Southampton v Leeds United – Live! | Alan Gardner

• Send your thoughts to alan.gardner.casual@guardian.co.uk • Click here to view our live scores service • Here for 26-league stats centre, with in-running tables • Go do some commenting on our Football League blog 54 min: Never mind their socks, Leeds’s metaphorical pants are now round their ankles. Their little behinds are being tanned! GOAL! Southampton 3-0 Leeds (Connolly 52) Ah, that’s another really good goal. Connolly was allowed space to turn on the edge of the box and he flipped the ball into the path of the lurking Lallana before ferreting his way into the box to pick up the return pass. The striker took a moment to compose himself, before stroking a low, side-footed effort into the far corner. 50 min: Well, what I can say for sure, is that Leeds’s socks are definitely up around the knees, where they should be. 49 min: Southampton corner. Cleared. “Hi Alan, this is my first message to the Guardian, and while I don’t care much for either Leeds or Southampton, I felt compelled to write in regarding your mention of metaphorical sock pulling. I was wondering whether it’s the socks that are metaphorical (since they would appear to be wearing real ones) or the act of pulling that is in fact metaphorical. Thoughts?” 47 min: Ross McCormack is then released into the area on the right. He does a bit of scampering and then unleashes a low shot that stings Davis’s palms, but nothing more. 46 min: Andy O’Brien lumps it forward and Leeds immediately lose possession. A smart tackle on Guly enables the visitors to have another go and this time the long ball forward effectively bisects the Southampton back two. Gradel goes motoring in behind them but a combination of luck and judgement between Fonte and Harding enables them to bundle the ball out of the Leeds man’s path and back to the goalkeeper. Peep! Peep! The two teams are back out and ready to engage in some association football. And away they go. Play up, everybody! Peep! Peep! The teams go in to suck on their oranges/have tea cups thrown at them/check their iPhones. It’s Southampton 2-0 Leeds , and I’ll be back to grind through the gears again in 15 minutes. Here’s a Football League blog . Go read it. 45+1 min: “It’s one of those scores, 2-0 – pretty awkward,” observes Iain Dowie in the Sky commentary box. He’s got a degree in chemical engineering, or whatever, so I won’t argue with him. And after comebacks from Brighton, Burnley and Reading today, no one should be chicken counting yet … 44 min: Kisnorbo is penalised for dragging over Lambert, who then takes the free-kick himself, firing a dipping effort over the wall and into the side netting. The home crowd thought that was in. It wasn’t. But it was close. 43 min: Are there any Swedes out there who can give po’ Bob Green are hug? “I live in Sweden these days… maybe ‘disappointment and despair’ is more relevant to my feelings each time I go to a game here… it’s usually worse than anything that Leeds have served up since the day that Woodgate was sold all those years ago. Oh dear, it’s 2-0 now… maybe not…” 41 min: The good news for Leeds is that Southampton haven’t mustered a shot on goal in that last 10 minutes. The bad news: they don’t need to. Still, the men in blue have at least pulled their metaphorical socks up. 39 min: Lallana picks the pocket of right-back Paul Connolly. He also takes the ball off him but can’t quite find space to initiate another attack. Leeds respond with Gradel wriggling through a gap on the left but his cross flies straight into the outstretched arms of Davis in goal. 36 min: The sun is dipping behind the west stand at St Mary’s, giving the pitch a two-tone look, split right down the middle. Southampton appear happy to let Leeds have the ball for a wee while. They haven’t looked like inflicting much damage with it so far. 34 min: Gradel forages with some success up the left, winning a corner with a deflected shot. But again Snodgrass’s delivery fails to find a team-mates in the box. 32 min: A Lallana volley from the edge of the area whistles past the far post. Leeds are being pwned right now. 31 min: Leeds look rattled, they’re being closed down very quickly by the home side and just cannot wrest back the momentum, particularly in midfield. If you were asked to pick which was the newly promoted side, you wouldn’t pick Southampton. 30 min: The first booking of the evening goes to Michael Brown. Surprised? 