Town fell to back to back league defeats for the first time this season as they were beaten 2-1 at Leeds United with all the goals coming in seven second-half minutes and Daryl Murphy having a late penalty saved. Alex Mowatt put Leeds ahead on 71, Freddie Sears equalised three minutes later, then Billy Sharp put the Whites back in front on 77, prior to Leeds keeper Marco Silvestri saving Murphy’s spotkick.

Boss Mick McCarthy made his promised changes with strike pair Murphy and Sears rested and amongst the subs.

Chris Wood and ex-Leeds man Luke Varney were handed their full Blues debuts with Paul Anderson and Jonny Parr starting on the right and left of midfield respectively, and Kevin Bru and Richard Chaplow also dropping to the bench.

Cameron Stewart - who was on loan with the Whites last season - and Paddy Kenny - a former Leeds keeper - Kundai Benyu and Alex Henshall also made the trip but were left out of the 18.

Ex-Whites striker Noel Hunt, who is on crutches and expected to be out for the season due to his medial knee ligament injury, also travelled.

The Blues started brightly and had the ball in the net in only the third minute, Varney heading skipper Luke Chambers's right-wing cross home against his old club, but with the linesman’s flag having been raised.

Leeds weren’t far away from going in front in the seventh minute when Lewis Cook sent in a cross from the right towards January Town target Sharp, who hit a shot which looked on its way into the net until Tommy Smith blocked.

Sol Bamba headed over at the far post in the 14th minute after Mowatt had dispossessed Varney on the edge of the Town box on the right following a Leeds freekick which had been half-cleared. Moments later, Tyrone Mings did well to cut out a through ball ahead of Sam Byram,

Neither side threatened again before the half hour mark with the game a typically scrappy Championship affair. The Blues won a number of corners and freekicks in dangerous areas but, as was the case at Norwich on Sunday, failed to make anything of them.

Leeds should have gone ahead in the 35th minute when Christophe Berra slipped when in possession in the left-back position, allowing Byram to cross towards Sharp, who headed wide while under pressure from Smith with the home players and fans calling for a penalty. Referee Mark Brown was unmoved, however.

A minute later, Giuseppe Bellusci smashed a freekick over from 30 yards before play moved back to the other end and Mings won another corner with a dangerous cross from the left. Again it came to nothing.

Three minutes before the break, Leeds keeper Silvestri punched Anderson’s freekick to the edge of the area. Smith and then Wood both had efforts blocked.

The game remained goalless at half-time with little in an evenly balanced first half. The home side had had the better chances but via Town slips at the back rather than through their own guile.

Despite Wood and Varney having linked up well at times - there seemed little argument about the early disallowed goal - and Parr and Mings having looked threatening down the left, the Blues had been unable to test Silvestri in the Leeds goal.

Two minutes after the restart Mings forced Silvestri into his first serious save of the evening. Chambers crossed from the right and the Blues left-back headed towards the far corner but the Leeds keeper did superbly to get across to push it wide.

From the corner, the ball fell to Cole Skuse on the edge of the box by Bamba blocked his shot, with his hand according to some Town players. Again referee Brown was unmoved. The Blues kept up the pressure, Scott Wootton blocking a subsequent Mings strike.

On 51 Mowatt crossed low from the Leeds left to Sharp, whose shot on the turn deflected through to Bialkowski off Berra.

Varney, who had undergone treatment for a head injury after a clash with Bamba a couple of minutes earlier, did well to get over a cross from the left in the 55th minute but Anderson somehow managed to hit his shot from the edge of the box to Parr also out wide on the left.

Bru replaced Anderson in the 61st minute, Parr moving to the right and Tabb to the left with the Mauritian international taking up his usual central midfield role.

Four minutes later, as Mings prepared to take a freekick on the left, Murphy replaced Varney, who was booed off loudly by his old fans.

Mings sent the ball into the box and Leeds were unable to clear, Tabb nodding into the danger area and Chambers and then Berra both having efforts blocked. Soon after Bru picked up the game’s first yellow card for a foul on Charlie Taylor.

As in the first half there had been little between the teams but on 71 the home side went in front, profiting from another Town defensive error.

Mings dawdled on the ball just outside the box to the left and lost out to Byram, who he then hauled back. Mowatt took the freekick and curled it between Bialkowski and his left post and into the net. The Polish keeper will feel he might have done better.

Town immediately swapped Sears for Wood and two minutes after coming on the sub got his side back on terms, although the goal owed much to an error by Leeds keeper Silvestri.

