IT IS A SMALL WORLD, the Coca-Cola Championship, but Roy Keane would hardly have planned to spend his first weekend in management in such close proximity to Mick McCarthy. The former Ireland adversaries have spent the past four years avoiding each other, but it was a shame that Keane, whose Sunderland team visit Elland Road on Wednesday and were watched by McCarthy on Saturday, was not able to stay in his seat in the stand until the end of this encounter. He might have felt like burying the hatchet and congratulating his former international manager on as brilliant a winning goal as this division is likely to produce.
With honours even and the game into time added on, Jay Bothroyd collected a loose ball midway in the Leeds United half before turning, running wide to give himself an angle and letting fly with a left-foot shot that swerved away into the top corner of Tony Warner’s net. The striker’s third goal of the season, since he arrived on a free transfer from Charlton Athletic, enabled Wolverhampton Wanderers to move into third place in the Championship, level on 13 points with Cardiff City and Birmingham City. It was their third successive 1-0 victory.
“Time’s running out and you think, ‘that’s a good point, away to Leeds’,” McCarthy said. “Then Jay comes up with that strike. I don’t know where it came from either because he’s been hopeless all week in training.”
The Leeds fans responded by asking of their manager “Blackwell, Blackwell, what’s the score?” Certainly the numbers may not be adding up for Ken Bates, the chairman.
Yesterday’s crowd was the lowest for a league match at Elland Road since 1989 and, after three defeats in four Championship matches, Kevin Blackwell’s job security may again come under scrutiny. The conspiracy theorists would point to Glenn Hoddle’s availability and Dennis Wise’s early success with Swindon Town as they dust down Bates’s Chelsea contacts book for him.
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Leeds, still seeking to revive spirits after losing the play-offs final in May, have lost four points through opponents scoring in stoppage time this season and Blackwell attempted to focus on the positives of his team’s performance yesterday rather than the fans’ angst.
“Matt Murray’s made two or three top-class saves, but at the moment it’s not falling for us,” the Leeds manager said. “The lads are down, but I said to them they have nothing to be ashamed of; they’ve played well. I’d say we’ve outplayed both Cardiff City and Wolves and yet we’ve lost (to) them both.”
Certainly for most of the first half, Leeds were the better team, with Murray, the Wolves goalkeeper, in inspiring form as he saved when Ian Moore was through on goal and when Sébastien Carole clipped Jonathan Douglas’s cross goalwards from close range.
The arrival of Bothroyd for the second half helped change the game. Even though Gary Breen, outstanding in defence, twice had to clear from near his own line, Wolves looked the more likely to score.
It seems almost unfeasible that Wolves should be able to sustain a promotion challenge after a summer in which a clear-out of quality players such as Joleon Lescott, Mark Kennedy and Kenny Miller coincided with McCarthy’s arrival. Yet the former Sunderland manager has encouraged his back four to defend stoutly, his midfield to maintain a high workrate and, in Johnson and Bothroyd, brought in a couple of high-quality forwards with a point to prove.
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McCarthy could not afford to dwell on Blackwell’s chagrin over another late goal. “I lost a European Championship finals place in the fifth minute of added time when the referee had given four minutes,” he said, recalling one of Ireland’s qualifying nightmares, away to Macedonia in October 1999. “I don’t remember getting much sympathy then.”
Leeds United (4-4-2): A Warner — G Kelly, P Butler, M Kilgallon, S Crainey — S Carole, J Douglas, I Westlake, E Lewis (sub: S Stone, 83min) — D Healy, I Moore (sub: J Beckford, 78). Substitutes: N Sullivan, S Gregan, R Blake. FORM LWLLDW NEXT: Sunderland (h)
Wolverhampton Wanderers (4-4-2): M Murray — R Edwards, G Breen, J Craddock, C Mulgrew (sub: M Little, 44) — D Potter, S Olofinjana, K Henry, D Jones — C Cort (sub: J Bothroyd, 46), J Johnson (sub: L Clarke, 76). Substitutes: R Ricketts, C Ikeme. Booked: Breen, Mulgrew, Edwards. FORM WWWLWD NEXT Derby County (h)