Thoughts of Wembley and Delia's pies!

In another version of this season we would have been preparing for a trip to Wembley this weekend. The much derided Paint Pot Trophy had for so long looked like an assured route to Wembley for Leeds and their hordes of fans but defeat to the doughty Cumbrians from Carlisle in a penalty shoot out put paid to thoughts of an early piece of silverware to grace the lonely shelves of the trophy cabinet at Elland Road. At the time the defeat was disappointing but hey ho we'd still got the more important League to concentrate on. A few weeks on and how things have changed. The minor blip in our league form at the time was excused by the heroics in the FA Cup........................still can't believe we beat the Salford Yanks at the Theatre of Shite & I still can't resist mentioning it as much as I can...................but now that minor blip has developed into a running sore that has ripped the heart out of our promotion canter leaving us clinging by a thread to the 2nd automatic promotion spot. Our form over the last dozen games is that of a relegation team not one seeking a route to the Championship. Our dear friends from Millwall exposed all our current flaws with consummate ease on Monday night in extending their excellent run of form.

So where does that leave us with a trip to seemingly unstoppable Norwich? Well if our form continues in the manner of our last two games then it could well be embarrassing come 5 pm Saturday night. The showdown that only a few weeks ago was certain to be a title decider is now one Norwich will feel they could lose and still win the title. It's one that Leeds need at least a point with Millwall hosting what would seem a home banker against Stockport.

So the 2300 resolute Leeds fans who will be at the game will be there with very little expectation but the usual pinch of hope. Hope that somehow we get back to that pre Xmas style of football that got us to the top of the league. Hope that the two fresh faces in, Collins and Watt, are able to add fresh life to a tired and low on confidence team. Hope that we don't take the aerial route to try and break Norwich and hope that we can somehow keep two "H" bombs, Hoolahan and Holt, quiet. That's a lot of hope!

So where will the hope come from? Of course we have beaten Delia's mob already this season, albeit, with a last minute Beckford goal. We have still only lost 6 games this season, the same as Norwich. We have got the meanest defence away from home with only 18 goals conceded. We have got a manager who has experienced promotion out of this league. We still have our destiny in our own hands. So all is not doom and gloom and by the time our train is chugging into Norwich station tomorrow pre match optimism will be kicking in and hope will turn to anticipation of an unlikely Leeds victory. After all we're not going all that way just for a taste of Delia's pies.............are we?

Can't wait.

MOT

Just in case you've forgotten what it was like to see us win here we are plucking the Canaries earlier in the season.