Leeds 1 Colchester 2 - Leeds' struggles go on

Leeds slumped to another loss with a poor performance against Colchester on Saturday. The defeat heaped further pressure on manager Gary McAllister who has seen his team slip out of the Promotion race after a dire run of form, and with Ken Bates desperate for promotion, Macca will need to turn things around quickly.

Despite a shaky start, Leeds took the lead, Robert Snodgrass firing home well.  It wasn’t however the springboard to victory, as Colchester scored just before half time – with Leeds controversially down to 10 men with Rui Marquez ordered off to change his shirt.The second half was poor again, David Prutton seeing red for a second booking, and Colchester firing home the resulting free kick to win the game.It’s hard to know what’s going wrong at the minute.  Certainly top scorer Jermaine Beckford is very much missed, but the problems seem to start from the back.  The defensive line, including the midfield, don’t ever look like they’ll keep a clean sheet.  There are several frailties that need addressing, and it would be no surprise to see a major reshuffle back there when the transfer window opens in January.In midfield, no one seems to know what the strongest 4 is – Delph, Kilkenny, Hughes, Prutton, Douglas, Howson, Snodgrass and Robinson have all had spells in and out of the starting line up, but nothing currently seems to be working.  Leeds must get it right, and quick, because a few more weeks of this kind of performance will see promotion out of reach way before the end of the season