Leeds Player Ratings

[Daggers]

Stockdale - 8, I'd go for 7 but for that save

Morrison - 7.5 very accomplished and a cracking shot from nowhere

Brown - 8.5 outstanding command of the back four. I simply adore watching him gesticulating a shouting at everyone. He ruled our final third.

Hobbs - 8 assured

Mattock - 6 at a push. He was the weakest player on the park and had to leave as Leeds targetted him most of the match. He simply wasn't up to the pressure of this match.

Dyer - 9 Outstanding return to form over the last two matches and especially today. Lloyd

Oakley - 9 MOTM Oakley dominated midfield, breaking up their play and setting up ours. I've never seen him play better (but let's forget about his corners )

King - 8 linked well despite the heavy, close man-2-man marking they applied at times. A couple of reasonable half-chances and could have won the match for us.

Gradel - 8 would have won my heart if he'd decked Snodgrass (who is an absolute cunt). Goal-line clearance was worth an extra half a mark from me.

Fryatt - 8

Howard - 9 I'll have Howard's babies anyday...

Dickov - 7

[Thracian]

Stockdale 7.5 (One outstanding save when we needed it second half in tipping a rasping shot from Andy Robinson over the bar. Two or three other timely saves even if he needed two bites at one of them).

Morrison 7.5 (Considering he's a fish out of water in the right back role I thought he did fine and made sure that Gradel saw his share of possession. Thought his booking was harsh - basically for taking the ball off a bloke who tried to run through him but that was just about the only moment of satisfaction the Leeds bloke got).

Hobbs 7.75 (Had a good game. I even thought he tried to play the ball simply from defence when he got the chance and looked far better for it. A clean sheet is good for any defender and against Leeds it is even better)

Brown 7 (I liked a lot of what he did but he gave away 50% of his passes and almost all through making the wrong choice by electing the difficult pass over the simple one. One (this time correct decision) saw him try to feed Dyer and hoist it over his head and way into the distance. That said the defence looked sound and organised).

Mattock 7 (One of his best game sfor the club. Pearson learned from Hereford and made sure Kingy or someone else gave him support. Yes, as with others, there were errors but he gave little chance today for people to run at him and was well involved at all stages of the game).

Gradel 8 (Another assist with his corner for Howard's late, late winner and what a positive and enthusiastic performance. He caused Leeds lots of problems and should have produced a goal for us earlier with a brilliant low cross which ran through the six yard box with no-one getting a touch.

But it's his improved decision making that's really encouraging and his much more competent defensive contribution as illustrated by two important clearances, one off the goalline, in quick succession. I noticed Pearson had prolonged words, presumably of congratulations, afterwards and how well they would have been deserved. He fought for something in every phase of the game)

Oakley 7.75 (Excellent in general. Always involved and always looking to make something happen. Okay, his corners could still be more venemous but I thought our midfield did much to limit the attacking opportunities which fell to Leeds with their rapid closing down and covering in which Oakley played his part).

King 7.75 (Several shots and several headers meant he was always a threat and, once again, he was involved and mostly accurate in his distribution. Times he wriggled into dangerous positions in and around the box, bringing important saves or blocks and on one occasion he brought an excellent save from the Leeds keeper who pushed a shot around the post. Found time to back up Mattock too on occasions.).

Dyer 8.5 (Mesmerised the Leeds defenders who looked no closer to stopping him at the end than at the beginning. Inside or outside he lett them stranded like beached whales. Showed his intentions early on by leaving two men in his wake and shooting wide. Howard was one who might have benefitted from the chances he created in what was a wonderful display of almost traditional wing play.

Howard 8.5 (Shame on all those who have criticised this guy. His headed winner was two fingers to Leeds and two fingers to the arsehole of a referee who booked him for daring to tell him the truth, that he had cocked up big time.

Howard was blatantly pushed in the incident that got him booked but he had the last laugh and he was far too much for Leeds to be comfortable with all afternoon. One close range header which was more easily saved than it should have been was clearly just a sighting shot but how he savoured that winner and the perfect way to leave thousands of Leeds fans suddenly silent).

Fryatt 7 (Worked hard, provided a lot of support, but sometimes held onto the ball too long.)

Sub:

Dickov 6 (Won corners when we needed them).

Pearson 10 (Chose the obvious side and got them to play for 90 minutes. We restricted Leeds to very few chances and none of them easy, kept a clean sheet, created plenty ourselves from both sides of the field and finally won the game. Happy days and praise to him and to his team for giving us a game to savour.)

[davieG]

Stockdale 6

Morrison 8

Brown 7

Hobbs 7

Mattock 7

Gradel 8

Oakley 10

King 8

Dyer 9

Howard 9

Fryatt 7

Dickov 7

Filbert Fox 9 (for his half time cameo)

West Stand Lines - a complete and utter wank head!

