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Venue:  
Kingston Park 

Conditions:  The first day of Winter, judging by the fact my ears were tingling when I got inside the bar. The return of the dark nights and the Kingston Park wind.  

Crowd:  2,639

Referee:  B.Sygmuta - not the first time we've experienced his own particular laissez faire approach to officiating....  

Teams: 

NUFC: (normal home kit) Karelse, McGuffie, Ullathorne (Boyd 46 mins), Bassedas, G. Caldwell, Beharall, Gavilan (Hamilton 24 mins), Kerr, Coppinger, Ameobi, Green. 
Subs n/u: Rayner, Orr, Grindlay.
Booked: Kerr 80 mins, illegal challenge to rob Huckerby. Hamilton 84 mins, for a foul committed some minutes earlier, apparently on Singh, and apparently unjustified, given the reaction of the crowd in the temporary stands on the far side of the pitch.   
 
LUFC: (all yellow away kit) Milosevic, Maybury, Evans, Dixon, Molenaar, Lynch, Huckerby, Bridges (Matthews 59 mins), Hackworth (Singh 76 mins), Cawley, Burns.
Subs: Allaway, Newley, Johnson
Booked: Maybury 32 mins, kicking Kerr. Evans 69 mins, chopping down Gary Caldwell. Dixon 86 mins, raising his foot (and head) to Ameobi.

30 seconds. From the kickoff, Leeds pressed forward into the United area, and after Hackworth had seen his shot blocked, local lad Michael Bridges was on hand to touch home the rebound through a crowd of players on the line, to the delight of his parents in the crowd. 0-1
8 mins. Newcastle managed their first shot, when Gavilan played in Coppinger, who hit a weak shot straight at 'keeper Milosevic.
18 mins. The visitors continued to dominate the opening period with superior pace and invention, putting the United defence under almoost constant pressure. Huckerby in particular looked dangerous and from a run down the left flank that bypassed McGuffie, his cross to Bridges nearly brought another goal, Karelse managing this time to block the effort.
20 mins. Gavilan was left clutching his ankle midway in the Leeds half as play switched towards the Newcastle goal, and although he was able to continue, was substituted by Hamilton soon after.
29 mins. A rare moment of danger from the home team, as the Leeds goalkeeper picked up a backpass and conceded a free kick. Bassedas touched the ball to the onrushing Ullathorne, whose shot zipped through the gap in the defensive wall, but swerved narrowly wide of the post.
32 mins. A neat bodyswerve and through ball from Bassedas, adjusting to the demands of his first domestic fixture in Europe, and seeming to warm to the task.
41 mins. An intelligent ball out of defence by Gary Caldwell instigated an attack by Newcastle after neat play on the halfway line between Coppinger and Ameobi. The latter outpaced one defender and set off for goal, but was halted by a timely interception from Evans, at the expense of a corner. The first attempt came to nothing, but from the opposite flank, Ullathorne's cross reached Beharall, who failed to make clean contact with the ball, and sent it bouncing harmlessly towards goal.
43 mins. More good work from Bassedas, playing in a more advanced midfield role than anticipated as he evaded one challenge on the edge of the Leeds box, but was caught by a second inside the area from Molenaar. The referee rightly awarded a penalty, but for some strange reason Stuart Green claimed the ball rather than the expected Coppinger etc. and proceeded to fire the spot kick wide of the goal, despite sending the keeper the wrong way.   

