I'm not sure how we lined up. It was definitely a back 5, with Daws and Ricketts playing Wing Back. In front of them, Marney and France played as a midfield 2, With Bridges linking play to McPhee down the middle and Fagan, playing wherever he could find space. The lack of Ashbee, Welsh or Livermore in the middle told in the second half, when we struggled to win the ball, but in the first half, we played some nice stuff and Marney got on the ball often and Fagan, McPhee, Bridges, Ricketts, France and Daws moved them around and gave us good options. We had the better of the first half and only the final pass let us down, but quite often. Leeds had the best chance when Bo saved brilliantly from Kandol. In the second half, Leeds controlled the ball. Douglas, Derry and Blake in particular caused us a problem. They regularly worked the ball wide to Lewis, who whipped in good crosses, but we dealt very well with them. We weren't really a threat in the second half after McPhee had gone off, but Fagan made 2 good runs to the bye line and a better final pass would again have caused Leeds a problem.
It was a strong performance, we weren't really under pressure and we defended very well. Delaney was absolutely outstanding and was ably assisted by Coles, who had his best game for us. Myhill was confident and took everything. Turner looked a little shakier than the others, but did really well against Leeds crosses. He kept heading the ball down for Ricketts to clear, but it caused us problems time and again. Dawson was very strong down the left and worked up and down well.
Marney worked hard in midfield and passed nicely, but while he doesn't mind tackling, he's not ably to consistently do what Ashbee does for fun. France worked alongside him, put in a few tackles and made a nuisance of himself. He headed weakly at Warner with our best chance of the second half. He also put in 2 excellent crosses for Fagan. Bridges was pretty ineffective. A couple of times, he passed well, but generally chose the wrong option or dwelt on the ball. His replacement, Yeates was his usual pathetic self. He had no influence on defence or attack and wasted a corner kick in stoppage time.
Up front, McPhee, and later Forster, struggled to link up with Fagan and Bridges because they were spread out across the pitch. McPhee chased and harried defenders but was withdrawn with what looked like a a groin injury. After he went off, we weren't quite as effective. Fagan had a quiet first half but found space in the second and caused a problem, although we couldn't get the ball enough to trouble their defence enough. Forster didn't really get into the game, although he curled a decent effort just wide.
It was a game of very few chances, between 2 teams who couldn't afford to lose. It was a good point for us, with 2 winnable home games coming up. Leeds were poor in defence but have good ball players in midfield. They'll spend some money, I'm sure. We were very resilient and worth a point. The 3 man defence worked well and considering we haven't played that way before, the back 5 deserve a lot of credit for working hard to make it work. Steve McPhee looks to be out of the Xmas and New Year programme and we need Ashbee back as soon as possible. Bridges didn't have the same effect on the game that Barmby did last week. If we keep showing the same level of commitment as we did today and the same desire and flair as last week, we'll be fine.
Ratings: Bo 8, Ricketts 6, Dawson 7, Delaney 9, Turner 7, Marney 7, France 7, Bridges 5 (Yeates 2), McPhee 6 (Forster 6), Fagan 7.