Leeds produced yet another poor performance against Coventry City last night, and the game was decided by two penalties from our old friend Gary McSheffrey.

With Coventry struggling at the wrong end of the table it was no surprise to see the crowd inside the Ricoh was looking sparse to say the least, apart from the corner nearest to the away section. There we saw the sport of group we get at many away grounds, who are far more concerned with gesticulating and trying to provoke us rather than watching the game. In the Leeds end we didn’t manage the huge turnout we produced last season, but we did have over 3,000, which isn’t bad for midweek.

When the teams were announced it was disappointing to see that Redfearn had stuck with the same line-up yet again, as if his priority was to make sure that we didn’t lose. I would have selected Townsend as I thought a more positive approach would have been justified against the bottom club, and the Coventry fans I was with before the game were suggesting that their defence could be vulnerable against pace.

As it was we played with only one winger throughout the game, and Coventry rightly judged that Snodgrass was our biggest threat and so doubled up on him to deny him space. So although we enjoyed a lot of possession for long periods it was very rarely that we looked like creating any opportunities, especially with Becchio contributing very very little.

After 20 minutes of unispiring football Coventry took the lead from the penalty spot, after Pugh’s clumsy challenge on Nimely. The two of them had been battling away as Nimely tried to make his way into the box, and the linesman (who looked about 12) actually flagged when he was still outside the area. But the referee played advantage until Nimely was inside the box and then pointed to the spot when he was finally knocked to the floor.

McSheffrey stepped up to take it in front of the Leeds end, and having already been informed that he was “too shit to play for Leeds” he was determined to make the most of it. No sooner had he sent Lonegran the wrong way than he ran over to celebrate in front of us as if he’d just scored the goal of the season from forty yards, rather than simply slotting home a penalty.

Thankfully the lead lasted only eleven minutes before the other Mc taking part in the game scored the equaliser. Clayton and Becchio tried a one-two on the way into the box, and when the ball was intercepted by a defender it ran through to McCormack, who sent an excellent first time finish straight into the opposite corner.

But we failed to capitalise on getting back into the game, with the hosts having the better of the rest of the half. McSheffrey got a fierce shot on target, but thankfully Lonegran spared us any further gloating by getting down to his left to gather the ball. Then a header from Platt looped over our noble keeper, but O’Dea raced back to hook the ball clear, with Clayton also on hand just in case.

The second half began in similar fashion to the first, with Leeds having a lot of possession, but producing precious little in terms of outstanding chances. Snodgrass and White had shots blocked while Clayton sent another effort over the bar, but there seemed to be a lack of urgency about the performance when Coventry should have been there for the taking.

Redfearn’s first substitution was enforced, with Delph hobbling off after a tackle from behind and Brown coming on, but his other two changes were rather more baffling. Smith was taken off for no obvious reason and replaced by O’Brien, with Lees having to move out of position to play at right back. And with seven minutes remaining his decision to replace McCormack with Nunez brought chants of “you don’t know what you’re doing!” I’ve already said that Townsend should have been introduced to run at the Coventry defence, so I’ll move on.

It was at about this stage that I said the fatal words to my mate, that we would at least be able to celebrate getting a rare point against eleven men. I should have known this was tempting fate in a very big way, and sure enough Coventry almost scored straight away when McSheffrey sent a dangerous ball across the face of goal which Platt only narrowly failed to convert. But that was only delaying the inevitable, and Coventry grabbed the winner as the game moved into injury time, again with a penalty for a foul on Nimely .

As the Coventry man made his way down the right Nunez tracked back to try to stop him but only succeeded in confusing Pugh, who might at least have made a proper tackle. So Nimely was able to nip inside past both of them, until he was tripped in the area, with White being the guilty party this time. This time McSheffrey hit the ball pretty straight as Lonegran dived to his right. There were five minutes of injury time remaining, but that wasn’t long enough for Leeds to grab an equaliser, and the final whistle confirmed our most embarrassing defeat so far in our recent very poor run.

Having seemed to be completely down and out a few weeks ago this result gives Coventry realistic hopes of avoiding the drop as other results went their way on the night and Portsmouth look certain to fall into the relegation zone with a ten point deduction. But they won’t meet many sides as poor as we were last night, and whatever happens on Saturday this must surely have scuppered Redfearn’s chances of landing the job. For all the fine words the players have said about him on the official website the reality on the field has been very different, so we can but pray that Bates manages to find another manager soon.

Photo: Action Images

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