Halftime: NUFC 0 LUFC 1

46 mins. Newcastle withdrew the apparently injured Ullathorne, who had been occupying the left back position and brought on Mark Boyd. Consequently McGuffie moved across from left back, and Des Hamilton filled in on the right.
48 mins. A fatal error from McGuffie, who allowed a forward ball to pass under his foot, releasing Alan Cawley to advance on goal and slide the ball under Karlese from just inside the Newcastle box. 0-2
58 mins The Magpies gained a foothold in the game when Gary Caldwell cleared his lines with a long punt, seized up on by Coppinger, who chose to run slightly wide to the right before picking out Ameobi with a cross. The lanky striker challenged for the ball with the goalkeeper and two defenders, and as it dropped, Coppinger was on hand to sweep it into the net from 15 yards.  1-2
69 mins Ryan McGuffie, who had looked impressive when pushing forward and running with ball, but outclassed when confronted with the onrushing Huckerby, unfortunately saw a Burns cross end up in his own net after it bounced off his head from 8 yards, sealing the win for Leeds. The move had originally stemmed from Ameobi's loss of the ball to Molenaar, after Leeds had subjected the United defence to a prolonged period of pressure.1-3
70 mins. With Newcastle restarting the game, the ground began to empty at an alarming rate - fair weather fans indeed....
74 mins. A rare chance for the home side to hit back was spurned by Coppinger, who did well to latch on to a through ball and hold off a pair of Leeds players to get his shot in from 20 yards, but couldn't prevent it from clearing the cross bar.
80 mins. The increasing fractious atmosphere threatened to boil over into conflict when McGuffie and Kerr tangled with Huckerby on the right side of the home area. The former Newcastle player reacted badly to the attentions of Kerr, and a bout of finger-wagging ensued, which prompted the referee into booking Kerr. 
83 mins. Coppinger showed diligence to rob Molenaar deep in his own half, but then failed to find Ameobi, who had made up ground to support.
86 mins. After one or two niggling tackles and a spot of playacting from the visitors, things really threatened to get out of hand when Ameobi and Dixon became embroiled in midfield, the Leeds player aiming a kick in the direction of the Newcastle man and then a feigning a headbutt. A 17 man scrum quickly developed, but no actual blows were landed by either side.
87 mins. A trademark Huckerby effort to almost seal the win for Leeds, as he ran from his own half and left McGuffie trailing in his wake, before unleashing a shot on the run from 20 yards that cannoned off the goalpost and hit Beharall, but fortunately went wide of the Newcastle goal.
90+2 mins. Des Hamilton played a 1-2 with Coppinger and caught the return ball on the volley to send a fierce shot towards goal. Somewhere en route it took a deflection, but from the resultant corner Newcastle lost possession and the referee blew for time.
 
Final Score: NUFC 1 LUFC 3

Waffle: 

Newcastle's second-string still await their first victory but it was never likely to come against rampant Leeds who hadn't conceded a goal until tonight. Where the visitors were confident, composed and dangerous in front of goal, we were lacking in genuine attackers and unable to use what possession we could scrape together to force Milosevic into getting his gloves dirty.

Admittedly Newcastle coach Tommy Craig suffered from a lack of choice when selecting his team, but being caught cold at the first whistle again and not forcing a save out of the opposition from the penalty spot are twin handicaps that definitely make winning matches an uphill struggle...

Whilst an improvement on the dispiriting showing at Blackburn last week, the team still struggled to make best use of the talents of Ameobi, and also failed to supply Coppinger with service when he found himself in good positions. Frustratingly, our passes just didn't stick tonight, and on several occasions Hamilton, McGuffie and Ullathorne undid their own good work in taking the forward initiative, by losing the ball and consequently being out of position.

Looking for positives, the second half introduction of Mark Boyd at least gave us an extra man upfield, and he didn't do much wrong, while at the back Gary Caldwell returned to his usual decent standards after something of a nightmare at Ewood Park. The debutant Bassedas played the full 90 minutes and did reasonably well after taking half an hour or so to find his feet, earning the penalty and seeming to have time on the ball, especially in the second half. Hopefully he'll soon be adding his undoubted experience and reputed class to the first team, although in the half-light of Kingston Park, he definitely has something approaching a resemblance to the unloved Georgiadis......poor lad.

The reserves now take a breather, and don't return to action until the 17th October when they travel to the impressive Autoquest Stadium at Widnes to take on Everton. They were forced to make do with a 1-1 draw here last season after dominating proceedings in front of a good crowd of more than 4,000 fans - hopefully they can go one better this time out and claim three points, improving on their lowly league position of 9th in the process.

Biffa