Yorkshire Post football writer, Leon Wobschall, gives his take on Leeds United's 1-0 defeat to Southampton in the Championship play-off final at Wembley on Sunday, May 26, 2004
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00:00It actually started off, I thought Leeds did okay at the start, Phil, there was an intensity
00:14and freshness to them, the support was fantastic and they really revved it up before kick-off,
00:23a stirring rendition of marching on together about 20-odd minutes or so before kick-off.
00:32Considering the history in this particular game and at Wembley as well, it was a bright
00:38start but they felt they really needed to get that goal, something they've been good
00:43at in the regular season, getting a goal early and really imposed themselves on the rival
00:51team and they just didn't get one. They never really recovered in the first half, I think
00:58a lot of people thought it had the makings of a 50-50 game and the big moment in the
01:04first half was a switch-off from Leeds defensively, the sort of thing that Daniel Farker really
01:10doesn't like. Ethan Ampadu just got sucked in and drawn to the ball, he went into midfield,
01:17left the gap behind him, Archie Gray as well, he hadn't quite pushed up enough to play Adam
01:25Armstrong onside and it was a nice ball from Smallbone and he was in and it was a good
01:29finish from Armstrong and he's been a real bugbear for Leeds this season, four goals
01:35against them and in such a big game, it was a huge moment in the context of it. I'm not
01:43saying too many people could have really called it with too much certainty beforehand. Yeah,
01:49Armstrong nearly scored another one just before the break but it was a disappointing first
01:54half from Leeds and the second half, I thought they were better and on the front foot, they
02:00got in some good situations, free kicks and corners but they just lacked that cutting
02:08edge, I thought, in front of goal and it sadly became the same old story, didn't it, in terms
02:12of play-offs and Wembley, there's been some bitter disappointments. I was there at the
02:17Doncaster game 15 years ago, I'm going to show my age a little bit really now and obviously
02:24the Watford game as well and further back, there's obviously been disappointments at
02:27Wembley as well in 96 in the League Cup final and Leeds supporters are probably thinking
02:33that they're a little bit cursed and justifiably so, it's just another day where it never really
02:40ultimately happened for them, they huffed and puffed. They were unlucky near the end
02:45when Dan James came on and I thought he made a bit of a difference and he was one of the
02:52few Leeds players who stood out on the day in truth. He slammed the shot against the
02:58crossbar and he forced Alex McCarthy into a late save but it was all too late, Leeds
03:04needed to do more and he sort of looked at them and the Norwich performance was terrific
03:12but it was a little bit symptomatic of the way that they've ended the season, they've
03:17sort of lost the mojo a little bit since the international break. Apart from the Norwich
03:25game, they've never truly hit the straps. Yeah, just oh so disappointing again. I didn't
03:31think Southampton were particularly outstanding but they looked a little bit more convinced
03:38in the work and made the all-important goal and I thought they probably had the big chance
03:45in the second half as well when Idozie, the substitute, played clear and missed it. Yeah,
03:53it's just another, if only, occasion for Leeds and just desperately sorry for the supporters
04:00who have just been kicked in the teeth again sadly.