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.

McCormack Rescues Leeds

Ross McCormack struck what could prove to be one of the most vital goals of Simon Grayson’s time in charge of Leeds United five minutes into injury time, as the Whites overturned a one-goal deficit to come from behind and beat 10-man Burnley.
Going into the game with a three-game losing run behind him and a very public demand of promotion from outspoken owner Ken Bates hanging over his head, some could have been forgiven for writing Grayson’s Elland Road obituary when his men fell behind to Charlie Austin’s 69th-minute opener.

But the under-pressure boss was given a leg-up by Brian Easton’s own goal with four minutes left and, when it looked as though he would have to take a draw against 10 men back to his chairman, McCormack pounced on Lee Grant’s fumble of Andros Townsend’s long-range strike to send his manager on an emotional charge of celebration down the touchline.

The end result was perhaps harsh on Burnley, who had looked set to record an eighth win in nine games when Austin scored - his goal coming some 40 minutes after Kieran Trippier had been sent off for two bookings, both of which came for fouls on lively debutant Townsend.

But it was Leeds who had the last word, with top scorer McCormack coming off the bench to grab his 12th and most important of the season.

Grayson said after Saturday’s 4-1 loss to Barnsley that some players may never play for him again and he stayed true to his word, making five changes, although it was Burnley who started better with Austin spurning a one-on-one chance.

Leeds then lost captain Patrick Kisnorbo to a 14th-minute knee injury that forced Grayson into another reshuffle, and he was thankful to see Andy Lonergan turn Austin’s opportunistic 25-yard drive over as he changed his side around.

Burnley began to fade after that second Austin effort and Townsend in particular opted to try and swing momentum in favour of the home side. Tripper was the man in his sights and twice in the space of six minutes he torched past the full-back, with referee Mike Brown brandishing a yellow card on both occasions, with the second one perhaps only worthy of a warning.

In between the two bookings Townsend ran at the Burnley defence and drilled wide but, after that and Trippier’s dismissal, both sides seemed without idea and limped through to the interval.

Leeds displayed a shade more invention at the start of the second half, with Ramon Nunez twice putting in crosses that caused Grant problems and Townsend fizzing a strike over from the corner of the area.

Townsend was relentless in his pursuit of whoever was occupying Burnley’s right-back berth and, after he drew a foul and a booking from David Edgar, Leeds mounted their first real spell of pressure which saw Brian Easton head away from under his own bar and Darren O’Dea then clip the top of the goal with a looping header.

Ben Mee then received the fourth yellow card of the afternoon awarded for a foul on Townsend, and from the subsequent free-kick, Nunez worked Grant for the first time.

Leeds rookie Zac Thompson then saw a volley scrape past Grant’s post from 25 yards, before Austin went one better at the other end, giving Burnley the lead out of nothing.

A long ball from Dean Marney fell to him in the box and, as the Leeds defence held back, he snapped at a half-volley on the turn and found Lonergan’s bottom corner with his 10th of the season.

Leeds were initially stunned, but got a fortuitous break when Easton turned Adam Clayton’s corner beyond Grant with four minutes left and then, when a draw looked on, McCormack pounced to offer his boss some welcome relief.

Townsend’s 25-yarder should have been a regulation save for Grant, but the keeper shelled the ball and McCormack did the rest.

Thompson signs new Leeds deal

Youngster Zac Thompson has been rewarded for an impressive start to his Leeds career by earning a new two-year deal.The 18-year-old midfielder only penned his first professional deal at the end of last season after joining the club's scholarship scheme in January from Everton, but having impressed in the early part of this campaign, he has been handed lengthier terms.Thompson made his debut in the 4-1 win over Hull and earned a first start the week after at Doncaster in the Carling Cup before having his involvement curtailed by injury.Manager Simon Grayson told the club's official website: "Zac has made an impression since he's been here. He had a good pre-season, he got himself involved in merit, and not only did he play a part, he impressed in what he did and how he went about things."Unfortunately, we lost him with an ankle injury at a time when he was in and around things, but hopefully he shouldn't be too far away from stepping things up again."Thompson follows Tom Lees and Ramon Nunez in committing themselves to the Elland Road club in recent weeks.

Howson hails young duo

Leeds captain Jonny Howson has praised young players Adam Clayton and Zac Thompson after the pair recently broke into the first-team.Former Manchester City trainee Clayton has started every league game for the Whites this term while Thompson was handed his first start in the Carling Cup tie with Doncaster.Howson told the Yorkshire Evening Post: "Clayts, since he has come back in pre-season, he has been on fire, every day in training and you can see that in the games."He's been brought up at Premiership standard with Manchester City and you can see that with some of the different things and the way he plays."And I think Zac is in a similar situation to Adam."He has definitely got talent and if he keeps working hard and keeps looking up to the likes of Adam, myself and the older players, then I'm sure he can be in the same sort of situation."