During the International break from League football United arranged a Friday night mid-season friendly at Adams Park against League Two team, Wycombe Wanderers. It gave Steve Evans the chance to give his "fringe players" a chance to show their skills under match conditions. During the game the following Leeds substitutions were made: at half-time Sam Byram replaced Gaetano Berardi and Casper Sloth came on for Tomasso Bianchi. In the sixtieth minute Kalvin Phillips took over from Tom Adeyemi and four minutes before time Bailey Peacock-Farrell took over in goal from Marco Silvestri. Luke Murphy, Alex Mowatt and Mirco Antenucci were the unused substitutes. The Wycombe substitutes were: Half time: Matt Bloomfield for Luke O'Nien, After seventy-three minutes: Jason McCarthy for Ryan Sellers and Daniel Rowe for Gozi Ugwu and in the eighty-fourth minute: Garry Thompson for Max Kretzschmar. Matt Ingram, Sido Jombati and Joe Jacobson were the unused substitutes. Andy Woolmer of Northamptonshire was the referee in front of a crowd of 2,216, with 767 in the Leeds section.
There were rare starts for Tomasso Bianchi, who had not played since damaging his knee ligament in March, Lee Erwin, who had been on loan to Bury, and Souleymane Doukara, while Will Buckley, Jordan Bokata and Tom Adeyemi were recalled to the team not having featured regularly in recent times and were in need of match time. There was a lively start by the home side and they had the ball in the net after just three minutes, but Max Kretzschmar's close range shot was ruled out for offside after Marco Silvestri had parried a strike into his path from a Ryan Sellers header from a Luke O'Nien cross. Wycombe continued to press and a knockdown from Gozi Ugwa gave Max Kretzschmar a chance to shoot from the edge of the box, but it was well wide. Leeds soon got into their stride and played with the confidence that two consecutive wins brings. Jordan Botaka was the first to threaten, after receiving a cross from Gaetano Berardi, when he forced Alex Lynch to produce a fingertip save to stop his goalbound shot entering the net. The Wycombe keeper was again called upon ten minutes later when he again performed brilliantly to fly across his line to push a magnificent Giuseppe Bellusci free-kick over the bar, after Aaron Pierre had commited a foul twenty-five yards out. In his first appearance since returning from loan with Bury, Lee Erwin was showing good form and he manoeuvered well in the area as he turned on the edge of the penalty box to find space before getting in a shot that stung Alex Lynch's palms. Tom Adeyemi was the next to look on in disbelief as his looping header was tipped onto the post when it looked beyond him. The Wycombe keeper was keeping his team in the game in the early stages and he again thwarted Jordan Botaka, when he pushed his header over the bar, when the winger made good contact with Souleymane Doukara's inch-perfect cross. He was eventually beaten after thirty minutes when Lee Erwin calmly tucked the ball home from inside the penalty area, to give Leeds a deserved lead, after he had received the ball after good work down the right from Scott Wootton and Jordan Botaka. United took their lead into the half-time break and four minutes after the restart Marco Silvestri pushed a low shot from Matt Bloomfield away to deny the hosts an equaliser. It was Leeds that got the next goal in the fifty-first minute. Sam Byram had only been on the field six minutes, when Souleymane Doukara found him with a good cross and the substitute hammered the ball past Alex Lynch to double the visitor's lead. Jordan Botaka could have made it three two minutes later, but once more it was Alex Lynch to the rescue as he clawed the winger's rasping half-volley over the bar. Even Lynch would have stood no chance if Jordan Botaka's next effort in the seventy-sixth minute had have been a little more accurate, as the custodian stood rooted to the spot as the winger's shot flashed past the post, after good work by Will Buckley had set up a chance, with a cross from the right. Two minutes later Wycombe almost found a way back into the game, but a freekick was deflected wide by a Leeds defender. With two minutes left on the clock, Garry Thompson missed a good chance when he fired well over the bar from the edge of the box. But all-in-all it was an easy victory for United and gave a few players time to impress Steve Evans.
