please log in to view this image A big thank you for all the support given to my family on what is a very challenging day for us today. As always this is greatly appreciated and shows what the Leeds United family means to us. The hugs were very welcome as well as all the chats. The turning of backs for Chris and Kev on the 23rd minute tonight was very moving as the whole stadium came together. As soon as everyone turned back to the pitch the sobs caught in my throat as the tears fell. It can never be underestimated what this time of year means to people. My thoughts are with the families of both Chris and Kev and anyone caught up in the horrific atrocities; they will never be forgotten. I will post up the photos for both the Arsenal and Forest games as soon as I have an SD card reader for my laptop. One was supposed to arrive yesterday which of course, has not! Team: Meslier, Ayling (captain), Koch, Struijk, Firpo, Aaronson, Bamford, Harrison, McKennie, Roca and Sinisterra. Subs: Summerville for Aaronson (74), Rodrigo for Sinisterra (74), Kristensen for Bamford (90). Subs not used: Robles, Greenwood, Gyabi, Gnonto, Cooper, Rutter. Leeds won the game 2-1 with Harrison (20) and Sinisterra (45) scoring for Leeds. Attendance, 36,740 with approx. 2,900 Forest fans. Referee: Robert Jones. Booked: Summerville. The game had already kicked off as we made our way across the front of the Kop and across the pitch to the East Stand. As my daughter said, it was a funny West Stand as I’d told her I was in there; it obviously pays to look at your ticket! After slipping back into the bottom three last night due to Everton gaining a point, I’d said it isn’t over until you can’t change anything and with four out of five of the next games at home, we needed to take advantage of that. Leeds set off on the attack towards the South Stand in the opening stages of the game. When Forest had an attack as the ball came out to their player on the touchline in front of us, he was offside. Unfortunately for us, the linesman was behind play so missed it as they scored. Why VAR was nowhere to be seen again was a mystery but no doubt, it depends on who you are as to how often they get involved. It meant we had to do things the hard way again as we continued to attack and were rewarded eight minutes later. Roca saw his shot parried by their keeper, but Harrison hammered the rebound into the net to give us that welcome equaliser. We continued to attack and when I shouted for us to get the ball into the net again before half time, we did just that. Sinisterra coming in from the wing hit a long low range shot that evaded everyone, possibly blinding their keeper, to put us into the lead on the stroke of half time. Leeds put in a battling performance during the second half as they fought as a team to protect their lead. There was plenty of end-to-end football, but we continued to attack and had many spells in control of the game. Roca was involved in a lot of the play and Bamford was offered no protection from either the referee or linesman. Interestingly when Bamford was tackled from behind, some of these challenges were let go but Forest were given free kicks for exactly the same thing but were nowhere near as bad a challenge. A couple of times as the game neared the end, Forest started to get into the game, but the Leeds defence were standing firm. The atmosphere had been great as the fans became the twelfth man and the cheers and raised arms from the team as the final whistle went, showed how much it meant to everyone to get the win and another valuable three points. Having gone up to thirteenth in the table, there will be plenty of swings and roundabouts before the season ends. The team looked a lot more composed today, but they are once again; also playing as a team. We can’t ask for more than a battling performance and playing for the shirt. See you Sunday for the Palace game. LUFC - Marching on Together! please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
No I didn't although it was my turn to go. At the time my husband and I took turns to go to the away European games but I backed out. Scum had been there three weeks before us I think but we'd heard stories from some lads from Halifax who were there that they'd been dragging their fans out of bed in the hotels and attacking them. Due to all the trouble I endured following Leeds in the seventies, I was too scared to go but I never expected my fears to come true in such an horrific way.
Photos for the Nottingham Forest game are now attached to my blog and apologies for the delay. Being in temporary accommodation and not having access to my computer has meant finding a way around this. Luckily when I thought the second SD card reader wasn't working, my daughter Emily said to try it with the SD card in it. Wo behold it worked lol!
