04-08-08: Guiseley (a) 1-2 (HT 1-2) Crowd (780)

Programme:

A minute's silence was held before the game for murder victim Adam Chadwick, a United fan who played for Guiseley at Under-Nineteen and Reserve level. Neil Thompson's side started brightly with Chris Ovington scoring from an Ollie Hotchkiss pass after just five minutes.It did not last long as the Unibond side quickly hit back with two goals from former Leeds United Junior striker David Brown in the fifteenth and twenty-seventh minute. His first goal came against the run of play, after Adam Muller played him in with a fine cross after capitalizing on a defensive mistake by Andrew Milne and making good ground down the wing. The goal gave the home side's confidence a boost and in the seventeenth minute Brown went close with a snapshot that grazed the post. Alan Martin then did well to save a deflected shot from Brice Tiani. Brown's second also involved Muller, whose shot was parried by Leeds keeper Alan Martin but left him with a simple task of netting. Fabian Delph had been the stand-out performer for Leeds and ten minutes before the interval he had the best chance to equalize. He broke clear and had only goalkeeper Piotr Skiba to beat, but he made a good block with his legs. The first half had produced some open football but in the second half neither team looked like scoring, although Leeds keeper Alan Martin need quick relexes to save a shot from Mark Whitehouse. There was a succession of changes which slowed the tempo of the game and seemed to stem the flow of creative ideas by both sides. Liam Darville replaced the experienced Sebastien Carole after fifty-eight minutes and twelve minutes later the equally experienced Ian Westlake was replaced by Aidan White, followed two minutes later by Michael Whitwell coming on for Chris Ovington, while Guiseley sent on Chris Davey for Adam Muller. Three minutes later the home side replaced Brice Tiani with John Douglas and on the eighty minute mark also sent on Luke Williams for James Cotterill for their final change and three minutes later Leeds replaced Ollie Hotchkiss with Nathan Cartman for their final change, leaving goalkeepers Matt Edwards unused on the Leeds bench and Tom Morgan on the Guiseley bench. Leeds coach Neil Thompson comments after the game were: "We went ahead and looked comfortable, and I think we thought it would be too easy. Guiseley came on to us, put us under pressure and we made some bad mistakes in bad areas. I'm disappointed we didn't pass the ball well, but we have to learn from that. We took our foot of the gas and it was a good learning experience that you can't just turn up and win games. I did think we were better in the second half, but it's all about learning. We've had some tough games against some ex-pros who maybe have a point to prove. You can't dwell on the ball because you'll lose it and you have to move it quicker. It's been a good environment for some of the younger players to learn in." Robert Madley of Ossett was the Referee in front of a crowd of 780.