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Leeds United: Atlanta - 30th July

The last pre-season game but our first at Elland Road, came after I set off from Guildford this morning at 8.20 am. After a horrendous 8½ hour journey to get there yesterday, the worry was that I wouldn’t get back in time for kick off. Luckily the traffic was kind to us and I managed to drop my daughter off at home before heading back to Elland Road.

Article by Heidi Haigh

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After parking up I took a couple of photos just as I reached the traffic lights. With that someone turned round to me and said they had just been talking about me! It was some of the Selby lads from Hornsea who used to travel with us in the eighties; one lives in Thailand now and was over for the game. Just as I said goodbye to them I turned round to see Ian and Keenan. It’s funny that I’d just posted a photo to my Facebook page this week of a Leeds United apron I’d had since the seventies. I had to remind Ian that he’d bought it for me!

I headed into the Peacock and said hello to a number of people before I found Sue and Keith. At least I managed to have a chat before Sue went into the ground. I went to queue for a quick drink as it was getting near kick off and a fan from Norway wearing a Duncan pub t-shirt came to chat. I said his photo would appear on the internet tonight and had a chat about my books with him. Also had a chat and some photos with some Scarborough Whites including one over from Australia. As usual great Leeds United support from all over the world!

I thought I’d end up missing kick off as I was talking so much surprise, surprise. Luckily my watch was a few minutes fast as I got in the ground just as the teams were coming out. I had wondered why there were so many fans still outside the ground or on the concourse below the stand not rushing to get in.

The East Stand and Kop were the only places open today which were pretty full plus approx. 100 Italian fans in the away area. It was lovely to hear Marching on Together being belted out by everyone too and good to be back.

As it was a friendly, today would have us guessing who our starting 11 would be against QPR. The team to start was Green, Taylor, Bamba, Diagouraga, Vieira, Mowatt, Wood, Roofe, Dallas, Perico and Bartley. Subs used were Coyle for Perico and Sacko for Dallas who came on immediately at the start of the second half. Other subs used were Grimes for Diagouraga together with Phillips for Mowatt and later Antonsson for Wood, then Murphy for Vieira and Botaka for Roofe.

It was going to take me some time to work out who was who but at least the players had their names and numbers on, although I was surprised to see Perico with both on his shirt as he was on trial for a week. I thought it was possible that with this game being the last one prior to the season starting, this meant the players had to have them? Hopefully someone can enlighten me. Although Perico hadn’t set the world alight and ended up getting himself booked today, it may mean he has a memento to take away from his one and only home performance; who knows unless he has already signed?

As I made my way to my seat, it was weird seeing so many faces I didn’t know around my usual place in the Kop. Although there were a few faces that I knew and one next to me luckily, I couldn’t work out at first which was my seat, oops!

The first half had quite a few crunching tackles flying in from both sides although one of the Italians was rolling about after one tackle. I’m sure the ref was getting ready to book our player only for him to get up as if nothing had happened. One thing I cannot stand is seeing players cheat by pretending they are hurt as there is no need for it. All of a sudden we got the ball into the net at the South Stand end only for confusion, with us being awarded a penalty instead for a hand ball I believe. Wood strolled up to take the penalty and put it away to send us into the lead. It was nice to see him get the ball without the recent antics of Antenucci who always tried to take the ball from him. Unfortunately Atalanta equalised just before half time with a great goal to send us in on equal terms. It was good to see some regular faces downstairs during the break and say hello to many and have a chat, before I headed back up to my seat.

I couldn’t believe the amount of people sat down in the Kop though as I can’t remember the last time I did that! Although to the top left of me everyone was standing, I decided to join everyone else around me and actually sat in my seat so that I wasn’t the only one stood up!

At the start of the second half Monk had subbed both Perico and Dallas. We had a few good moves going from defence into attack. After a further couple of subs we went into the lead from a corner from Phillips when Roofe managed to put the ball into the net from a close angle. Although we had a further goal disallowed and Atalanta also had one disallowed there was plenty of players getting stuck in and chasing the ball if it was lost.

The Atalanta fans could be heard for quite a bit of the game although not too loudly. It had been very quiet from our fans for the majority of the game and it was nice to finish the last 10 minutes with some singing and chanting.

The positives from the team today were seeing Green make a couple of great saves and also catch the ball at a corner! Vieira kept getting stuck in and played well. Listening to his interview on BBC Radio Leeds after the game he said he lost the ball and they scored but it hadn’t been obvious to me. Initially after a couple of hairy moments Bamba who was captain and Bartley started playing better together. I’m not sure if this is going to be Monk’s defence partnership but I suppose it depends on Cooper getting fit. There were individual moments from a few others and it was good to get the win even though it was a “friendly”. Not that you’d have thought it from some of the tackles though!

After the game I met Paul at the Peacock who wanted to buy a couple of my books and my grateful thanks go to him. After a chat I headed for home ready to upload my photos. I then saw the Yorkshire Post had stolen my thunder. They had circulated a photo of the Director’s box showing Cellino sat with a couple of gentlemen which I had got too! There have been rumours circulating once again about interested parties (Chinese) in buying Leeds. As usual I will wait and see if anything materialises because as usual you can’t second guess what will happen with us!

A week tomorrow sees the start of the football for real with our trip to QPR. With it being an early kick off this means we have a very early departure time from Leeds of 5.00 am. At least I’ll be able to sleep on the coach!! I look forward to catching up with many of our fans and seeing what Gary Monk, his backroom staff and our team can produce on the pitch for us. See you there, LUFC – Marching on Together!

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