Peter Reid will be hoping for a favour from former club Manchester City as
Blackburn ended a 44-year Elland Road hoodoo.
Leeds' ninth home defeat of the season, with Rovers bouncing back after Mark
Viduka had scored his 20th goal of the season, has handed relegation haunted
West Ham another lifeline in their bid for Premiership survival.
Leeds remain six points clear of the Hammers, who travel to Maine Road
tomorrow, and they will be banking on Kevin Keegan's boys maintaining such a
vital advantage.
Rovers had not won on their last 20 visits, a run of 10 defeats and 10 draws,
but they ended such a depressing statistic in fine fashion to maintain their bid
for a European place for next season.
That was after going a goal down in the 21st minute, with Viduka initially
breaking through the middle, and with Australian compatriot Harry Kewell wide
and unmarked to his right, the pass which followed was obvious.
Kewell's control and instant shot across the face of goal could only be
parried by Brad Friedel, unfortunately for the American, into the path of a
rampant Viduka for a simple two-yard nod down.
The 27-year-old has now scored 12 goals in his last eight games, nine in six
since the arrival of Reid, and in taking his Premiership tally to 18, it
represents his best haul since arriving at Leeds in the summer of 2000.
But Viduka's joy was short-lived for Leeds conceded the equaliser eight
minutes prior to the interval, and what appeared to be needlessly so for Michael
Duberry handled a Damien Duff corner.
Duberry appealed to referee Paul Durkin that he had been pushed from behind,
but his pleas were in vain for the centre-back was booked for the initial
infringement.
It allowed David Dunn to slide home the spot-kick, sending Paul Robinson the
wrong way for his eighth goal of the season.
Picking the ball out of his net was as much as Robinson had to do in the
opening 45 minutes for Rovers rarely threatened the United goal.
Boss Graeme Souness kept faith in the front-line pairing who had drawn a blank
at home to Bolton on Easter Monday, with Andy Cole alongside Hakan Sukur.
For Sukur, it was his first return to Elland Road since playing for
Galatasaray in the UEFA Cup semi-final in 2000, with that visit ending in the
31-year-old being hit by a missile thrown by a United fan.
Sukur scored in both legs of a 4-2 aggregate victory which were played against
a sad backdrop following the deaths of two Leeds fans on the eve of the first
game in Istanbul.
Leeds fans are clearly unable to forgive and forget, though, for with another
Turkey international in Tugay in the Rovers side, it prompted a disgraceful and
disrespectful chant from United supporters of "stand up if you hate Turkey"
soon after kick-off.
But it was Sukur who came close to the opener in the 17th minute. He was an
inch away to applying the finishing touch to a chipped-in Dunn cross from the
edge of the area.
But that was as much as Cole and Sukur mustered for the opening hour of the
game until the latter was replaced by Dwight Yorke, with the former Manchester
United duo eventually combining for the goal.
Leeds at least continued to test Friedel after Viduka's opener, with Kewell
stinging the fingers of the American with a snapshot from the edge of the area a
minute after Rovers had hauled themselves level.
Six minutes after the restart, Friedel then dived bravely at the feet of
Viduka as he attempted to latch onto a ricocheted shot from Alan Smith, who now
ends the season with a two-match ban.
Viduka again then came close with a cheeky back-heeled flick to a low Danny
Mills cross, only to see the ball flash narrowly wide of Friedel's right-hand
post.
After Souness had thrown a water bottle to the ground in a fit of pique after
seeing Smith go unpunished for a challenge on Lucas Neill, his frown soon became
a smile.
A nodded through-ball from Yorke into Cole's path first saw him hold off Leeds
skipper Dominic Matteo, and although his first shot was superbly saved by
Robinson, he was quickly onto the rebound.
Ten minutes later and Blackburn's victory was complete, with Robinson
misjudging a Duff corner, allowing Andy Todd - a 64th-minute replacement for
Craig Short - to guide home a simple sidefoot shot from four yards.
There was still time for late drama as Rovers played with 10 men for the
closing 10 minutes - including four for injury time - in which Smith took
advantage of confusion between Todd and Friedel to nod home his first
Premiership goal since November 17.
But it was too little too late for Leeds, and now all United eyes will be on
Maine Road.
Teams
Leeds: Robinson, Mills, Duberry, Matteo, Harte, Kelly,
Bakke (Simon Johnson 71), Wilcox, Smith, Viduka, Kewell.
Subs Not Used: Martyn, Radebe, Bravo, Barmby.
Booked: Duberry, Matteo.
Goals: Viduka 21, Smith 90.
Blackburn: Friedel, Neill, Short (Todd 66), Taylor, Gresko,
Dunn (Johansson 51), Tugay, Flitcroft, Duff, Cole,
Sukur (Yorke 61).
Subs Not Used: Kelly, Ostenstad.
Booked: Cole.
Goals: Dunn 38 pen, Cole 69, Todd 78.
Att: 38,062
Ref: P Durkin (Dorset).
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