After watching this Npower Champonship match on television, I feel some pangs of sympathy for Burnley and their supporters.
I thought that Leeds were very ordinary for the majority of the game at Turf Moor, but admittedly took those two chances when they were presented.
My reading of it was that Leeds started quite purposefully, but soon Burnley began to look the more organised and cohesive team. Leeds kept trying, but struggled to carve out meaningful goalscoring opportunities.
One of the undoubted plusses from my point of view was the assured performance of our new goalkeeper Alex McCarthy, although I thought he might have done marginally better for the Burnley goal. A couple of his saves later proved to be absolutely crucial. Regrettably, the defence in front of him looked much less reliable and solid.
Up until Leeds' late purple patch, Burnley had probably looked more threatening, and more likely to score in the second period. What was heartening was that once Robert Snodgrass scored, Leeds kept pressing in order to capitalise.
What conclusions should we draw from this result? Well, hopefully Simon Grayson and his players will realise that they were slightly fortunate, and that they will not be able to play like this and win on a regular basis.
In a funny way, this could be a turning point, the nature of the performance and result giving a boost to morale and even confidence. Nobody should be under any illusions, however, that there is much work still to be done.
On a lighter note, I thought that when he scored his second goal, Snodgrass might have slightly mis-hit the ball. If he had made a more perfect contact, the ball might not have ended up in the net! On such fine margins are things decided....
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