The ex-Colchester man hit a low speculative effort from 25 yards which the keeper ought to have claimed easily down to his right, however, it somehow slipped under him and into the net to restore parity. It was Sears’s 18th goal of the season and his fourth for the Blues.

Town started to look for a second, Sears crossing and Mings flicking the ball up into the air and into Silvestri’s arms.

However, only three minutes after losing their lead, the home side went back in front with the game’s third goal in seven minutes. After a break down the right, Cook crossed and Sharp hit a superb low volley on the turn at the far post which gave Bialkowski no chance.

The Blues immediately went about getting back on terms for a second time, Silvestri saving efforts from distance from Mings and then from Bru. At the other end, Sharp teed up Cook but Bialkowski wasn’t troubled by his edge of the box strike.

With seven minutes left on the clock Town were given a golden opportunity to get back on terms when Bamba handled inside the area on the left as Sears tried to take the ball past him. Referee Brown awarded the Blues only their second penalty of the season, the other coincidentally having been against Leeds at Portman Road.

On that occasion David McGoldrick netted but in his absence Murphy took the responsibility. Town’s 21-goal top scorer hit a low shot to Silvestri’s right but the keeper got down and across to push it on to the post and away from goal, atoning for his earlier error.

Two minutes from the end of scheduled time Mowatt was unable to reproduce his earlier freekick, sending a strike from the left well wide.

Town couldn't find an opening in the remaining minutes, Chambers heading a late corner over, and the referee’s whistle confirmed a second away defeat in four days.

As so often in the Championship the match was settled by mistakes. Mick McCarthy won’t have been impressed by Mings’s role in Leeds’ first and will feel Sharp ought to have been marked more closely for the second, the game's one moment of real quality.

The Blues, who remain seventh, were somewhat gifted Sears’s goal and also the penalty, which was more a save than a miss and McCarthy will feel it was a match they shouldn’t have lost.

A season which has held so much promise is now in danger of slipping away with Town now having lost six of their 11 league games since the turn of the year having previously been defeated just once in 20.

However, they are still only five points from the automatic promotion places and a point off sixth-placed Brentford, who visit Portman Road for a crunch clash on Saturday afternoon.

Leeds: Silvestri, Wootton, Bamba, Bellusci, Cooper, Byram, Cook, Murphy, Mowatt, C Taylor (Antenucci 68), Sharp (Morison 86). Unused: S Taylor, Berardi, Sloth, Doukara, Cani.

Town: Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Mings, Berra, Smith, Skuse, Tabb, Anderson (Bru 61), Parr, Varney (Murphy 65), Wood (Sears 72). Unused: Gerken, Clarke, Chaplow, Connolly. Referee: Mark Brown (East Yorkshire). Attendance: 19,730.

Photo: Action Images

itfc_nik added 23:40 - Mar 4 I was furious when I saw Sears on the bench, he's the only bright spark we have right now! surely you HAVE to play your best 11 unless forced otherwise
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wayway added 23:41 - Mar 4 I hate to keep saying it but nothing will change until Evans PLC sells the club to a football person and not an organisation which treats it as a tax loss
4

Minneapolis_ITFC added 23:45 - Mar 4 While i was not happy with bringing in Varney to begin with (I thought he would contribute little and wasn't expecting much) he needed match time but playing him from the start and with both Sears and Murphy omitted, it was a bizarre choice. Unfortunately when the latter did come on it was to miss a penalty but even the greats are allowed a mistake or two. I don't get to see the team in live action much at all, but realize enough McCarthy doesn't know what his best starting XI is, or quite what formation to deploy at start of game. Sometimes strange for someone of such years of experience. What disappoints most however, is the drop since new year and the opportunity missed. Had a great position over Xmas and in top two positions, then all of the sudden, some time around the Southampton replay, things went wrong and the team has fallen away to such an extent it's frustrating, if not bizarre. Yes we're still involved in the top six battle but these dropped points are becoming more concerning by the week. I wish I knew quite where the problem lay, and how to get our season back up and running.

