27-07-12: Torquay United (a) 2-1 (HT 2-0) Crowd (3,925)

Programme & Teamsheet:

A fine afternoon greeted the players for the final game of their pre-season tour of the South West as the sun shone on a summer's day. There were fears of an avalanch as United started off in goal hungry fashion. Ross McCormack scored two superb goals in the first quarter of an hour. His first came when he scored from distance with a low shot which gave the keeper no chance after just seven minutes. His second came direct from a free-kick outside the penalty area, when he curled the ball over the Torquay wall and into the net with a shot of precision. It looked like Torquay would do well to restrict the score from being a deluge, but they showed good resolve to restrict the margin to just the two goals by half-time. This was despite Leeds dominating for long periods and McCormack always looking a threat and he went close with another volley from distance and Andy Gray looked to maintain his early goalscoring form, but he failed to get enough power into his header after being set up by Tom Lees. Luke Varney burst down the left and squared a low pass for Paul Green, who wastefully blasted over from just inside the home penalty area. Torquay finally breached the Leeds defence with a terrific through-ball from Ian Morris, who started his football education at Elland Road, and Billy Bodin raced clear, but dragged his final shot well wide of Jamie Ashdown’s far post. He tried to make amends and went on a dazzling run through the Leeds defence but once more there was no result as Jamie Ashdown brought off a good save as he dived to his left. The half-time break saw Leeds replace Martin Crainie with Sam Byram and the home side replaced Michael Poke by Martin Rice in goal, Thomas Cruise came on for Kevin Nicholson at left-back, while in midfield Craig Easton replaced Damon Lathrope and Nathan Craig replaced Ian Morris, while Danny Stevens added punch to the forwards as he replaced Rene Howe. The home side made two more changes in the sixty-second minute when Ashley Yeoman replaced Daniel Leadbitter and Lloyd Mackin came on for Billy Bodin, which was designed to pep up their attack. Three minutes later Danny Pugh replaced Luke Varney and Dominic Poleon came on for Ross McCormack and the home team completed their substitutions for the game as Niall Thompson came on for Ryan Jarvis in the seventy-second minute and a couple of minutes later, as Lee Mansell was preparing to take a corner-kick, Kirtys MacKenzie replaced Aaron Downes. This had an immediate effect as with his first touch young defender MacKenzie pulled a goal back with a header from that corner, with Leeds complaining bitterly that Jason Pearce had been manhandled to the floor. Leeds immediately threw on Robbie Rogers for Aidan White and Zac Thompson for Michael Brown leaving Lewis & Nathan Turner unused on the bench. The goal was one that Torquay’s second-half display deserved and Danny Stevens almost conjured up an equaliser with a curling effort six minutes from time. Leeds responded with a swift break and Dominic Poleon forced an excellent save from Martin Rice. So in a game that looked initially like a landslide it turned out tha Leeds finished up almost with a draw. The referee was Brendan Malone of Salisbury and there were 2,050 Leeds supporters in the crowd.