Saddle Up!

Leeds United Vs Walsall FC
Elland Road
Saturday 25th October 2008.

The windy-chill factor from Tuesday night remained, playing havoc with Becchio's hair, and Douglas suffering too. Beckford and Becchio opted to join the "Neil Kilkenny Long Sleeve Shirt" club whereas the rest of the players braved the cold. Casper the Ghost replaced Lucas The Kop Cat in goal.

They won the flip of the fifty-pence-piece and it was switcheroo time as the Saddlers opted to aim South in the first. Ince, in goal for the away team goaded the fans at every opportunity, even encouraging them to give the customary "Wooooooooooooooooooaaaaahhhhhhh You Shit Bastard!"

There was a load of rubbbish on the pitch...and I'm not talking about the players. Crisp packets, carrier bags, you name it.

Leeds began the brightest. But were mainly restricted to long-range efforts as the Walsall back line stood firm in the face of an attack. Kilkenny had a great offort go just wide and Delph tried his luck but no matter how much Leeds pressed, they couldn't force a goal.

Halftime was greeted, wrongly by a few boos from the Leeds fans who may have been frustrated at the lack of goals.

After eating my bag of Haribo (Starmix if you were wondering), and reading the wise words of Uncle Ken in the programme, the second hald begun.

Leeds got stuck straight into their opponents, forcing a corner from the restart after Beckford charged straight at the Walsall defence. The resulting corner ended with a cross being mishandled by the defence and Luciano Becchio forced the ball into the back of the net.

Leeds United 1-0 Walsall - 46 minutes

The Leeds fans were now in high spirits and, not letting the cold get to them perked up even more when Andy Robinson emerged from the bench, replaced Kilkenny, trotted straight over and hit a corker of a free kick which was deflected over the bar.

Not long after, another free kick on the right and Robinson played it short to Delph who, from the edge of the box, hit a belter which curled straight into the top left corner.

Leeds 2-0 Walsall - 65 minutes

Leeds remained in control for the rest of the game and never looked too threatened by a Walsall strikeforce that included the Ex-Leeds player Michael Ricketts. He was always in for some stick and when he had an awesome chance to put one away for them, he put the ball wide.

I actually missed the next goal shamefully. Just before Delph smacked in another one, one of the disabled fans in the west stand took a ball straight to the face. I hope the guy was alright. As I watched a medical team taking him out, apparently Delph scored his second.

Final Score
Leeds 3-0 Walsall.

With other results going our way...here's how the League Table looks now...

			Home					Away
Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Scunthorpe	13	5	1	1	13	6	4	1	1	14	7	+14	29
2	Leeds United	13	5	1	1	16	8	3	1	2	9	8	+9	26
3	Millwall	13	4	1	1	10	7	4	1	2	13	10	+6	26
4	Leicester City	12	3	2	1	8	4	4	2	0	12	4	+12	25
5	MK Dons	13	4	0	3	13	8	3	1	2	12	7	+10	22
6	Peterborough	13	4	2	1	17	8	2	2	2	8	8	+9	22
7	Oldham	13	4	2	0	16	5	2	2	3	9	12	+8	22
8	Tranmere	13	4	0	3	13	9	3	1	2	9	10	+3	22
9	Stockport	13	1	3	2	6	8	4	3	0	11	5	+4	21
10	Southend	13	4	1	1	8	4	2	2	3	13	17	0	21
11	Bristol Rovers	14	4	1	2	17	10	1	4	2	12	13	+6	20
12	Hartlepool	13	4	2	1	20	13	2	0	4	5	8	+4	20
13	Walsall	13	3	0	3	12	11	2	3	2	8	9	0	18
14	Northampton	13	3	3	0	11	5	1	2	4	8	12	+2	17
15	Swindon Town	13	3	0	4	11	13	1	3	2	8	10	-4	15
16	Colchester	13	1	2	4	8	9	3	0	3	14	15	-2	14
17	Carlisle	13	3	1	2	14	11	1	1	5	6	15	-6	14
18	Brighton	13	0	4	2	5	9	2	3	2	8	8	-4	13
19	Huddersfield	13	1	2	3	9	12	2	2	3	10	14	-7	13
20	Yeovil Town	12	1	5	1	9	9	1	0	4	3	13	-10	11
21	Cheltenham	14	3	1	3	12	14	0	1	6	7	22	-17	11
22	Leyton Orient	13	1	2	3	5	10	1	2	4	4	10	-11	10
23	Hereford	13	2	2	3	6	6	0	1	5	2	14	-12	9
24	Crewe	13	2	1	3	11	12	0	1	6	6	19	-14	8