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MHS added 23:51 - Mar 4 Not usually one for negativity but a really poor display tonight, despite the fact it could have easily ended 2-2 and we'd all be happy. MM has his way of playing, which has worked for the majority of the season, but it really is too one dimensional. Skuse/smith/tabb all look so uncomfortable on the ball - the amount of times I've seen Mings and Chambers on the ball this season, they look up, and Skuse is facing the other way waiting for the ball to be played long. Tabb cant wait to get rid of the ball as soon as he receives it. Bru/Bish/Mcgoldrick are players who will happily receive the ball under pressure and do something with it, skuse is solid but its rare you see him look up and play a forward pass. As a top 6 side you should be controlling games, I just feel teams have become aware of the way we play, teams now put pressure on our defenders and midfield high up the pitch, knowing we havent got the players to play our way out of it, so we inevitably have to go long. Don't get me wrong, we've got a good strong side and we're still in with a shot of promotion. But bishop/mcgoldrick are needed back in the side sharpish.

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beech1972 added 23:56 - Mar 4 This may sound a stupid, half a bottle of Port drunk question. Has anybody added up the points we got played 433 and 442 and seen the difference? Just wondering if there is a big difference, as in starting out the game 442 or 433
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Notts_tractor added 00:19 - Mar 5 Beech, I'm sure there is a big difference, but even so it makes absolutely no difference because McCarthy likes to play the contrary, bloody-minded Yorkshireman who knows best even when things are staring him in the face.None of us mere spectators have any idea about the game and can't possibly have an opinion. And I think that's what most annoys me about McCarthy - his lack of humility and failure to acknowledge he might get things wrong sometimes. He builds a good team, finds a winning formula, but then seems to suddenly decide that it's too popular and he must resort to the dour, negative tactics which are his hallmark,and piss everyone off with bizarre team selections and rigid loyalty to under performers playing in alien positions.

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NITFC added 00:28 - Mar 5 The annoying thing is we actually went for it tonight and I enjoyed the game. We played better football than we have done for some time but some individual errors and the bizarre decision to drop Sears and Murphy cost us the points. Long midweek trip for no points. The pressure is really on now
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GiveusaWave added 01:56 - Mar 5 Thought Varney and Wood was actually a good combination. Simply outplayed by a better team on the night. Our hoofball has become routine and every team in this league knows how to play us now. Chambers and Tabb are essential ingredients for our team given our style of play. It is also essential that Chambers plays on the right. MM's team selection is a good one and he's doing all he can with the players that we have. To criticise someone who has done so well with this team is unbelievable. MM has performed miracles as has TC. What a season we have had!

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bluesince84 added 02:03 - Mar 5 in a season of twists and turns and a barmy league there is only one guarantee. That we will play 442 next game, and Tabb will be the first names on the team sheet.
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Akaroablue added 03:33 - Mar 5 The common thread appears to be that MM is stubborn to the core, plays players out of position, has favourites who can do no wrong, has no plan B, leaves attacking minded players on the bench or not included, recruits midfield players who cannot score goals. I wonder if the Wolves supporters were saying similar things about his style before he got the 'hump'. Any good Manager could see there was a need to recruit in Jan, but alas not our Mick!! I'm 12,000 miles away and it is as plain as the nose on his face!!

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BlueMachines added 06:33 - Mar 5 Strange how none of MM's favourites ever need a rest when 'changes' are made. I've given up the fight. Frustration has beaten me!!!!!
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Count_Arthur added 06:36 - Mar 5 I appreciate a manager has to sometimes make bold decisions but to make bold decisions sake for the sake of making them is madness. All very well MM saying “Not playing Sears or Murphy wasn't the reason we lost the game” - he doesn't know that - nobody knows that - but it does seem pretty obvious that given that Sears pretty much scored as soon as he came on against Leeds, that Sears had two crackin' shots that forced Ruddy into a save on Sunday, and that he also scored two against Birmingham we'd have had a better chance of winning if he started!? And surely he's more match fit that Varney or Wood? I can understand Murphy being rested, but Sears is young and match fit and in form - why leave him on the bench! And why is MM allowed to say ‘P**ssed Off' on TWTD when I have to use an asterisk!?

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warktheline added 06:41 - Mar 5 TEAM SELECTION.....I won't excuse the inexcusable! If we had taken a point, guess it would of papered over this a touch, but we didn't. Massive game Saturday...I won't be calling for a change in back 4, it isn't making a blind bit of difference! Surely we aren't going to let this season fizzle out, there is still hope, but things have gotta CHANGE!...anybody listening!

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Cakeman added 07:09 - Mar 5 It looks as though the thin but tight knit squad has burnt itself out. A strong very good two thirds of the season could be upstaged by a weak finish. Easy to be critical after a couple of defeats but that is the danger of having such a small squad with lots of similar types. I was surprised at one or two of the selections for Leeds but maybe some are carrying knocks or perhaps not feeling well? A bit dramatic maybe but this Saturday against Brentford could determine our season.

