Marching on together, we love to hear them sing
By Gelbel
April 14 2013
On an overcast afternoon in Bedford, I, amongst many of the Leeds supporters, could not believe we paid £18 (it’s ‘ow much?) for an iffy view of the action. Yes, I could’ve played £22 to sit down and watch what was going on – but while I have legs that work that’s not an option I choose to take. As such, your intrepid reporter could not see much, so excuse the gaps/vagueness in this review.
Pretty much the only silly error Leeds made all afternoon was to be caught off side at the kick-off. OK, so they then got pinged at the resulting scrum but a strong, determined performance lifted the team into third in the table. More of that later…
The early skirmishes saw Leeds on the back foot until Griffin made a break and kicked ahead. Following a line out close to Bedford’s line, Ford popped a grubber kick through a gap and chased it to score, which he duly converted. After a few minutes of pressure from Bedford, a quick release to Burke saw him running up the hill for a try – but the conversion was missed. 5-7 and we thought we were in for ‘one of those matches’.
But, as we’ve seen in the past few weeks, our boys are made of stronger stuff and scored two quick tries within nearly as many minutes. The first, from Griffin showing his silky-short skills as he swatting a Bedford player out of the way to go over the whitewash. The second, from McColl taking the restart, passing to Doc who ran-in from the half way line or so. Ford put both conversions away – much to the disgust of the Bedford fans who were taking umbrage to the full 60 seconds being taken. If I’m honest the time he takes does grate somewhat – but hey-ho it’s in the laws and it uses up time. 21-5.
The view got worse when the umbrellas of those in front of us went up as the rain came down. I heard Yeldor ask if the referee was going to do anything about one of our players being stamped. Then the fisty-cuffs started and Green had Gillander in the missionary position scrapping on the floor. Both were sent to the bin to cool down. Bedford had another player sent to the bin when Doc was spear tackled. 24-5 after the penalty option was taken rather than the attempt for the 4th try. As the second half would be up hill getting as many points on the board as possible was the sensible option. It proved a wise move as Bedford made a break to score a converted try. Leeds were attacking in the last minutes of the first half and were awarded a penalty which Ford put away. 27-12 at half time.
Recently Leeds’ half time oranges may’ve been tampered with sedatives as they’ve tended to fall asleep in the second half – not this time. Leeds carried on their attacking game and got a penalty which Ford put away – not after giving the evils to the howls from the home fans. Leeds then spent much of the rest of the game defending as Bedford took advantage of attacking downhill. Leeds were pinned in their 22, Bedford were getting penalties and going for touch but it was coming to nothing. A big effort from Bedford saw Leeds defending on their line and the pressure eventually told with Armes scoring a try that was converted. 30-19.
Leeds regrouped and applied some pressure of their own, being awarded a penalty which Ford put away comparatively quickly. 33-19. Bedford continued the attack – not quite kitchen sink stuff but close enough. I managed to see a lime green boot belonging a Bedford player go flying very high into the air and come down in its component parts. Leeds were defending very well – getting compliments from my Bedford chum. But the sustained efforts meant Bedford scored a further try which was converted. 33-24.
The last part of the match saw Leeds mainly keeping hold of the ball to get another famous win down at Goldington Road to great cheers on and off the pitch from those associated with Leeds. The icing on the cake of the celebrations was hearing two loud renditions of Marching On Together belted out of the Leeds’ dressing room.
So thoughts - £18 for a view of backs of heads aside, Leeds are now third in the table. Nottingham are playing Pirates today – an upset would be good. Bedford have a game in hand that they play against a Doncaster who are clinging on to life itself. Let’s get behind our local rivals on Wednesday and will them a bit closer to survival. Now while a play-off place is in Leeds’ hands, and Leeds are in the driving seat here, there is a chance (with some good luck in other results) that Leeds could end up second come the final whistle next week and that would be something none of us could’ve dreamt at the beginning of the season – or even following the spanking Bedford gave us at Otley. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, a win against Nottingham at Headingley will seal things, worst case scenario is we have to better whatever Bristol get at Kingston Park and pray we and the Falcons don’t go to pieces. Joe Ford had a good day back in the office; ok, he’s a professional but he did all that was asked of him – and more with the try. I heard several Bedford fans say McColl is premiership quality – thank goodness he’s re-signed. The closeness of this team is heart-warming to see – something we’ve not seen for a number of seasons.
The girls on tour day out was great fun – how excited we were to be passed three times by Geech’s car on our travels. With her preview being picked up by the Bedford forum, Zandra is a legend at Goldington Road – she queued for post-match cuppas, the serving lady obviously put two and two together on seeing a gang on Leeds lasses, asked if Zandra was Zandra and proclaimed, “We’ve all be told not to let you have any tiger bread.” I kid you not!
See you at HC next week and be ready to sing Marching on Together at the top of your voices – after all it’s only fair when they’re proud enough to shout it out loud - we love you Leeds! Leeds! Leeds!
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:04:21:08:11:28 by Wildwillie .
We seem to becoming into form just at the right time!
Can't wait for Saturday.
Zandra YaPoI
YaPoI - Yorkshire and Proud of It
'proficiscor in una'
, as I haven't)
A few of points:
1. Bedford had numerous kickable penalties, but didn't attempt any of them - had they accumulated points rather than going for tries, things may have been different.
2. 'Speartackle' is an evocative term (and to be fair Gelbel doesn't make a big deal of it), but I read some of the comments on twitter about how come it wasn't red carded, and felt that I should say it wasn't a 'bad' spear tackle - more of a clumsy tackle in a group with lots of jostling and bumping, where the player ended up being dropped. As I thought a yellow was rather harsh for it, a red would have been overboard!
3. A Bedford fan, mistaking me for one of thier own, told me 'they're ripping us apart - they're 10% better in every department, fitter, faster, hitting harder and kicking better.' Made me feel good
4. The look on Doc's face as, on the halfway line, he saw the gap down the wing with just the FB to beat - gritted teeth and ran like the wind. It was a try from the moment he caught the ball.
Still a Tyke - whatever the name!
You're match reporting is also to notch, nice one.
sent off carried off never backed off
Leeds seem to be peaking at the right time. How different the league table would be were it not for thrown away points earlier in the season. Never mind. One more win required and then, who knows...
A big thanks to all the people who tweeted yesterday afternoon who managed to keep me informed of every kick whilst i was clay pigeon shooting during the game.
Roll on next sat - we need a good crowd to cheer the lads on!
Miserati - and Proud to be!
Quote:Mark_C
Heroic defence it may have been but the video analysis will show some horror 'tackling' by 'the girls' which led to Bedford's tries.
There were also some horrific choices with ball in hand. Once in defence where a shocking pass put us in the s**t. It eventually led to a try, I won't mention names as I don't want to be personal.
Miserati - and Proud to be!
![[:wor kid:]](/phorum-5.1.15/mods/smileys/images/13.gif "[:wor kid:]")
"A witty saying proves nothing."
- Voltaire (1694-1778)
Only disapointed we could not get to the game as planned, followed the second half on Twitter. It must have been one of the longest 40 mins I can remember
Wow - Doc was nearly de-shorted.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:04:15:16:37:37 by Gelbel.
They are way better than I imagined them to be!!
Zandra YaPoI
YaPoI - Yorkshire and Proud of It
'proficiscor in una'