[Legend_in_blue]

Stockdale - 8 - Commanding performance, made it look easy.

Morrison - 7.5 - Did well on the right and even supported the attack on some occasions getting well into the oppo's half.

Brown - 8.5 - Absolute rock no.1. Loved it when he pushed Becchio's face to the ground when he was on the deck with the ball. LOVED IT!

Hobbs - 8.5 - Absolute rock no.2. Nothing beats this man. Solid. In fact, he made it look easy.

Mattock - 7 - A few loose balls but on the whole he did good.

Gradel - 8 - Caused mayhem all day long down the right. Absolutely brilliant desire to get forward, to get the ball, make runs, everything. Brilliant.

Oakley - 8 - That was a true captains performance. And he put his foot in and came away with the ball and ran forward with the ball. Superb.

King - 8 - Ran the midfield with Oakley. Did good.

Dyer - 9 - Superb performance. Tremendous stuff from him. Loved it.

Fryatt - 7 - Did good. Got into positions but either lost out a) because of lack of pace or b) because he was too greedy with the ball. Play it simple!

HOWARD - 9 - GET IN!!! Super Steve. Constant threat all game, they couldn't cope with him.

Subs:

Dickov - 6.5 - Didn't do much.

Pearson - 10 - Legend in the making. Loved it.

Referee - 1 - A disgrace. The usual though. Getting used to it now.

As for the opposition - poor footballing side. Cheats, conmen, divers, only looking for the freekicks etc etc. Their best player is Snodgrass. But only cos he can take a decent freekick. That Becchio is a disgrace. Oh, almost forgot, Delph...who? Only noticed him after 78 munutes.

Anyway, super performance, loved every minute of it. Brilliant. Loved it.

[DJ Barry Hammond]

Watched on TV - was a tad interupted by plotting an easter egg hunt for the kids, and then the kids maruding around trying to find the blighters!

Stockdale - 7.5 (rounded to 8) - Solid performance, played his part in the clean sheet. Good quick thinking following his parry from Sodje's header to push the ball away from danger.

Morrison - 7 - Worked effectively in defence, didn't see to much in attack, except for the sublime move between him, Gradel and Fryatt.

Hobbs - 8 - Won a lot in the air, tackled when the ball was there, and did an assured job.

Brown - 8 - Another solid performance at the back, no nonsense defending, however he was a little silly in the Becchio inceident being that close to the linesman.

Mattock - 7 - Looks better going forward the when defending - a bit to eager to tackle. Bide your time a little and chances are the winger will bobble the ball up to you.

Gradel - 8 - Always looked bright and a threat, and put in some good work going the other way. Good to see the lad start, I just hope we don't forget about him in the Championship and give him a go.

Oakley - 7- Seems like he pulled rank on the free kick at the end, which was disapointing. Would have perferred to see King or Gradel hit it. Silly tackle could have got him a red card, and at times he always seemed to be trying to tackle from the wrong side. (eg behind the player, rather than trying to get round the front.) Purhapse this score would be a lot lower had we not won?

King - 8 - Starting to put Oakley in his shaddow now - superior passing, workrate, defending, movement - pretty much everything. Maybe it's time to find King a new midfield partner?

Dyer - 8 - Brilliant performance from the man, but he doesn't half run funny! Similar to Gradel, we was strong in both attack and defence.

Howard - 9 - Immense, the big man ran and header all day, and considering this was his second game in three days close to the end of the season that says something about NP's pre-season and during fitness work. Oh, and what a header!

Fryatt - 8 - Consistantly got himself involved, ran the channels well and had a couple of half chances.

Subs

Dickov - 7 - put himself about enough to cause a different problem for the Leeds defence. Injected a bit of pace and desire that fed through to the rest of the team that we can still win this.

Berner - Meh - didn't do anything wrong today, but I'd prefer to not see him playing, doesn't really fill me with any confidence!

NP - 9 - Played Gradel from the start - thankyou! The bench at the moment looks a little dereft of talent at the moment, Dickov being the only clear option to bring on with both Gradel and Dyer playing well. This needs to be addressed for next season, but I'm sure it will.

[Daggers]

Dyer > Gradel > Delph

[Joe.]

Becchio was an absolute joke today.

[RowlattsFox]

Stockdale -7- The one scary moment but other than that was pretty solid, gets good direction on most of his kicks.

Morrison -7- Done well, tried to keep things as simple as possible when on the ball.

Hobbs -7- Solid.

Brown -8- Won everything.

Mattock -7- Was much better second half I thought, couple of mis-placed passes but an improvement.

Gradel -7- Great effort, always looked a threat.

Oakley -8- Great apart from his corners.

King -7- Did well, nothing special but did his job well.

Dyer-9- Superb, beat his man everytime.