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blue7579 added 07:26 - Mar 5 MM has been making these poor choices since the start of the season, but the quality of murphy, sears, McGoldrick, bru, bishop, has got us out of the proverbial a few times, to leave any on the bench is madness, Anderson has the work rate but not the ability, tabb runs about a lot which makes it look like he's working hard but not doing anything, Stewart,hen shall , could b a plan b, but not even considered, at the back we all know the best back 4 and as long as it stays the same we will concede.

1

wangford_blues added 07:45 - Mar 5 we've got a mid table manager and a mid table squad and we'll end up mid table. the only top six thing about the club now is the ticket prices.
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essexbluey added 07:56 - Mar 5 We will beat brentford and get back in the top six and millwall will beat norwich. One good thing to come out of loseing to leeds is that on sat the real fans will turn up. COYB.
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blueherts added 08:01 - Mar 5 well said Essex
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dirtydingusmagee added 08:10 - Mar 5 another step in the wrong direction.Sears,the only player that tried against the budgies ,on bench to start seemed to put the writing on the wall from the outset .From a hard working team that played well,with determination first half of season,we now seem like a team lost in a fog on a beach.It matters not that other teams round us lose games,we need to be winning .Its not going to get easier as we get further into the season ,The teams at the bottom will get fired up at the prospect of relegation every game is vitally important. It is always consistency that get teams promoted,we have now lost it.All the early optimism is draining away. it needs to change quickly. COYB .lets get back to playing for each other and show some passion .

2

blue7579 added 08:15 - Mar 5 As for this "team spirit" not going to last long when the message is play well work hard and you will be sat on the bench. And the new boys and inferior colleges will be playing.
1

NoelTheDub added 08:35 - Mar 5 MM inexcusable team you came up with last night einstein would not have put that team together.Leaving our only bright spark in Freddy on the bench along with Murf beggers belief,also putting 2 big unfit with no pace and unaccustomed players up top defies logic.To put Anderson and Tabb on the same pitch was and as proven so many bloody times defies logic.The loyal supporters of this club deserve much better than what your doing and I mean team selection and tactics.Im again saying a defeat does not bother me or most people its the lack of pace,skill but most of all your stubbornness,yes we needed changes after Sun but you went backwards and did not address the flat defensive midfield.MM you have taking the biscuit as far as Im concerned and only god knows what you will drum up team wise on Sat.

4

LordMamu added 08:42 - Mar 5 We all need to get used to what is happening- there will be another two seasons of this before MM's contract is up and Evans makes another badly judged appointment....without McGoldrick or Bishop we have no real creativity and are just a top half side.
4

essexboy added 08:49 - Mar 5 Let's not get too down about last night,we have performed wonders this season without any help from our owner and MM has done a fantastic job,BUT I do feel some of his team selections are strange.Why did he leave Sears on the bench,Why has he not dropped Smith and Mings.Saturday is now becoming the biggest game of the season so far,A must win game.MM must make changes at the back,the weakness now shows and teams can see this.If fit Bishop Must play And Ambrose If fit.Three up front,Sears,Murphy,and woods.Our biggest problem has been midfield and this must be addressed before Saturday,otherwise it's good bye playoffs.I have full trust in MM BUT he just must make the right changes for the Brentford game,he has to be brave whoever he leaves out.COYB.

1

callmeted added 09:00 - Mar 5 Gutted that we are now in this league position but trying to stay focused that we are 6 points off top and a win on Saturday will put us back in it. However, I have to admit the team selection is baffling at times. Neither keeper provides confidence, A back four with two out of position , an ineffective midfield going forward, the leagues top scorer seemingly suffering a dip right when we need him most. To me we look one dimensional and stale at the moment . We also miss McGoldrick, Hyam and Bishop more that we thought. I am not critisising the monumental effort put in by the players and MM. I , along with many others, am searching hard for the answers. No one wants to see such a good season thrown away and we are still in there . On Saturday we basically start the season again. Lets go forward and try an inject pace .It needs a refresh with the players available and belief from ALL at the game that a win will kick start us. I want desperately not to be cursing and kicking the cat again !!

1

yorksblue added 09:46 - Mar 5 Any chance of kidnapping Warburton on Sat and putting him in the home dugout?
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