One Step Closer

Leeds United came from a goal down to beat Bristol City 2-1 this evening, playing with 10 men for more than an hour, in front of 38,234 people at Elland Road. And the cow has finally, finally jumped over the moon.

"It's been a season of real ups and downs," is what manager Simon Grayson was trying to say before being doused with champagne by Bradley Johnson at the post-match interview and I couldn't agree more. The contrast between the pre- and post-New Year period could not have been greater. Runaway league leaders at the turn of the year having lost just three games in all competitions all season (including a 0-1 at home to Liverpool in the League Cup), that figure turned to thirteen one week ago when Richard Naylor thumped an unstoppable 87th minute header...past Shane Higgs into his own goal.

The disparity between the team and the rest of the league in the back half of 2009 meant, however, that a win on the final day would still be enough to land second, twelve points behind Norwich, who had wrapped up the title three weeks previously. "If you can't win a game at Elland Road, you don't deserve to be promoted" is what I'd been telling myself for the week leading up to tonight. That it happened at all was a small miracle because when Darryl Duffy put Bristol ahead after Max Gradel had been sent off in the first half, my palm instinctively slapped my forehead and I thought, "oh God! It's happening again." I walked off immediately, too nervous to watch the rest of the game. Fifteen minutes later, I received a text message which was like a shot of adrenalin: Leeds were winning 2-1, thanks to (what turned out to be an excellent 20-yard goal from) Jonny Howson, five minutes after coming off the bench and captain-for-the-day J-Beck's 31st of the season. Highlights betray that the half an hour or so that followed wasn't all hands to the pump: Collins hit a post, Becchio missed an easier chance and, generally, it ought to have been more than 2-1, if anything.

And so, the three years in League One have a happy enough ending: something I didn't foresee when Leeds started the 2007-08 season on -15. A lot will change at the club over the summer: Jermaine Beckford will leave, there will be a fair bit of transfer wheeling and dealing and maybe Ken Bates will finally have the courtesy to let us know exactly who it is that owns the club. I'm also really optimistic about the Championship next season, partly because it's been pretty much the same sixteen or seventeen teams that've just stayed there for the longest time and therefore a fresh team putting together a run could easily jump into contention for the Premier League playoff positions and stay there all season. And partly because this team beat Manchester United at Old Trafford and drew with Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Line this season without really playing above its ability. There was the unmistakable feeling of "we're too good to be celebrating this" at all the post-match conferences and that speaks of a quiet confidence that's taken a huge beating since that epochal win at Old Trafford on the first Sunday of 2010 but is still sufficient to make me believe that it is the top half of the league table that I will continue to check for the fourth season in a row.

Now, as a friend suggested, if the Red Bulls were to suddenly lose pace tomorrow evening, it would turn out to be a great weekend indeed!