Leeds United v Yeovil Town preview

Tonight sees Leeds up against the middle team in a West Country trilogy, Yeovil, having played Bristol on Saturday and Swindon due at the Theatre of Frustration this coming Saturday.  The last time we felt the pain of defeat at home was back in early January when Carlisle's ex Leeds men inflicted a 2 goal reverse.  Since then we have notched up 5 straight wins on the sacred turf and another win tonight will keep us well positioned in the scramble for play off places.  Realistically we needed to have secured 3 points at Bristol if we were going to make a late run for the 2nd automatic promotion place as MK Dons, Peterboro & Millwall all now have a significant advantage  over us going into the last 11 games.

Hopefully the frustration of losing 2 points at the death on Saturday will  only cement the resolve of a team that has found a steely constitution of late and fire them onto taking full retribution against a struggling Yeovil side.  Our visitors haven't won since they bizarrely parted company with their manager Russell Slade in the middle of a fine run of form and as such I'm not expecting anything less than 3 well deserved points for Leeds on what looks like being a wet grey night at LS11.

Since Saturday there has been no little debate about the value and usefulness of Mr Beckford to the team.  I am firmly planted in the camp that recognises the value of his priceless goals to the team but I must admit his demeanour and general body language does seem to have taken a turn for the worse.  On Saturday after Snoddy's class free kick he pointedly didn't celebrate with the rest of his colleagues choosing to return to the centre circle quietly ready for the restart.  Apparently the reason is that he's fallen out with Snoddy but that sort of behaviour will not find favour with many whites fans and his status of Leeds hero will diminish very quickly if he continues with his increasingly petulant spats.  He would do well to bear in mind what David Brent eulogised in the TV series "The Office"........."there's no I in Team"

I'm not expecting any changes in the team for tonight with the only possible returnee to the squad being Andy Hughes who is back in training.  Reflecting on Larry's time in charge the one thing he has brought to the team is stability and certainly a more settled side resisting the temptation to tinker with the team at every swing in fortune.  This has undoubtedly been a big benefit in terms of results and should hold us in good stead for the rest of this vital season.

In recent weeks the Happy Chocker and I have resisted the chance to bet on the outcome of the games, mainly because we are far too optimistic especially if we placed a bet after the second can of the trip to the match, but if I was going to have a flutter tonight I would be looking at another clean sheet as Yeovil pack their midfield and play to a "what we have we hold policy" with Leeds finally cracking their resolute defence by getting Snoddy round the back to the bye line to cross for "Our Argie" to leap like a salmon at the back post and add to his recent goal a game tally. After that JB would be so desperate not to be left out he would run his socks off and bag another two goals for a 3:0 win.  Mmmmmmm.......... now shall I have a bet after all it is my birthday and luck might just be on my side?  Answers on a postcard.

MOT