Programme, Teamsheet & Ticket:
Courtesy Kenny Sharpe http://www.leedsunitedprogrammeguide.co.uk/Index.html
Match Report: Wycombe Wanderers: 13-11-2015
Championship side Leeds United won 2-0 at Adams Park with a goal in each half on Friday night. Both teams fielded experimental line-ups and it was the visitors who broke the deadlock when Lee Erwin converted a low cross from the right in the opening period. Sam Byram then crashed home a second goal soon after the interval and despite some high tempo attacking play from both teams, there were no more goals as the 767 Leeds fans went home happy. Wycombe started brightly and saw Max Kretzschmar’s early strike disallowed after Marco Silvestri parried away Luke O’Nien’s effort, before Alex Lynch made a brilliant fingertip to keep out Jordan Botaka’s crisp strike at the other end. Lynch followed it up with a fingertip save to divert Giuseppe Bellusci’s free-kick onto the bar and was at full-stretch again to save Tom Adeyemi’s looping header, while Ryan Sellers was Wycombe’s busiest outlet down the left although the United defence dealt well with the balls into the box. The deadlock was broken on the half-hour mark when a low cross from the right was met by Lee Erwin, who stroked home comfortably in front of the Bucks New Uni stand. Max Kretzschmar almost caught Marco Silvestri off-guard near the start of the second period when his speculative long-range hit bounced just wide, before Leeds doubled their lead thanks to half-time substitute Sam Byram who smashed home from just inside the box. Chances dried up as the game grew old although Jordan Botaka came close with a clipped shot from a low cross from the right, before Jason McCarthy came close when the ball came his way from a free-kick but a deflection took it wide. Garry Thompson came close to halving the deficit with three minutes remaining when he fired over from Michael Harriman’s deflected cross, but there were no further chances as Leeds began their weekend of team bonding with a morale-boosting win - their third in a row.
Wycombe: Ingram, Harriman, Wood, Stewart, Pierre, McGinn, O’Nien (Bloomfield 45), Sellers (Rowe 73), Kretzschmar (Thompson 84), Amadi-Holloway, Ugwu (McCarthy 73). Unused subs: Ingram, Jombati, Jacobson.
Leeds: Silvestri (Peacock-Farrell 87), Bamba, Wootton, Bellusci, Doukara, Bianchi (Sloth 45) Buckley, Adeyemi (Phillips 61), Erwin, Botaka, Berardi (Byram 45). Unused subs: Antenucci, Murphy, Mowatt.
Attendance: 2,216 (767 from Leeds)
MATCH REPORT: Yorkshire Evening Post by Amitai Whitehouse: 13-11-2015
Wycombe Wanderers 0 Leeds United 2
It may have been Friday the 13th, but there was absolutely no horror show from Leeds United against Wycombe, the team putting together a display that reflected their superiority over the League Two side. Lee Erwin struggled for opportunities under former head coach Uwe Rosler, deciding to go on loan to Bury to add some English experience to his footballing CV. This game served as a job application, his goal a reminder to Steve Evans that he possesses a striker in reserve that set the Scottish first tier alight towards the end of last season, should either of the current incumbents fail to keep their goalscoring form from Huddersfield last week. Evans said in the build up to the game that he was treating it as a full-blown match. Admittedly Erwin, Jordan Botaka and Will Buckley have struggled to get into the starting eleven in recent weeks, but all three were expected to play in the absence of Leeds' internationals. There was also a start for Tommaso Bianchi, his first appearance since a ligament injury at Reading on 10th February. The appearance of Tom Adeyemi, Sol Bamba and Souleymane Doukara on the teamsheet rounded out a side that showed seven changes from the three-goal victory against Huddersfield Town. While Giuseppe Bellusci may have performed a series of kick-ups before clearing the ball on one occasion and some of the refereeing decisions reflected a non-competitive tie, there was no absence of professionalism from the Leeds starters, not least Erwin, who shone throughout the first half. The former Motherwell man first had an impact on the game when he was brought down when clean through on goal and soon after forced Alex Lynch in the Wycombe net into turning the ball wide, following nice footwork in the box. It was therefore no surpriseto see Erwin turn home a low cross in the twenty-ninth minute, his run across the face of goal showed a poacher's instinct, the Scot finishing first time after meeting the result of nice combination play from Scott Wootton and Botaka on the right hand side. The goal reflected the intensity with which Leeds approached the game, playing throughout as though this were a League fixture, or a least a Cup game against lower League opposition. Even two changes at half-timedid not dampen that, and it was Sam Byram, on for Gaetano Berardi, who fired the Whites' second of the game. A sweeping counter led to Souleymane Doukara pulling the ball back to the edge of the area, and the right back was there, charging forward to sweep the ball into the corner. Wycombe were never entirely out of the game and might have considered themselves unfortunate to have had a goal ruled out for offside in the first minute, Ryan Sellers striking from close. However they mainly tested Silvestri from long-range, despite the Italian goalkeeper struggling to deal with a few crossed set-pieces into the box. It was from one of those, a corner, that Silvestri had to get down low and turn a header round the post as the match edged into the last quarter, probably the closest Wycombe came to scoring in the game. A few slips aside from Erwin, Leeds could have had more, Casper Sloth also fired over, after Byram's second and Botaka knocked the ball wide after more good effort from the young defender. It was another display that highlighted a distinct difference in United's outlook since Evans took charge, the team playing on the front foot throughout.
