The usual suspects (minus Clarky who rumour has it was responsile for the bad weather at Silverstone today) turned up for pre-match apperatifs in the Strawbeery. Under new management (?), wor usual spot at the bar was reserved for glass collectors. Huh. Bugger that for a game of soldiers. However, they had the foresight to leave the big screen in place so we could watch the goings on at the afore-mentioned Silverstone. At least Softie and Screach were happy to watch it, and Rik told us all of his earlier times racing in Formula One.

At the appearance of the chequered flag, we trooped of to SJP to hear the teams announced. Given (huh - I was sure it would have been Harpic), Barton, Hughes, Helder, Howey and Dabizas. Three at the back with Baton & Hughes out wide? But no - midfield was Gavilan (at last), Lee and Domi, with Shearer and Dyer up front as expected. But no Speed. It took a while to realise that the left m/f was Helder and Domi. Bliddy hell. How short are we to have a CB and a FB playing left midfield?

The game started brightly, and we should have gone ahead when Dyer was put clear thru but his cross shot hit the post and rebounded to Domi who hit Martyn with his shot. Martyn made another good save before we fell behind. Leeds were looking goo don the break and Given made a poor pass out to Barton who nevertheless recovered and took the ball up the wing., Instead of passing forward to Gavilan who was in a good position, he f@rted around on the halfway line and lost the ball which was quickly despatched down the Leeds left. The cross came in, and Dabs made a complete hash of his clearance which skidded straight to Bridges who lashed in a shot past Given. The whole bliddy move reminded me of Fred Carno. What a mess.

And it didn't get any better. A dubious freekick on the Leeds right was taken by Wilcox. The defence froze and the ball went stright past Shay and into the net. I really think Givem should have made a better attempt at stopping it. However, he did make a brilliant lefthanded save low down on the line - from an effort from Dabizas! Howey was having a 'mare and looked completely lost. Had it been me in charge (plus the rest of the Exhibition Stand) instead of YBR, Howey would have been off after 30 minutes. However, he stayed on and did improve slightly - mind, it wasn't hard.

Toon finally bucked up, and a good move broke down but saw the ball cleared to our left wing. Domi made a superb tackle, got up and delivered an absolute peach of a cross onto Shearer's head. One chance to Shearer and one goal scored. Hell - I wish we could clone him! He'd been taking a lot of punishment from one of the alledged Leeds GBH team, Michael Dubious but Ellery prefered to let the game flow and refused to deal with it. Had it been 6 months ago, Leeds would have been down to 9 men at halftime, but they stayed intact and went in 2-1 up.

Second half showed that YBR must have given the a tongue lashing and we seemed more up for it after the break with Shearer knocking in after a goalmouth scramble. 2-0 down and back to 2-2. That's more like it. Shearer was all over the place, running the Leeds defence ragged. Next time they meet, I reckon Dubious can compare notes with his old team mate Leboff. They both suffered a similar fate, but this time Shearer his the back of the net twice.

I have admired Leeds performance so far this season, but I was very disappointed with their approach to the game today. It's not that they were particulalry dirty, but they were persistently niggly and Ellery should have brought them to task earlier then he did. Perhaps its the exuberance of youth (which I doubt) or as Softie put it, "You'd think their manager had played for years in the Arsenal back four - oh he did!". They are also a bunch of cheats. It was difficult for me to comment from where I sat, but their penalty looked a bit dubious. However, that unbiassed soul Dr Bill asssures me it was a dive - something to do with both legs coming up off the ground at the same time, bending at the knee while the hands made a lunge forward. All that was missing was the score cards being waved by the judges. Anyway - justice was done when the spot kick was places somewhat nearer the corner flag than it should have. A lucky let off.

Overall, a thoroughly entertaining game and much better value than the Bradford match. As for lessons to be learned - well, Given is not good enough on current form, but I suppose if ManUre can get away with it, so can we if we're strong enough elsewhere. But we're not. Barton had a strange game. He was sometimes magnificent and sometimes cr@p. More of the former please in future Warren. Hughes was steady but nothing special. Dabs was similar to Barton, tho not as good and equally as bad. He moved forward when Helder went off, and it's clear to see that our midfield shortcomings won't be answered by playing Helder or Dabs in there! Howey was appalling. He looked totally out of his depth. Marcelino made a late appearance and looked pretty sound. Bobby should ask Lahndaan Transport for the tape of the guy at Baker Street "Mind the gap. Mind the gap. I'd have had Howey off in the first half and brought Helder bcak into defence. Or brough Marceino on earlier but I wouldn't have persevered with Howey.

