Friday 16th November: No trip out to see any bands tonight - the guys didn't fancy anything on at Fibbers, so were heading to the Roman Bath to see Freeway. They are a heavy metal covers band which, under normal circumstances, would be well within my tastes. The problem with the Bath is that the bands don't start until sometime after 9pm (usually), which means that my usual plan of catching the last bus home means quite a strange time-out-to-travelling ratio and could lead to me missing the end of the show. Given that I had been out for three Fridays in a row, I decided to give this one a miss.
Saturday 17th November: Leeds United v Swindon Town. A couple of pre-match pints were livened up when some of the local "yoof" saw that quite a few Swindon fans had found their way to our watering hole. Nobody inside seemed to mind, even when they started singing their team's virtues and predicting a 2:1 victory. However, being of little brain, those outside decided to throw multiple somethings at the windows, causing a surge to the bar (in case anything decided to come straight through) and a bit of a scare for the ladies sitting next to said windows. Fortunately, the police appeared in record time and no further trouble ensued.
On the pitch, Leeds managed a 2:1 victory - the Swindon fans getting the score right but result wrong. One nil up at half time, after Beckford's penalty and with Swindon looking poor (but their keeper looking good), we looked to be very capable of winning by a margin until the second half started and Matt Heath was passed down the wing as if he was standing still. Three Swindon players were queuing up in the box to equalise. The lead was restored just a few minutes later when Johnny Howson played a long pass out to Tresor Kandol, who knocked the ball down to Beckford to score his second. As good a goal as you will see in this league. Swindon did have the ball in the net a second time towards the end, but it was disallowed for off-side. Good job, really, as the ball was definitely put over the line by hand and the "scorer" would almost certainly have been sent off.
A card-happy referee spoiled the game a little, but Howson was a revelation. Not somebody I would normally class as a Dennis Wise player, he managed to run our midfield better than anybody else has this season - spraying balls out in all directions and riding tackles like a seasoned pro, belying his relative youth. Leeds ended the day in fourth place. My guess is we'll be top well before Christmas.
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