Teams: Wycombe Wanderers: Lynch; Harriman, Pierre, Stewart, Wood; McGinn, O'Nien (Bloomfield 45'), Kretzschmar (Thompson 83'), Sellers (McCarthy 72'); Amadi-Holloway, Ugwu (Rowe 72'). Subs (not used): Ingram, Jombati , Jacobson. Leeds United: Silvestri (Peacock-Farrell 87'), Wootton, Bamba, Bellusci, Berardi (Byram 45'); Botaka, Bianchi (Sloth 45'), Adeyemi (Phillips 60'), Buckley; Doukara, Erwin. Subs (not used): Murphy, Mowatt, Antenucci. Referee: Andy Woolmer (Northants) Attendance: 2,216
MATCH REPORT: Bucks Free Press by Harry Gray: 13-11-2015
Wycombe Wanderers go down 2-0 to Championship Leeds United in a Friendly clash.
Lee Erwin and Sam Byram scored as Leeds United beat Wycombe Wanderers 2-0 in a friendly at Adams Park. Anthony Stewart made a long awaited return from injury, which had kept him out since August. The game was played in a competitive manner and will go a long way to keeping Wanderers fresh for their League game against Wimbledon next Saturday. Wycombe had the ball in the netafter two minutes bur saw Max Kretzschmar's close range effort ruled out for offside after he reacted quickest to a loose ball. The home side started well and the chance came as Ryan Sellers headed down a deep cross for O'Nien to shoot. Wycombe enjoyed the better of the early exchanges but while they spent most of their time in the Leeds half they were largely ineffective in the final third. A knockdown from Gozi Ugwu gave Kretzschmar the chance to strike from the edge of the box but his volley was deflected harmlessly wide of the mark. Centre-back Giuseppe Bellusci showed a delicate touch as he clipped a free-kick towards the top corner from twenty-five yards out after Aaron Pierre had made a foul. Alex Lynch sprung to his left and tipped the ball wide to esure the scores remained level in the fifteenth minute. Lynch was again called into action as Erwin twisted and turnedin the box and fired a near post shot but the Wanderers keeper dealt with it with ease. Ryan Sellers was proving to be the Blues main outlet but Wycombe found it difficult to create any clear cut chances in the opening period. Leeds grew into the game as it progressed and began to assert more pressure on the Wycombe defence. A looping header from Tom Adeyemi drew an excellent save from Lynch as he sprung to his left and tipped the effort onto the post, when the ball looked beyond him. In the thirtieth minute his resistence was broken as Erwin found himself in space inside the six yard box and tapped home after a deep cross had eluded everyone. With the game settling into a prolonged lull Bellusci almost gifted Wandererswith a route back into the match as his miscued clearance went just wide of his own upright. It was the last meaningful act of a first halfthat started promisingly and settled into the sort of competitive game you would expect of a mid-season friendly. Matt Bloomfield came on at half-time and went close as his long-range drive was turned around the post as it headed towards the bottom corner. Leeds went two up soon after as Byram finished off a fine attacking move by sweeping a cultured finish into the far corner with just five minutes played in the second half. United had started the second hal at an impressive pace and Lynch, who was on top form all night, reacted well to turn a powerful volley wide of the post. The second goal took much of the steam out of the game and neither side looked like scoring until Jordan Botaka fired just wide from a low cross for Leeds in the seventy-sixth minute. The Chairboys nearly found a way back into the game two minutes later as a wide free-kick caused confusion in the box and the ball deflected wide off a Leeds man.
Garry Thompson had a chance to grab a late consolation goal but fired well over the bar when the ball broke to him on the edge of the box with two minutes left. It was the last chance of a game in which Wycombe had held their own against their Championship opponents.
Teams: Wycombe Wanderers: Lynch; Harriman, Stewart, Pierre, Wood; Kretzschmar (Thompson 84'), O'Nien (Bloomfield 45'), McGinn, Sellers (McCarthy 73'); Amadi-Holloway, Ugwu (Rowe 73'). Subs (not used): Ingram, Jombati, Jacobson. Leeds United: Silvestri (Peacock-Farrell 87'), Wootton, Bamba, Bellusci, Berardi (Byram 45'); Botaka, Bianchi (Sloth 45'), Adeyemi (Phillips 61'), Buckley; Doukara, Erwin. Subs (not used): Murphy, Mowatt, Antenucci. Referee: Andy Woolmer (Northants) Attendance: 2,216 (Away 767).
