FAN’S VIEW: 24/25 – No.47: LEEDS AT HOME

OXFORD UNITED 0 LEEDS UNITED 1

I know you won’t believe me but this is going to be a very short FV, due to time constraints and the fact that I don’t think there’s a huge amount to be said about the game.

For some time I’d looked on the Leeds visit as a free hit and this became even more my thinking after we’d beaten both Sheffield clubs and then with the earlier results on Good Friday largely going our way.

Leeds were top. We’re fighting along with many at the bottom for survival. They’ve got better quality players, they’re a better team than us. The cost of their squad is vast compared to ours. They’re probably the biggest club in the Championship (Sunderland may try to argue otherwise).

For us to have beaten Leeds we would have needed to be right on top of our game and found a goal from somewhere whilst at the same time them having an off day.

Their class and mastery shone through from the start with most of the action taking place in our half. We had good shape and didn’t make it easy for them. It wasn’t quite “it’s only a matter of time” but I didn’t feel it was far off. Jamie Cumming made one superb save down to his right but we were eventually breached in the 33^rd minute when the visitors put together a quick slick move down our left which culminated in Manor Solomon, on loan from Spurs, lashing the ball into the net.

At this point Mrs FV worried that we would now concede a lot more. I didn’t.

We did have an early foray or two into Leeds territory and Cameron Brannagan managed to get a decent shot away but for the most part it was a game of attack v defence at the other end.

All we could do was get the ball away to nobody. If we did find one of our own men they were soon crowded out. They would have had just the one teammate, at best, as an option to move on possession.

We got to the break just the one behind and that was the way it remained despite the ref giving every 50/50 decision their way too.

That Leeds, for all their strength and talent, had to resort to game management and time wasting to get themselves over the line against little Oxford with our lack of fire power is testament to our resilience and the effort that was put in.

This should boost our confidence and if we can reproduce similar in the remaining three games we should be fine, but obviously nothing should be taken for granted.

Man of the match for me was Alex Matos. Another contender was Ben Nelson. Both unfortunately only on loan.

Another player worthy of a mention is Sam Long. He’s one that is often talked about as not being up to the Championship. Here he didn’t look out of place against the very best at this level.

Whatever anyone says some games are more important than others. I’d give the game on Easter Monday an importance rating of 9/10.

There are so many possible outcomes at the bottom of the table. It is absolutely fascinating but stressful beyond belief.

If we lose to Cardiff they’ll only be three points behind us with two games left. If we beat them they won’t be able to catch us.

If Plymouth don’t beat on form play-off contenders Coventry City they won’t be able to catch us.

If Luton don’t beat on form play-off contenders Bristol City the max points they will be able to then get is 49. We’ve already got 48.

Hull, who are three points worse off than us, are at home to Preston. North End have 49 points and have only picked up two from their last four games.

Lose and it will be agony. Win and it will be elation and possibly guaranteed safety.

We know there will be twists and turns. For some it will go right to the wire.

Who can handle the pressure the best?

Did Cardiff panic with the sacking of Omer Riza? Or was it a shrewd move appointing Aaron Ramsey? Will they have pulled a “new manager bounce” master stroke out of the hat at this late stage?

Watch this space.