Leeds 0 Rotherham 0 - report

By Andy Baggott
May 9 2005

Leeds’ season petered out with a 0-0 scoreline, in a game that summed up the season in a nutshell. Spurned chances, running out of ideas, and eventually relying on Sullivan to keep us in the game.

Leeds dominated the game, but once again, couldn’t turn the possession into goals. At the other end, Neil Sullivan produced a couple of excellent saves to show why he is the Leeds player of the year. The result could, and should have been so much different. On 3 separate occasions the woodwork was struck, as Leeds looked to go out on a high – Spring missing the best of those chances. Leeds had the games stand out player in Aaron Lennon, and the winger terrorised down both flanks. His final ball and shooting needs improvement, but that will come with age – whether or not he’s at Leeds to do that remains in doubt. Rob Hulse also had a big game, and the fantastic news for Leeds is that we have today signed him for a fee of £800,000, that could rise to a little over a million in the future. The undoubted highlight of the game though was the 5 minute cameo from Lucas Radebe. The centre back came onto a standing ovation from all parts of the ground as he made his farewell appearance for the club. He may be kept on in a coaching role, but the Chief took his rightful bow to his adoring fans. So that’s it then. A largely uneventful season on the football pitch – a mid table position – little chance of promotion, little chance of relegation, but at least a year of consolidation for the club. We’ll have to see what kind of off season we have, with Ken Bates controlling the purse strings. The potential sales of youngsters like Lennon, Richardson and Walton could tell us much about the ambition of the club, although Hulse’s signature is certainly a welcome one. The next 3 months will perhaps shed some light on whether next season sees us celebrating promotion come this time next year…

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