Gavilan looked promising. Altho he is lightweight, he isn't afraid to tackle back and to jockey bigger players (almost everybody!!) out of the way. He had one golden opportunity to score in the second half but appeared to bottle it and Martyn made a decent save low down. A bit reminiscent of Dyer when put thru! Dyer needs to get into the game more. Perhaps he's struggling to find his best position (no comments, purleeeese). Lee was OK, but gave the ball away too much, tho he was in good company on that score. He probably suffered by not having a regular central midfielder alongside. Helder/Dabizas are not that sort of player. What must McClen and Fumaca have been thinking while sitting on the bench? Strange to play a couple of defenders in midfield when 2 midfielders were on the bench. Hmmm. Domi was OK and starred in the move of the match for our first goal.

Shearer was magnificent.

As well as Marcelino, Maric and Fumaca came on as subs. Maric did nowt and Fumaca did less. To be perfectly honest, he contributed nothing to our play and passed more to Leeds players than to any in a B&W shart. Definitely not one for the future.

-- Anonymous, April 23, 2000

Answers

Cheers Screach, Philipps does nowt for 85 mins and scores 2, Big Al works his hydraulics off, all game, and scores two Funny aul game, try telling that to the barmpot mackems

-- Anonymous, April 23, 2000

Thanks for the report, Screach. Glad to hear that for once the webcast seemed to be a pretty accurate reflection of the game. Just saw the highlights, and the webcast most definitely did not make clear how amazing Domi's tackle was to set up Shearer's first goal. Brilliant!

-- Anonymous, April 23, 2000

Herasy:- I thought Maric did all right, howey was abysmal 'til about 75mins, Barton was excellent, Lee gave us width, Gavilan was pleasing, but slightly inaffectual.

-- Anonymous, April 24, 2000

I wish it be hereby known that I was not, repeat NOT, responsible for the cr@p weather at Silverstone.
I was too busy performing the same task, outstandingly I might add, in Washington DC.
Having filled the all reservoirs around DC, I set forth to complete the same mission in the AZ desert. Unfortunately, while it was indeed pretty cloudy when we arrived, to date I have been continually dogged in my mission by well nigh perfect weather - even a little too hot on the golf course today.
Suffice to say, in true British/Geordie tradition, I will persevere, right to the bitter end. That happens to be Thursday evening when BA will hopefully be winging us back t' Toon in good time for the Coventry match.

-- Anonymous, April 24, 2000

Huh. I thought you were a better man than that Clarky. I'll admit turning the desert into an oasis of bloom might be a pretty hard task, but do I sense an air of defeat? I hope not. Nil Desperandum (Bradford 1)!!

-- Anonymous, April 24, 2000

Shearer was sensational - awesome. Given and Howey were shocking.

-- Anonymous, April 25, 2000

Geordie Brown, who writes for The Gallowgate, questions whether the rumours about Howeys drinking are true.

What Rumours? Does anyone know?

-- Anonymous, April 25, 2000

Shearers display was the best 90 minutes I've seen since by a centre forward. He was on his own and took Radebe & Duberry on and won.

In addition he was back clearing corners and winning the ball in midfield. If the ref had protected him more we would probably have won.

The booking was disappointing but Elleray had warned him twice and he wouldn't shut up.

-- Anonymous, April 25, 2000

Have to agree - he was gobbing off a lot.

-- Anonymous, April 25, 2000

How I love David Elleray, not. For those who missed it, Barton had the ball out on our wing and was closed dow by two dirty, cheating, niggly, b*stards (aka O'Leary's babies), one of them hacked him down and the ball rolled to a 50-50 between Lee and another DCNB. The Harrow Homer decided to wave his arms about and indicate that we had advantage - you know the sort, one of our players down, the ball in our half being fought over - Lee was 'disposessed' (hard when you haven't got it to start with) and the DCNBs scored. Elleray indicated the goal and then went over and apologised to Barton for not giving the foul. So that's alright then, isn't it? T*sser!

-- Anonymous, April 25, 2000