appeared, to the naked eye, to be the fruit of an old poacher’s still-active brain. The argument from several Carlisle players is that the Scot’s hand also had plenty to do with the second of them.
Maybe it did. But let’s not allow the smoke of injustice to cloud the view of Carlisle’s defending, which dipped so far beneath normal high standards in those 19 chaotic minutes that Leeds, and the predatory Freedman, were able to swing open the gate United had bolted in a deceptively serene first half.
So much mayhem landed on our plates after the break that Scott Dobie’s deserved opener feels like it was scored in the middle of last year. On other days, the Cumbrian’s cleanly-worked goal in the 17th minute might have been where the excitement began and ended. Only one half of that verdict turns out to be true.
“It was a cracking game for both sets of fans,” said Ward, below. “Whether you are a neutral or not, if you like football then you have had your absolute money’s worth. It’s just a real shame that we are the losers.” There can be no doubting the high entertainment value of what we saw. A film critic would have slapped five stars at the top of his review. None of which eases the pain today.
United’s defenders might take the biggest hit for shipping those three avoidable goals between minutes 50 and 69. But fairness obliges us to record how Carlisle also authored their downfall higher up the pitch and gave Leeds the opportunity to glide through midfield gaps and maintain heavy pressure. It would be ignorant, too, to pay no attention to the hosts’ own cutting qualities – and especially to Freedman’s.
We’ll do that, in due course. First, the tale of that first half when Carlisle sliced their way into the lead and mounted an industrious defence of their advantage until half-time.
Jonny Howson’s dynamic run in the 12th minute, which ended with an overhit pass to the innocuous Jermaine Beckford, simply interrupted a spell of growing Carlisle confidence. That soon turned into decisive action when Evan Horwood found Simon Hackney in decent space down the left, and the winger flashed over a fine low cross on which Dobie pounced at the far post. Cue early Cumbrian cheers – and alarmingly early Yorkshire grumbles.
Paul Huntington, more of whom shortly, appeared ill-at-ease in the home defence alongside his more imposing partner, Lubo Michalik. Leeds rallied, but unconvincingly: a Darren Kenton cross headed over by Freedman, a Bradley Johnson curler which flew just over the bar, and another Freedman missile which cleared the target by inches. Carlisle might have claimed a second, had an incorrect offside flag not terminated Graham’s clear run on goal from Marc Bridge-Wilkinson’s pass – and had the big striker not then chested down a Chris Lumsdon cross and lost control, instead of applying his head.
No matter. Carlisle were value for their lead and comfortable with the surroundings. But then, five minutes into the second half, Leeds’ revival was sparked. Peter Murphy delayed a clearance near the byline, and could only shift the ball as far as Neil Kilkenny. His whipped shot bounced in front of Westwood and spun off the goalkeeper's chest, and Freedman swooped on the rebound and detonated the 28,000 crowd.
Seven minutes on, Carlisle conceded possession in the Leeds half and their hosts swept upfield. Tresor Kandol, on for Beckford, found Johnson on the left. Freedman met his cross with a cushioned header, Westwood saved Kandol’s curling shot, but then Howson nipped in to poke Gary McAllister’s men into the lead.
Remarkably, Carlisle then shuttled back down the field and instantly equalised. A Bridge-Wilkinson corner was fumbled by Casper Ankergren, and Danny Graham turned the chance into the home net.
Deep breath. After Dobie had just failed to convert a promising Hackney cross, back came Leeds. Down their left, Grant Smith upended Johnson and was booked. Then came a Kilkenny free-kick, half a clearance, Freedman’s control (with his hand, go the strong Carlisle claims) and then his expert volley into the top corner.
Huntington’s brainless gestures which inflamed the travelling fans were needless interjections during the home side’s furious revival (as was his ill-timed lunge on Hackney, which earned him a yellow card). But please, let’s not have a witch-hunt in his home city.
Back to Carlisle’s push for a second leveller. Ankergren flapped at another cross, but Hackney’s shot cannoned off Lumsdon and spun to safety. Cleveland Taylor and Gary Madine then joined the pursuit, but the more realistic late chances fell to Leeds, through Kenton, sub David Prutton, and finally Kandol, who darted past Murphy onto a high ball in injury-time, but was denied by Westwood.
McAllister gets high tactical marks for throwing on Kandol for the off-colour Beckford at an early stage, to give Leeds’ attack some muscular focus and allow the wily Freedman to look for profitable gaps.
Ward, for his part, can tick off encouraging displays from Hackney and Dobie, for instance, and conclude that there was a zip about Carlisle’s best work here that need not render Southend’s visit on Saturday the dreaded engagement that some fans fear.
Tiredness looks less of a problem than it did last week. And Doncaster, who halved their six-point gap to Carlisle over the weekend, can still be held off if United recover quickly from this psychological bash and complete their season appropriately.
The biggest threat to the Cumbrians’ well-being in the top two will either survive or perish in a courtroom this week. Reading back that sentence is infinitely more dispiriting than anything we saw in Yorkshire on Saturday.