27 min: And Lonergan now makes a tremendous block to deny Lallana a second! Southampton streamed forward again, Guly pulling the ball back from the byline for Lallana to fire off a shot from inside the six-yard box … but Lonergan got his angles right and spread himself starfish-style to make the stop from close range. GOAL! Southampton 2-0 Leeds (Lallana 25) A sumptuous finish from the young Saints midfielder and Leeds’ misery deepens. Southampton sprung quickly into attack after regaining possession in midfield, with Lambert dropping deep and then picking out Lallana’s run into the box on the right … He checked back inside, then curled a left-footed effort precisely into the far corner, across the flailing Lonergan. There was a touch of the Terry Henrys about that finish, I tells thee. 24 min: Last man Andy O’Brien almost gets caught in possession by David Connolly but manages to nick the ball away from the Southampton striker at the last. 22 min: A clumsy challenge some 30 yards from the Southampton goal gives Leeds a free-kick in a central area. Snodgrass, though, nails the chance straight into the wall. That was pretty pap. 20 min: “I was about to email you and ask you to include an ‘auto-refresh’ button to click on… but as a Leeds fan and being a goal down I’m not so sure now… surely it won’t be another season of disappointment and despair for Leeds? Last season apart we’ve had too many of those in recent times.” I dunno, Bob Green. You haven’t been relegated in, what is it, at least four seasons now? 19 min: A dinked Gradel ball to the back post is shepherded out for a corner. Decent delivery that. The set-piece is cleared by Southamptonh via the aerial application of head to ball. 17 min: But Southampton break like quicksilver, with Adam Lallana gliding up the left wing, past one, two Leeds players before he finally runs out of space. 15 min: … though slow down a bit, pal, as my fitness has waned during the close season. Leeds have regained their shape after that ragged opening and are beginning to probe, though the likes of Max Gradel and Robert Snodgrass. 13 min: Southampton are forced to clear their lines following a corner to the visitors. There’s quite a lively atmosphere in the ground now. Hello football, my old friend … GOAL! Southampton 1-0 Leeds (Hammond 10) That’s a cracking strike from the Southampton captain, a left-footer that Le Tissier himself would have been proud of! Hammond picked the ball up in space in midfield before advancing on the box and whipping a low shot into the bottom left-hand corner. No one came to him, though Andy Lonergan may feel he should have got a hand on it. 8 min: At the other end, a Johnny Howson snap shot from inside the area is beaten out by Kelvin Davis. This is breathless stuff! 7 min: Brown, who’s a niggly little tinker if ever there was one, goes in late again. Still no cards from the ref, though. And there’s nearly an opening for Southampton, as Lambert plays in Guly, whose ball into the box slightly wrong foots Connolly at the back post. 5 min: Another foul, this time committed by Michael Brown in the centre circle, allows Southampton to launch an attack forward from the back. Leeds have started in tasty fashion [he says euphemistically]. 3 min: Lambert picks himself up to thump the free-kick into the wall … 2 min: Patrick Kisnorbo has gone crunching through David Connolly from behind and is a little lucky to get no more than a talking to. It’s a first appearance in over a season for Leeds Australian centre-half, who certainly looks a little rusty in the challenge. Peep! Ah, right, kick-off was a 5.20pm then. We’re off! So, football’s back, Southampton are back, Leeds, er, were back last year. There’s a Premier League revival feel to proceedings at St Mary’s, though these teams have met several times during their respective slides down the League ladder. Preamble: I think you’ll find plenty to pique your interest in the Saturday clockwatch … Teams Southampton: Davis, Richardson, Fonte, Martin, Harding, Do Prado, Hammond, Cork, Lallana, Connolly, Lambert. Subs: Bialkowski, Schneiderlin, Butterfield, Chaplow, De Ridder. Leeds: Lonergan, Connolly, Kisnorbo, O’Brien, O’Dea, Snodgrass, Brown, Clayton, Howson, Gradel, McCormack. Subs: Rachubka, Paynter, Sam, Nunez, Bromby. Referee: Kevin Wright (Cambridgeshire) Championship Southampton Leeds United Alan Gardner guardian.co.uk

Posted by on August 6, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.