Leeds United Championship Here We Come!

Leeds United make their first step towards the Premiership by winning promotion against Bristol Rovers at Elland Road

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Leeds United: Championship Here We Come!

It’s an often repeated cliché, but Leeds really don’t do anything the easy way. Back in December we were riding high in League One, shoe-ins for the title. Come Saturday 8^th May, it was the final day of the season, and Leeds were yet to tie-up promotion back to the Championship.

The story of Leeds’ up-and-downs this season (and for the last bloody decade) is well documented. All that mattered on Saturday to the sell out crowd at Elland Road was that Leeds secure promotion against mid-table Bristol Rovers.

At the start of the day, it was possible, but unlikely, that Leeds could lose and still go up, but the results from the rest of the league meant that, come the end of 90 minutes Leeds would have to win.

They didn’t make it easy. A bright start soon fell into disarray as ‘Mad’ Max Gradel got himself sent off for a petulant stamp, and then proceeded to physically remonstrate with the referee, then Leeds captain for the day Jermaine Beckford.

Things went from bad to worse as mere minutes in to the second half, Rovers scored thanks to some lazy defending by Aston Villa loanee Shane Lowry (who has been consistently unimpressive trying to fill Leeds’ problem left back position).

With both Charlton and Millwall winning, Leeds had to get two goals to secure automatic promotion. Grayson pulled off a masterstroke of a substitution, bringing Lowry off for Leeds lad Howson, who repaid his manager’s decision within minutes with a superb shot from the outside the box drawing Leeds level.

Knowing that a 1-1 draw might not be enough, Leeds, buoyed on by a rabid home support, went for a second goal, with Bristol looking visibly shaken by the noise at Elland Road. Step up Jermaine Beckford – a 30 goal a season striker vilified by much of the Leeds crowd and feasibly playing his final game for the club – who pounced on some questionable defending by Rovers and scored a proper poacher’s finish.

Suddenly Leeds were in the driving seat and just had to hang on for 27 desperate minutes.

As the final whistle blew, the fans raced on to the pitch, the players looked overjoyed and, sure enough, Leeds had done it. They were back up to the Championship.

The team will surely need strengthening for next season, especially if Beckford leaves. But let’s enjoy the promotion before we start fretting about next season.

Posted on Monday 10th May 2010
TG

Leeds United FC

Elland Road, Leeds, LS11 OES

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