Lucas Radebe made his 200th and final league appearance for Leeds as his side
ended their turbulent season with a frustrating goalless stalemate against
relegated Rotherham.
The South African defender came off the substitutes' bench with five minutes
remaining to rapturous applause after 10 years' service at Elland Road.
He received the loudest cheer of the day during an afternoon in which Leeds
were desperately unlucky not to claim the points after hitting the post three
times.
Leeds boss Kevin Blackwell will now look to reshape his squad in preparation for a play-off challenge next term after a season in which he has been forced to constantly reshuffle his way through the wreckage of the club's fall-out from the Premiership.
Chairman Ken Bates has promised Blackwell his full backing in the summer
market as Leeds look to make the changes that this result graphically
illustrated are required if they are to challenge for a top-six finish next
term.
Blackwell made three changes from the side which slipped to a 2-0 defeat at
Leicester last week, with Danny Pugh, Marlon King and Aaron Lennon replacing
Clarke Carlisle, Michael Gray and Gylfi Einarsson in the starting line-up.
Rotherham manager Mick Harford drafted in Sam Duncum and Martin McIntosh in
place of Paul Warne and Chris Swailes as the Millers bade farewell to the
Coca-Cola Championship after four years in the division.
Leeds were aiming to avenge their 1-0 defeat at Millmoor last November and
on-loan West Brom striker Rob Hulse wasted no time in attempting to erase the
memory of that painful defeat.
Barely 30 seconds had passed before he impudently flicked the ball past
Rotherham defender Paul Hurst and raced goalwards only to send a low shot
straight into Mike Pollitt's midriff.
Leeds again shelved their customary 4-5-1 formation in favour of a traditional
4-4-2, and homegrown youngster Lennon began to emerge as the prime beneficiary
on the left flank.
The diminutive forward, who has attracted admiring glances from Tottenham,
collected the ball midway inside the Rotherham half and was allowed to advance
forward and strike a 20-yard effort which again warmed the hands of Pollitt.
The Millers showed precious little in the way of attacking threat and were
lucky to still be on level terms at the break after Matthew Spring strode
forward and smacked a low shot against the post with Pollitt beaten.
The woodwork again came to the rescue a minute after the restart when Hulse
lashed in a vicious 20-yard shot which rebounded off the inside the post before
Rotherham cleared the danger.
Leeds continued to press and were desperately unlucky to be denied by the
woodwork for a third time shortly before the hour mark.
Hulse was the architect of the move which culminated in him playing Marlon
King clean through inside the visitors' box.
The on-loan Nottingham Forest forward looked to have done everything right but
could only watch in disbelief as his shot agonisingly rebounded back off the
inside of the post.
Rotherham then almost snatched the lead when Paul McLaren arrived to meet John
Mullin's cross with a close-range header to draw an outstanding save from Neil
Sullivan.
Hulsen then fired inexplicably wide from King's wicked low cross before
Michael Proctor burst clean through and drew another outstanding save from
Sullivan.
Proctor then thought he had won it for Rotherham in the closing stages only to
see his effort disallowed for offside.
Teams
Leeds Sullivan, Kelly, Gregan, Kilgallon, Pugh (Radebe 86),
King (Richardson 75), Wright, Spring, Lennon, Hulse, Moore.
Subs Not Used: Butler, Ilic, Rothery.
Booked: Gregan.
Rotherham Pollitt, Minto, McIntosh, Barker, Hurst,
Duncum (Vernazza 86), Keane, McLaren, Mullin, Campbell-Ryce,
Proctor.
Subs Not Used: Scott, Newsham, Montgomery, Bradford.
Booked: McLaren, Keane, Hurst.
Att: 30,900
Ref: L Mason (Lancashire).
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