Nottingham 3 - Leeds 1   17th January 2009

After December's uplifting tour of Arizona Leeds came down to Earth with a bump in the swirling wind of the highfields Sports Complex Nottingham. Leeds never found top gear as they were swept aside by a faster more physical Nottingham outfit.  Yes the midfield three of Gibson, Hebditch and Rzonca at times played some neat sensible football but they were never allowed time on the ball to play the passes that unlock a defence.  Nottingham are not the most subtle team in the world but their route one tactic can be effective particularly when they have forwards blessed with genuine pace.   The Leeds defence of Meston, Williamson and Jameson coped well in the first half but Nottingham always looked likely to sneak one and took the lead on 18 minutes.  Before that Callum Rzonca had done a great Paul Reaney impression clearing off the line from a Nottingham corner.  Leeds only notable effort of the first half was a Danny Hebditch shot and  Lucas Smedley cross that caused panic in the Notts defence.

Mr Keddie's half time talk must have been a good one because Leeds came out in a much more positive frame of mind and equalised just into the second half, Danny Powell was on hand to convert after good work by Jack Bagnall and Tom Lyman.  Leeds should have gone on and won the game from there, instead they were hit with a real sucker punch as the quick Notts striker broke free and finished clinically only a minute after the Leeds equaliser.  Nottingham were again rejuvinated and chased and harried Leeds out of the game, when Leeds failed to clear the ball on 45 minutes after more Nottingham pressure the result was another Nottingham goal to make it 3-1.

This could have been just a hangover from the highs of Arizona, although Nottingham are not the best footballing team we've played this season against such determined oppostion the Leeds players must start talking more on the pitch and showing more fight otherwise the season is in danger of falling very flat.