Arsenal v Leeds United 1st April 2023 at the Emirates please log in to view this image As we headed to London early morning, I knew were facing a traumatic week. With the anniversary of my baby daughter’s sudden death at 17 days old from an undiagnosed heart defect on 4th April, we are also facing the 23rd anniversary of the murders of Chris and Kev in Istanbul on 5th April. There was also a video on the Leeds United website relating to the latter today and my heart goes out to the friends and families of Chris and Kev and anyone caught up in the atrocities.Apologies for the blog being late for those who read it, but moving house this week has meant we are in temporary hotel accommodation for a couple of weeks. As someone said, we don’t do thing by half in our family. As well as my husband’s terminal cancer diagnosis, my hip operation, learning our daughter needed major surgery again, we also moved house. No wonder things have been a little stressful! I had my follow up with the specialist on Thursday and whilst doing very well with my recovery in reality, I still have to be very careful for at least another 6 weeks. No sitting low down for instance which I realised had been an issue with our move as I ended up in a lot of pain again plus I have to be careful of not getting knocked. I also realised how vulnerable I have become when I had to step on stone flags when it was raining. After having a bad fall on the ice and was fallen on at Aston Villa earlier in the year, using the sticks makes me feel more secure. Using the scooter makes me feel safe as I am not up to standing amongst people in a crowd again as yet. I am still having issues with dizziness as happened again before the game so I know I still have a long way to go. I may look confident when I am in my happy place amongst our fans at games, but at times I feel very fragile. Thank you for all your support again which is greatly appreciated as usual. It was nice to meet rb7skills from Chicago at the game who I follow on Instagram. This young man in my opinion, will be a future Leeds player and it is good to see a young lad dedicated to his football training. As Eddie Gray said at a Legends do last week, you don’t see young lads playing football in the streets all day like they used to do.Team: Meslier, Ayling (captain), Koch, Struijk, Firpo, Aaronson, Kristensen, Harrison, Summerville, Roca, Sinisterra.Subs: McKennie for Aaronson (66), Rodrigo for Sinisterra (66), Cooper for Koch (74), Rutter for Summerville (74), Bamford for Harrison (85).Subs not used: Robles, Gray, Gyabi, Greenwood.Leeds lost the game 4-1 with Kristensen scoring for Leeds (76).Referee: Darren England.Booked: Koch, Bamford.Firstly, I want to say sorry to the Leeds fan whose foot I ran over in the concourse. Yes I do need L plates with the scooter but thanks to a lovely Leeds fan and a steward for guiding me through the crowd which helped. That said, for a modern ground this is very poor with accessible toilets not in easy reach of the disability bays. At first I thought there was only one available in the stand but found out at the end of the game there was another in the corner. Also there wasn’t much room to manoeuvre in the bay area either. A badly designed ground in my opinion but I suppose I’m only more aware of these things by using a mobility scooter at the moment.With injuries to Adams, Woeber and Gnonto, changes were made to the team by Gracia, where it looked like we had packed our defence out. We got off to a good start with Kristensen having a shot saved by their keeper. We looked quite solid and were frustrating Arsenal so they were limited with chances. Roca saw their keeper save his shot before a chance fell for Harrison after a good run by Summerville but the angle was too narrow. We had looked in control of the game but it turned on its head when the referee gave a penalty after their player was caught by Ayling just after the half hour mark. Their player stopped at the last minute meaning Meslier committed himself as the ball hit the middle of the goal. Luckily they didn’t score a second goal straight after it. Meslier was quick out of his goal to intercept a ball only for them to lob the ball goal wards where Ayling cleared it off the line. I didn’t think we deserved to be losing at the break but the penalty had given Arsenal a boost and hope. After eventually getting back into the stand I was told to go back out again as they’d scored a second goal straight from kick off. That was going to make it harder to get back into the game. They got a third goal and by that time it looked like we were going for damaged limitations. Although Meslier pulled off a great save to deny them a fourth, we pulled one back with a strike by Kristensen from the edge of the box. I said we would draw 3-3 then but sadly it was Arsenal who got a fourth goal to put the game out of our reach. I was full of hope after the first half hour of the game but the penalty decision changed the course of the game.With four out of the next five games at home we need to take advantage of this and have the Leeds fans become the twelfth man as the end of the season gets closer. Against Nottingham Forest the same will happen as today, Leeds fans will turn their backs for Chris and Kev on the 23rd minute before we take on Crystal Palace next Sunday where their families will be in attendance. See you there, LUFC - Marching on Together! I'm sorry to say but the best laid plans don't work as unfortunately the portable SD card reader I bought doesn't work with my laptop so will post photos as soon as I can. 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
Photos now added for anyone interested and apologies for the delay. I did think the new sd card didn't work until my daughter told me to put the sd card in the reader!