Howard -8- Won everything in the air, scored the goal. Did miss a couple of good chances though but all is forgiven.

Fryatt -7- Worked hard, was better second half than first.

Dickov -6- Good movement, won couple of corners.

[James.]

At the game:

Stockdale 7

Morrison 7

Brown 8

Hobbs 8

Mattock 6

Gradel 8

Oakley 7

King 7

Dyer 9

Howard 954697137353813931854239dwjfbwieub

Fryatt 6

[smokey]

I'm worried O'Neil will be looking at Dyer, not Delph. Brilliant performance, imagine if he could control his pace a little better to make it more effective. Could cause serious problems for full backls in the prem.

Idont think so!

He as had a good season but he is not that good, must admit though i thought Delph was shite!

[yorksfox]

Admittedly this is the first time I've seen Morrison at RB but I couldn't fault the guy - well worth a place in the team. In fact, the whole Back 4 looked well balanced and organised today - I'm sure the presence of Brown (immense!) helps the less experienced Hobbs, Mattock and Morrison. Couldn't really fault any of the players today against a strong Leeds team who were well up for it.

[Fox92]

All sensational.

A few I'll pick out;

Dyer, played well, didn't face a 'real' full back but was awesome.

MoM has to go to Stevie for his goal and overall contribution.

Fryatt, Oakley and King played well.

Hobbs and Brown superb.

Morrison did well to say he was coming up against pace and he isn't a real full back.

[Finchy]

Dyer was unstoppable, they just couldn't deal with him.

Brown, solid as a rock, no nonsense, very good game.

[Ultra]

Stockdale - 7 (couple of good saves, looked dodgy on setpieces though)

Morrison - 6 (not a full-back)

Hobbs - 7

Brown - 8 (an absolute rock)

Mattock - 6 ( on a bad run)

Gradel - 8 (always involved, quality cross for the goal)

Oakley - 7

King - 7

Dyer - 8 (finally back to his best)

Howard - 9* (kept on going, worked hard for his goal )

Fryatt - 7 (off form, but put in tremendous effort)

Dickov - 7 (good work to force the corners)

Berner - n/a

[demon_dog]

For me Brown was MOM immense in defence.

[leftsideoverhere]

Saw the match on an internet stream, and the ref did a good job. Brown should have had a yellow, when Becchio got one, but instead got it a few minutes later professionally stopping an a counterattack. Oakleys tackle for the yellow was bad, so well deserved, Gradel got one for dissent because he kept harrassing the linemen and Morrisons was a tad unlucky, but he got in late. Also the ref didn't blow for penalty, when the ball hit Howard's arm in our box, which would have happend last year with our bad luck. Yeah, this ref was actually pretty good.

And booking Howard for diving when 27,000 people saw the hands of the defender go hard into the small of his back?

[Gaffer]

Saw the match on an internet stream, and the ref did a good job. Brown should have had a yellow, when Becchio got one, but instead got it a few minutes later professionally stopping an a counterattack. Oakleys tackle for the yellow was bad, so well deserved, Gradel got one for dissent because he kept harrassing the linemen and Morrisons was a tad unlucky, but he got in late. Also the ref didn't blow for penalty, when the ball hit Howard's arm in our box, which would have happend last year with our bad luck. Yeah, this ref was actually pretty good.

What a Load of crap,

The Ref was shit.. again!

[MC Prussian]

Stockdale - 7

Morrison - 7

Brown - 8

Hobbs - 8

Mattock - 7

Dyer - 9

Oakley - 8

King - 7

Gradel - 8

Fryatt - 6

Howard - 9

Subs:

Dickov - 7

[leftsideoverhere]

Stockdale 7.5 (One outstanding save when we needed it second half in tipping a rasping shot from Andy Robinson over the bar. Two or three other timely saves even if he needed two bites at one of them).

Morrison 7.5 (Considering he's a fish out of water in the right back role I thought he did fine and made sure that Gradel saw his share of the ball. Thought his booking was harsh - basically for taking the ball off a bloke who tried to run through him but that was just about the only moment of satisfaction the Leeds bloek got).

Hobbs 7.75 (Had a good game. I even thought he tried to play the ball simply from defence when he got the chance and looked far better for it. A clean sheet is good for any defender and against Leeds it is even better)

Brown 7 (I liked a lot of what he did but he gave away 50% of his passes and almost all through making the wrong choice by electing the difficult pass over the simple one. One (this time correct decision) saw him try to feed Dyer and hoist it over his head and way into the distance. That said the defence looked sound and organised).

Mattock 7 (One of his best game sfor the club. Pearson learned from Hereford and made sure Kingy or someone else gave him support. Yes, as with others, there were errors but he gave little chance today for people to run at him and was well involved at all stages of the game).

