Viduka Red As Leeds Drop

[pies4ever]

Viduka red as Leeds drop
From correspondents in Bolton
FoxSports
May 3, 2004

Bolton Wanderers 4 Leeds Utd 1
TWO minutes of madness from Mark Viduka helped seal Leeds' Premiership fate today.

The Yorkshire club were relegated to ehte first division three years to the day they contested a Champions League semi-final with Valencia.

The 20th defeat of a painful season left Leeds six points adrift of Manchester City, the only side they had any chance of catching, with just two games left in the top flight.

Leeds could still equal City's points total but a goal difference that is 36 goals worse than their rivals means they have no chance of escaping the same fate as Leicester and Wolves, both of whom were relegated on Saturday.

Three goals in the 10 minutes after the interval - a Youri Djorkaeff double and an agonising own goal by Ian Harte - sealed Leeds' fate after Viduka had given them a first-half lead from the penalty spot.

Kevin Nolan extended Bolton's winning margin near the end but the real damage was done by the petulance of their Australian striker, who was sent off for the second time in a month after receiving two yellow cards in the space of as many minutes.

The first was handed out for kicking Bolton's Brazilian defender Emerson Thome in a flare-up that had its roots in the penalty incident.

Viduka was surrounded by team-mates anxious to keep him on the pitch but their efforts proved in vain. Two minutes later the Australian got his marching orders for what appeared to be an attempt to elbow Bruno N'Gotty.

Contact, such as it was, appeared minimal but Viduka's apparent intention was sufficient to see Leeds reduced to 10 men.

Ironically, the Australian had appeared an oasis of calm as he stepped up to take the penalty awarded after Thome was adjudged to have brought down Alan Smith.

The Brazilian's protests were sufficiently vigorous to earn himself a booking and delay the spot-kick for several minutes. Viduka was unfazed, slotting home his 12th goal of the season to the delight of the raucous travelling supporters.

Up until then, Bolton had looked the more likely scorers, playing some lovely passing football that provided an indication of what was likely to happen after Leeds were reduced to 10 men.

The visitors managed to make it to the break with their lead intact but within two minutes of the restart Bolton were level, albeit in somewhat fortunate circumstances.

Jay-Jay Okocha picked out Djorkaeff on a dart into the box. The French midfielder attempted to lay the ball off only to see it ricochet off his other boot and back into his path, leaving him in a duel with Paul Robinson.

Djorkaeff won it with aplomb, deftly lifting the ball over the Leeds goalkeeper.

Bolton's second followed good work by Nicky Hunt on the right of the Leeds box. After seeing an attempted cross blocked, Hunt tried his luck with a shot that Robinson could not hold and Djorkaeff was first to the rebound.

Barely a minute later Harte turned an innocuous cross past Robinson and any hope of Leeds escaping their fate had slipped away.

Nolan added the fourth 12 minutes from time by scuffing a left-foot shot past Robinson after running on to Okocha's drilled pass through the inside-left channel.

Agence France-Presse