Saturday September 19th 2018
SkyBet EFL Championship
at Elland Road
Leeds United (0) 1
Esgjan Alioski 85
Birmingham City (2) 2
Che Adams 8, 29
Attendance 34,800 (inc. 1,314 Blues fans)
Leeds United:
Bailey Peacock-Farrell, Luke Ayling, Barry Douglas (Ryan Edmondson 71), Pontus Jansson, Liam Cooper (C), Esgjan Alioski, Jack Harrison, Kalvin Phillips (Stuart Dallas 34), Tyler Roberts, Samuel Saiz, Mateusz Klich (Adam Forshaw 63)
Unused subs - Jamal Blackman (GK), Tom Pearce, Lewis Baker, Jamie Shackleton
Birmingham City:
Lee Camp, Maxime Colin, Kristian Pedersen, Michael Morrison (C), Harlee Dean, Jota (Wes Harding 88), Gary Gardner (Maikel Kieftenbeld 58), Charlie Lakin, Jacques Maghoma, Lukas Jutkiewicz (Omar Bogle 81),Che Adams
Unused subs - Connal Trueman, Marc Roberts, Connor Mahoney, Viv Solomon-Otabor
 |
| Decent reading matter for on the train home, regardless of which team you favour. |
Well, it was always going to happen eventually, after so many 'what ifs' and near misses along the way over the past couple of months; Birmingham City have finally secured their first win of the season. Even the most optimistic Blues fan would've been happy if they had been offered a total of two points prior to this weeks away double header in Yorkshire at Bramall Lane and Elland Road, but four!? Including an away win at the home of the previously unbeaten league leaders.
The euphoria at full time in the corner of the ground given over to 1,314 visiting supporters this afternoon was off the scale. As betting shop floors across the land became littered with torn and screwed up fixed odds coupons, as the match referee finally blew up to put an end to the eight minutes of stoppage time that he'd seen fit to add on at the end of the game.
Before moving onto the actual match report, I felt that a summary of the day and the inclusion of some relevant background material, about events in the recent past and possible scenarios that might take place in the near future was in order. Along with some detailed logistics about making the journey to Leeds United's West Yorkshire stronghold, should you ever feel tempted to go there for yourself.
Elland Road, has been the home of Leeds United since their formation in 1919, after the ground became available following the Football League ordered disbanding of the previous incumbents: Leeds City FC, who had been found guilty of committing offences of financial impropriety... a subject that I'll return to presently, in a more modern day context.
To reach the stadium from Leeds Railway Station, you can either follow the signposts and hike it on foot for approximately two miles, or use one of the many shuttle bus services that run from Sovereign Street from up to two hours before kick off... and then whisk you back into town after the game from a row of loading loading point opposite the north west corner of the ground, i.e. the furthest corner away from where the visiting supporters are housed.
The front bus at the city centre rank that the transport leaves from initially, acts as a ticket sales point, from shuttered windows on the side of it, and a £3 return ticket will afford you access to one of the steady stream of buses queuing behind it. A few people had problems locating Sovereign Street, so here's an easy guide on how to find it:
Leave the station forecourt via the main entrance, the one with the big L-E-E-D-S letters in front of it, go down the stairs opposite the Scarborough Hotel, turn right and walk under the nearest of two railway bridges, past the Arches that will appear to your right and as you emerge back into the daylight, cross the road and Sovereign Street is on the left at the first set of traffic lights that you can see a hundred yards ahead of you. The pick up point near the ground is exactly the same place that you will be dropped off at. And the photo below was taken from that exact spot.
Should you require any further directions; might I suggest that you either: take a grown up with you to hold your hand, or stay away from city centres and Football League grounds that big gruff blokes might possibly frequent; because you're not ready for that kind of experience yet.
Leeds city centre is a haven for beer drinkers with numerous establishments near to the station, to cater for all tastes. But if you're an away fan and don't fancy mingling with the locals, there is a fair sized designated bar for travelling fans, right next to the visiting supporters turnstiles, called 'Howard's'.
I'm not entirely sure why Leeds United walk out onto the pitch at home games, to the strains of a musical score from the ballet version of Romeo and Juliet, written by the Russian Soviet composer: Sergei Prokofiev, or Сергей Сергеевич Прокофьев as he was known to his friends; but it's definitely more refined and civilised round these parts nowadays, than it ever was on a few previous visits that I made to the locality, back in the seventies and eighties... in fact, while I think on, you'd better add the nineties onto that list of 'memorable excursions' as well, so the classical music adds to the ambience of the surroundings.