Gradel 8 (Another assist with his corner for Howard's late, late winner and what a positive and enthusiastic performance. He caused Leeds lots of problems and should have produced a goal for us earlier with a brilliant low cross which ran through the six yard box with no-one getting a touch. But it's his improved decision making that's really encouraging and his much more competent defensive contribution as illustrated by two important clearances, one off the goalline, in quick succession. I noticed Pearson had prolonged words, presumably of congratulations, afterwards and how well they would have been deserved. He fought for something in every phase of the game)

Oakley 7.75 (Excellent in general. Always involved and always looking to make something happen. Okay, his corners could still be more venemous but I thought our midfield did much to limit the attacking opportunities which fell to Leeds with their rapid closing down and covering in which Oakley played his part).

King 7.75 (Several shots and several headers meant he was always a threat and, once again, he was involved and mostly accurate in his distribution. Times he wriggled into dangerous positions in and around the box, bringing important saves or blocks and on one occasion he brought an excellent save from the Leeds keeper who pushed a shot around the post. Found time to back up Mattock too on occasions.).

Dyer 8.5 (Mesmerised the Leeds defenders who looked no closer to stopping him at the end as the beginning. Inside or outside he lett them stranded like beached whales. Showed his intentions early on by leving two men in his wake and shooting wide. Howard was one who might have benefitted from the chances he created in what was a wonderful display of almoist traditional wing play.

Howard 8.5 (Shame on all those who have criticised this guy. His headed winner was two fingers to Leeds and two fingers to the arsehole of a referee who booked him for daring to tell him the truth, that he had cocked up big time. Howard was blatantly pushed in the incident that got him booked but he had the last laugh and he was far too much for Leeds to be comfortable all afternoon. One close range header which was more easily saved than it should have been was clearly just a sigting shot but how he savoured that winner and the perfect way to leave thousands of Leds fans suddenly silent).

Fryatt 7 (Worked hard, provided a lot of support, but sometimes held onto the ball too long.)

Sub:

Dickov 6 (Won corners when we needed them).

Pearson 10 (Chose the obvious side and got them to play for 90 minutes. We restricted Leeds to very few chances and none of them easy, kept a clean sheet, created plenty ourselves from both sides of the field and finally won the game. Happy days and praise to him and to his team for giving us a game to savour.)

Disturbingly, I can't find a single word from Thracian in this post that I disagree with. Spot on.

[Corky]

Stockdale- 8 (Superb save from Robinson's shot)

Morrison- 7.5

Hobbs- 7.5

Brown- 8

Mattock- 6.5

Gradel- 8 (Always wants to have the ball, a joy to watch at times)

Oakley- 8.5 (Involved, poor corners but dominated the play for us)

King- 7.5 (Another solid display, could've had a goal)

Dyer- 9 (Superb play, back to his best)

Fryatt- 7

Howard- 9 (I love you Steve. What a header)

[Joe.]

And booking Howard for diving when 27,000 people saw the hands of the defender go hard into the small of his back?

I thought he got booked for mouthing off (quite rightly) to the referee didn't he?

[Sparky]

Stockdale - 7

Morrison - 7

Brown - 8

Hobbs - 8

Mattock - 7

Dyer - 9

Oakley - 7

King - 7

Gradel - 8

Fryatt - 6

Howard - 8

Subs:

Dickov - 6

[leftsideoverhere]

I thought he got booked for mouthing off (quite rightly) to the referee didn't he?

Dunno. The card went up very quickly as I recall, and the ref ran to Howard to brandish it, not the other way around, so it looked to me like a card for diving, but I suppose Howard could have said something as he got up which the ref didn't like.

[Lichfieldfox.]

All of them were immense today.

Stockdale - 8

Morrison - 7

Brown - 8

Hobbs - 8

Mattock - 7

Dyer - 9

Oakley - 8

King - 7

Gradel - 8

Fryatt - 7

Howard - 8

Subs:

Dickov - 7

[Bert]

Stockdale 8 - Made some vital saves.

Morrison 7 - Doing well in an unfamiliar position.

Mattock 5 - Two bad games for him this weekend.

Brown 7 - Colossal. Where all the moaners now? Immense in the past 2 games.

Hobbs 7 - Standard Hobbs performance.

Gradel 7 - Worked his socks off, provided the goal and was always a threat.

Dyer 8 - Simply awesome again today.

Oakley 7.5 - Ran the midfield along with King, broke up play well and started attacks too.

King 7.5 - See Oakley.

Howard 8 - Probably the toughest game he'll have all season, came out on top and scored the winner.

Fryatt 7 - Put yet another good shift in, never gave their backline a moments peace.

Dickov 6 - SHE SAID NO DICKOV, SHE SAID NOOOOOOOO.

Big credit to Nige today, set up with the best possible team, and went for the win until the death.