Leeds United ...1 Southampton ... 1: For a period of some 20 minutes in the second half, immediately following the arrival of Mark Viduka as a replacement for Robbie Fowler, Leeds United were back to their best. Viduka held the ball up well before feeding willing runners; Harry Kewell turned, teased and eventually scored. And then, abruptly, it stopped; if only their problems would do the same.
If Leeds thought last Monday's 3-0 win over Bolton represented an immediate cure for their various ills, this game proved them wrong. Southampton eventually stole a point with a somewhat fortunate goal in the dying minutes but they could have had victory secured by half-time. Defeat on St Stephen's Day at Sunderland, whose 1-0 win here in August set United on their present rocky road, would renew the home side's anxieties.
"We've got four points from the last two games and we're happy," said Kewell, who put his side ahead after Jonathan Woodgate's header had hit the post. "Hopefully we can go on from this. We don't think we're in the right place in the table but we've just got to stick together."
Some of the Yorkshire side's faults are obvious. For example, the left side of their defence is an inconsequential obstacle, currently featuring Teddy Lucic and Ian Harte, and is about as effective at stemming opponents' attacks as a catflap might be at halting the waters of the river Aire. The only question is whether they have to go round it or through the big hole in the middle. Other reasons are more mystifying.
Fabrice Fernandez's late free-kick, which was not apparently intended to curl into the far corner of the net but did so all the same, means that more than a third of the goals Leeds have conceded in the league this season have come in the final 10 minutes.
Guardian Service
LEEDS: Robinson, Mills, Woodgate, Lucic, Harte, Kelly, Okon, Wilcox, Smith, Fowler (Viduka 53), Kewell. Subs not used: Martyn, Seth Johnson, Duberry, Milner. Goals: Kewell 74.
SOUTHAMPTON: Niemi, Telfer, Lundekvam, Michael Svensson, Bridge, Fernandes, Delap, Oakley, Marsden (Anders Svensson 83), Beattie, Ormerod (Tessem 62). bJones, Williams, Davies. bMarsden. Goals: Fernandes 89.
Referee: C Foy (Merseyside).
