13-07-16: Shelbourne (a) 2-1 (HT 2-0) Crowd (2,000) (Formation 4-1-3-2)

The pre-season started with a tour of Ireland. They landed in Dublin on the evening of 3rd July and the following morning were into the first training sessions in the two week pre-season training camp. There were twenty-four players which included summer signings Marcus Antonsson and Kyle Bartley, while youngsters Bailey Peacock-Farrell, Tyler Denton, Paul McKay, Alex Purver, Ronaldo Vieira and Eoghan Stokes were all included for their first pre-season tour with the senior team. Stuart Dallas was absent due to international commitments with Northern Ireland. The squad consisted of: Goalkeepers: Bailey Peacock-Farrell, Marco Silvestri and Ross Turnbull. Defenders: Souleymane Bamba, Kyle Bartley, Gaetano Berardi, Liam Cooper, Lewie Coyle, Tyler Denton, Paul McKay and Charlie Taylor. Midfielders: Jordan Botaka, Lewis Cook, Toumani Diagouraga, Alex Mowatt, Luke Murphy, Kalvin Phillips, Alex Purver and Ronaldo Vieira. Strikers: Marcus Antonsson, Souleymane Doukara, Lee Erwin, Eoghan Stokes and Chris Wood. Hadi Sacko was also with the party as he had trials.

The training camp came to a climax with two matches against strong Irish opposition. The first took place at Tolka Park in a game with Shelbourne on 13th July 2016. There were first game starts for Kyle Bartley, Tyler Denton, Hadi Sacko and Kemar Roofe and first game starts as substitutes for Alex Purver, Paul McKay, Matt Grimes, Eoghan Stokes and Marcus Antonsson. There were two complete teams selected, the first played for the first sixty minutes and the second for the final thirty minutes. The teams (4-1-2-3) were First : Ross Turnbull; Lewie Coyle, Kyle Bartley, Toumani Diagouraga, Tyler Denton; Kalvin Phillips; Luke Murphy, Alex Mowatt; Hadi Sacko, Kemar Roofe, Souleymane Doukara. The Second: Bailey Peacock-Farrell; Alex Purver, Paul McKay, Souleymane Bamba, Charlie Taylor; Ronaldo Vieira; Matt Grimes, Jordan Botaka; Eoghan Stokes, Marcus Antonsson, Chris Wood. Shelbourne lined up Jack Brady; James Brown, Adam O'Connor, Bobby O'Reilly, Cian Kavanagh, Dylan Kavanagh, Gavin Boyne, Dylan Grimes, Lorcan Shannon, James English, Carl Walshe. Substitutes: Greg Murray, Glenn Carragher, David Harper, Robert Duggan, Adam Evans, Graham Cassin, Reece McTeer, Ryan Robinson, Ross Coyle. Rob Green, Liam Cooper and Gaetano Barardi were not considered fit enough for selection and Luke Murphy led the Leeds team out in the absence of Souleymane Bamba and Liam Cooper from the opening line-up. The evening kick-off soon saw United pressing with Lewie Coyle making a good run and cross from the right, but there were no takers. However, they soon took the lead as Souleymane Doukara shot unerringly past home keeper Jack Brady into the bottom corner of the net, to open the scoring in the ninth minute, when the ball fell kindly for him after Kemar Roofe had charged down a clearance inside the home box. Four minutes later Hadi Sacko open his Leeds account with the second, as he kept his head when Alex Mowatt had found him with a fine through ball to round off a fine Leeds move. Two minutes later United were fortunate to clear a Shelbourne attack off the line after poor marking at a corner. Tyler Denton and Luke Murphy both had speculative shots saved by Jack Brady, while James English headed high and wide from a corner for the home team. The home side made the first change in the thirty-eighth minute as Adam Evans replaced Dylan Grimes. It was not until the thirty-ninth minute that Leeds keeper Ross Turnbull was brought into the action, when, after he had initially made a poor clearance, he made a fine recovery to thwart the onrushing James England as he saved with his legs, as once more there had been poor defending by the visitors. Luke Murphy saw a longe range effort deflected over the bar by a home defender as Leeds enjoyed the majority of the possession and well deserved their 2-0 lead as they went into the half-time break. They could have made it three two minutes before half-time when a fine run by Souleymane Doukara finished as he teed up Kemar Roofe but the winger's close range shot was deflected away by the home defence. Garry Monk made a positional change, swapping Luke Murphy, back into Central Defence with Toumani Diagouraga slotting into his place in midfield. Five minutes after the break the home side were able to reduce the arrears as the substitute, Adam Evans, bundled home a good cross from Lorcan Shannon with a low effort past Ross Turnbull at the far post, as the Leeds defence seemed to be asleep. Ten minutes into the second half United again displayed good combination play. Hadi Sacko and Toumani Diagouraga combined well to give Souleymane Doukara the chance to curl a shot just wide of the post. In the fifty-seventh minute it was again Doukara that went close to getting his second of the evening but his final shot was parried away by Jack Brady in the Shelbourne goal. Two minutes later Kemar Roofe and Hadi Sacko again combined well to create another chance when Sacko's inviting cross could only be headed by the former Oxford man onto the roof of the net. On the one hour mark Souleymane Bamba took over the armband from Luke Murphy as Garry Monk completely changed the Leeds team. Five minutes later, the home side brought on Greg Murray for Jack Brady in goal. The introduction of Marcus Antonsson was immediately noticeable as he twice threatened, when, firstly his half volley was blocked at the near post by substititute home goalkeeper, Greg Murray, in the sixty-sixth minute, and then, in the seventy-third minute, the keeper held his low strike. In the seventy- sixth minute Robert Duggan replaced James English. In the seventieth minute the home side once more failed to take advantage of Leeds defensive weaknesses. The home side had surged forward and Charlie Taylor could do nothing to help Souleymane Bamba from being forced to make a weak clearance, but thankfully, for Leeds, Alex Purver came to United's rescue and hacked away the resulting shot. The lively Jordan Botaka was also twice denied by Greg Murray in the closing stages and one of them in the eightieth minute saw his low shot force the deputy keeper to brilliantly save as he parried the shot clear. Two minutes later a fine corner kick from Matt Grimes found Souleymane Bamba, but he was off balance and could only volley the ball over the bar. With three minutes on the clock, Botaka again went close as his left-footed shot from outside the area forced Greg Murray to go down at full stretch to make the save. Although the home side made three substitutions in the final minute with Glenn Carragher replacing Kavanagh, David Harper coming on for Gavin Boyne and Ross Coyle for Lorcan Shannon as there was no alteration to the score Leeds were the better team and the sizeable United following roared them on.

Programme, Teamsheet & Ticket:

Courtesy Kenny Sharpe http://www.leedsunitedprogrammeguide.co.uk/Index.html

MATCH REPORT: Yorkshire Evening Post by Phil Hay: 13-07-2016

Shelbourne 1 Leeds United 2