Leeds 3 Reading 1

By Andy Baggott
February 14 2005

Leeds finally turned on a decent home performance as the climb up the table gathers pace. The arrival of Rib Hulse and Mickey Gray have had an instant effect, and the play offs is not the impossible dream it was at Christmas.

The first 20 minutes were evenly matched, Reading if anything having the edge. Leeds though clawed their way back, and debut boy Husle was denied only by a combination of the keeper and the crossbar. Leeds though didn’t have to wait long, and it was Healey who opened the scoring. Reading made a mess of the clearance, and Healey burst through two defenders and slid the ball home. The second half aw Leeds take almost total control, and it was no surprise when they doubled their lead – Wright fed Hulse who curled a superb shot home from the edgr of the area. Shortly afterwards, and it was 3 – Healey fed Hulse who fired an unstoppable shot home from 20 yards. A tiring Hulse went off on 70 minutes to a fully deserved standing ovation, and the game was over. Reading got a consolation in the last minute, but Leeds took the points. The main talking point was the combination of Hulse and Healey up front – and they got better as the game went on. There surely can’t be too many front pairings of their quality in this division, and Blackwell will be hoping these two fire us into the promotion race….

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