20-07-05: Darlington (a) 1-0 (HT 1-0) Crowd (?)

Programme:

Robbie Blake soon made his mark with a goal after five minutes on his Leeds debut. He showed his obvious skills when he received a ball from his strike partner David Healy, he then held up the ball, created space for himself and then slotted the ball past a helpless goalkeeper. It was the only goal of the game which Leeds dominated and while Bennett had little to do Bert Bossu was often called upon to save the day for the home team. David Healy was particularly unlucky as he was twice denied from close range, but while the two starting strikers played well neither Gylfi Einarsson nor Michael Ricketts looked the answer as Rob Hulse was sorely missed. Eirik Bakke and Seth Johnson both came through the game well and seemed to be almost back to their former levels that they had attained before their untimely injury, but there seemed to be strength in depth in most positions as Kevin Blackwell gave chances to most of his options. He stuck with his starting eleven until he made his first changes on the fifty-five minute mark when he sent on Frazer Richardson for Gary Kelly at Right Back and Gylfi Einarsson for Robbie Blake at striker. Seven minutes later he made a change in midfield with Simon Walton replacing Jermaine Wright. In the seventieth minute he changed his central defence when he sent on Matthew Kilgallon for Paul Butler and six minutes later Matthew Spring replaced Shaun Derry in midfield. The changes were affecting the stability of the team but he made two more changes bringing on Danny Pugh for Eirik Bakke after eighty-two minutes and then a token gesture to Michael Ricketts when he replaced David Healy for the final three minutes. It left only Dan Harding, Clarke Carlisle and Mark Wilberforce unused on the bench. The overworked Bert Bossu pulled off several fine saves and also watched a Jermaine Wright chip bounce off his crossbar and a Seth Johnson volley whistle past his post, a little too close for comfort. In the first half, by contrast, Ian Bennett had only one save to make as he tipped an effort from former United striker Clyde Wijnhard over the bar, after he had been given the chance by another former United player, Simon Johnson. The Quakers also made many changes, starting in the sixty-first minute with Sheldon Martis for Joey Hutchinson, Joe Kendrick for Steve Thomas, Anthony Peacock for Jonjo Dickman and Akpo Sodje for Clyde Wijnhard. Nathan Jameson replaced Ryan Valentine three minutes later and there was a triple substitution in the eightieth minute when David McGurk replaced David Duke, Bell came on for Matty Appleby and Chris Mason replaced Simon Johnson.