There are very strong rumours on the football grapevine, pertaining to 'alleged' impending EFL sanctions being imposed on Birmingham City, and those stories grew arms and legs this week, with the original estimate of a twelve point deduction for falling foul of financial regulations, now being upped to fifteen, with the wording 'aggravated breach of FFP rules' now having been added to this ongoing saga.
So credit to Garry Monk and his coaching staff for keeping his players focused and their mindset prioritised on playing matters, rather than any of the potentially distracting stuff, lurking in the dark corners on the periphery.
 |
| "Ground control to Major Tom" |
One genuinely worrying aspect surrounding this issue, is that hard line 'drastic' measures and severe punishments being dished out by the football authorities are not without precedent.
Just ask Blues opposition today: Leeds United, about this thorny subject. Because they themselves were monumentally clobbered, points-wise, by the football authorities, not just the once, but twice, as recently as 2007, whe, the Elland Road side were initially deducted ten points, for having gone in voluntary administration, and as a consequence, the former Premier League club found themselves relegated into League One (or Division Three in old money).
Further rule breaches by the club, during the Summer months of 2007, almost resulted in Leeds United being expelled from the Football League altogether. However, they were re-instated upon appeal, but found themselves being docked a further fifteen points prior to the 2007-08 season kicking off. Yet they still managed to claw their way up the table and into the play offs, where they narrowly lost to Doncaster Rovers in the final at Wembley. Leeds were promoted back into the Championship at the end of the 2009-10 season, where they have remained ever since.
But, all of that said, the EFL haven't actually punished Birmingham City as of yet, if indeed they are actually intending to; so all of the worse case scenario stuff covered in detail above, might just prove to be unfounded conjuncture and speculation.
Even though I sincerely hope that Blues don't suffer the consequences for breaking the rules, if they get off with just a slap on the wrists, it wouldn't exactly act as a deterrent for other clubs who flout the rules, although several other clubs, including: Nottingham Forest, Queens Park Rangers and Sheffield Wednesday have recently side stepped the kind of punishment that Leeds suffered. West Yorkshire conspiracy theorists eat your hearts out... but in this case, I'd tend to agree that you probably do have a point.
As the game kicked off, the home crowd dedicated a song to Blues manager Garry Monk, who has of course, been previously employed to occupy the Elland Road hot seat. It was quite a potty mouthed 'tribute' to the Bedford born manager, but I'm sure that he wouldn't have minded too much, as the sold out home sections of the crowd saw their side fall two goals behind inside the opening thirty minutes, both scored by Che Adams, whose confidence will have been boosted no end by his double strike today, after things haven't exactly been going his way of late.
The opener arrived in the eighth minute, when Kristian Pedersen picked out Adams with a sideways ball from out on the left, giving the Blues striker the time and space to completely deceive Bailey Peacock-Farrell in the Leeds goal, by feigning to go for one corner of the goal with his shot, while bending it into the other.
The hosts were struggling to get into the flow of the game and appeared to have underestimated Birmingham's resilience and had wrongly anticipated the kind of tactics that Monk would be employing... and before the high flying Yorkshire side had even had an effort on target, Adams struck again to extend Blues lead.
The home side only half cleared a free kick and Pedersen won possession back with a well timed slide tackle and slipped the ball forward to Lukas Jutkiewicz who ventured forward and knocked a pass inside to Jacques Maghoma who in turn helped the ball on to Adams, while Jota
motored unmarked into the right hand side of the Leeds area which put Pontus Jansson in two minds over which Blues player posed the biggest risk and during his moment of hesitation, Adams dragged the ball to the right of Jansson and once again, wrong-footed Peacock Farrell, by striking an angled shot across the face of the goal that went in via the left hand upright.
Leeds are to be applauded for their astute appointment of head coach Marcelo Bielsa, to oversee their promotion push this season... and thus far his meticulous approach has reaped rewards. Today, the shrewd Argentinian was quick to spot that his game plan was all wrong and that changes had to be made, to counter Blues 4-4-2 approach that was stifling their hosts creativity, in front of a hard working and well drilled defensive set up.
And in his post match press conference Bielsa, to his credit, put his hands up and admitted as much, while stopping short of actually saying that he'd been outsmarted by that nice Mr Monk.
Just after the half hour mark, the Leeds 'gaffer' sacrificed Kalvin Phillips as he implemented a change in both tactics and personnel.
Well, he didn't actually sacrifice Phillips at all, he lived to tell the tale, and was just metaphorically speaking you understand, but he did pull him off and send Stuart Dallas on in his place.
