Late goals sink ten man Leeds

Leeds United manager Neil Warnock hailed the effort of his ten-man side, who held out until six minutes from time before two goals from substitute Adam Le Fondre put Reading top of the table.The United manager was left to rue the red card shown to Zac Thompson for a wild lunge on Jobi McAnuff after only 12 minutes – but he insisted the crime did not merit its punishment.“We had the best chances,” he said. “I can’t ask any more. I thought they were fantastic today under the circumstances. We had a makeshift team and to have a man sent off so early on made it even harder.“I thought he was unlucky. The trouble is he set off with two feet but he’s landed two or three feet before.“What the assessor’s saying is if two feet are off the floor it’s a red card but he’s not hurt the kid.”Leeds’ Danny Pugh was fortunate not to also see red before the first half was up, as his studs-up challenge on Jem Karacan went unnoticed by referee Darren Drysdale.Warnock admitted: “I thought Pugh’s tackle was far worse. I thought Pugh should have got sent off.”Leeds dealt well with their one-man disadvantage and held Reading until the 84th minute, when Le Fondre chested home Hal Robson-Kanu’s headed centre.The forward notched again five minutes later, again from close range, to seal a victory Reading boss Brian McDermott admitted his team had worked hard to get.“We just had to keep going,” he said. “Leeds knew what they were doing today, and their manager knew what he was doing, so it was very difficult for us.”He paid tribute to the impact made by substitute Adam Le Fondre. The former Rotherham man’s last five strikes in Reading colours have all come in appearances from the bench but McDermott insisted he has not pigeon-holed the 25-year-old as a super-sub.

“If you want someone to score a goal for you to win a game, we’ve got the perfect man and he’s done it again today,” he said.