That is to say, he didn't actually pull Phillips off, he merely substituted him.
Kinnel! It's turning into double entendre central round here today.
Blues almost had a third goal before the interval, when Jota delivered the ball into the Leeds box, only to see it deflected over the bar off of Esgjan Alioski. From the resulting corner, Jota picked out Jacques Maghoma, who was thwarted by Peacock-Farrell.
Having screwed the ball over the bar at one end, Alioski repeated the trick at the other, after a shot by Liam Cooper was blocked by Harlee Dean and Dallas had hooked the loose ball to the Leeds number ten.
Tyler Roberts was inches away with connecting with Cooper's header across the face of Lee Camp's goal in first half stoppage time, but Blues took their hard won two goal cushion in with them at the interval.
Tyler Roberts was inches away with connecting with Cooper's header across the face of Lee Camp's goal in first half stoppage time, but Blues took their hard won two goal cushion in with them at the interval.
HT: Leeds United 0 v Birmingham City 2
Some sections of the Leeds support have flooded social media in the aftermath of the game, bemoaning what they perceived to be negativity in Birmingham's approach after half time.
Bielsa's side are very capable and have been playing some eye catching football this season, to build a terrific unbeaten run, prior to this afternoon. Did people really expect Monk's battling side to take their foot off of the gas, relax and let the Whites back into the game, after they had grafted so hard to take a two goal lead in at the break?
I defy anybody to tell me that any team who have been struggling for points, in any league, would go gung-ho, in an all out attacking fashion, leaving themselves exposed at the back, if they were winning 2-0 away, against the league leaders and champions elect, in front of a sell out and raucous home crowd.
Leeds were chucking everything they had at Blues as the second half ticked down, but were getting more frustrated with each and every shot that was blocked and attack that was fielded and cleared away... and when they resorted to shooting from long range, their efforts were met with a resounding chorus of cheers from the visitors section, with every shot that deflected wide, or failed to find it's intended target.
While, in the meantime, the Leeds fan were seething every time that the visitors took a little while longer than they approved of, over taking throw ins and arranging set pieces. Some went so far as to brand the visitors as cheats.
Might I politely just say at this juncture, that outside of Leeds itself, Don Revie's Whites side of old, were never given the credit that they deserved for being an absolutely top quality and class football team, wrongly dubbed 'Dirty Leeds' team at the time, because they had a bit of a justified reputation for running the clock down, time wasting and using any means possible other than their undoubted skills and attributes. to win football matches.
But when they did it, to a far greater extent than Birmingham ever got even close to doing today, it was merely called 'gamesmanship', not cheating. Leeds were past masters and deft exponents of the 'dark arts', in fact to my recollection, they were the innovators of such things in this country. If truth be told, this afternoon's upstart visitors, who were party pooping all over their hosts unbeaten record, were actually doing a very professional job of preserving three much needed points.
However, although the Leeds United of today wouldn't be able to live with Revie's multi-talented side, which was full of household names, they are still a bloody side circa 2018 and with just five minutes of the scheduled ninety remaining, Alioski finally broke through Blues hitherto watertight defence, providing the finishing touch from a knock into the mix by Sam Saiz.
And all of a sudden, the time remaining swelled to a top heavy thirteen minutes, as the referee added on an extra eight... he'd probably backed the favourites on his coupon too.
A lot of that time was factored in due to Gary Gardner taking a knock and having to limp out of the action. Blues were accused of using the incident to waste more time.
I doubt very much if they wanted Gardner removing from the impending midfield battle that was inevitably on the horizon, with half a hour (plus stoppage time) still on the clock, and the home side digging in, in a last ditch attempt to salvage something from the game.
Alionski tested Camp from outside the area, but the experienced keeper smothered the ball and finally held onto it, at the second attempt, after giving his teammates and the away supporters a squeaky bum moment.
But in the dying moments, Camp had put those few jittery moments to the back of his mind, as he got down to his right and pulled of a great save at full stretch, after Dallas had connected well from Ryan Edmondson's assist on the edge of the visitors area.
And that was the final chance of the game as the referee belatedly sounded his whistle.
Leeds had recorded their first loss of the season, as Blues claimed their first win.
FT: Leeds United 1 v Birmingham City 2
Leeds are next back in action, when they travel to Hillsborough to take on Sheffield Wednesday on Friday night, while Ipswich Town, who are now the only Championship side without a win to their name (hopefully that isn't tempting fate) visit St. Andrew's next weekend, to face a Blues side who. including draws, are now unbeaten in five consecutive games.
