LUFC Grayson backs his young side

Leeds United manager Simon Grayson backed his young defenders after poor defending allowed Birmingham City striker Nikola Zigic to score four times in a 4-1 defeat for Leeds at Elland Road.

Zac Thompson (19), Tom Lees (21), Darren O`Dea (24) and Aidy White (20) made up the Leeds back four last night at an average age of just 21 and Grayson says they are going to make mistakes as they are still learning the game.

Speaking on Yorkshire Radio, Grayson said, "We have a young back four, they are going to make mistakes. You have Aidy White, Tom Lees and Zac Thompson who are all young boys and they were playing against men. You look at their team and they have all played in the Premiership.

"A lot of them in our team are enjoying their first season in the championship and have done well so far but you could see the difference in the mentality and the strength in the teams at this moment in time.

"They are giving there all, you can see, it is not through lack of effort and determination because they are good honest kids but they are 18, 19 and 20 year old and they are going to make mistakes and that is the nature of the game."

The Leeds side at the moment is a relatively young side with Andy Lonergan and Luciano Becchio (28) the oldest players in the side against Birmingham.

Ross McCormack (25) partnered Becchio in attack.

The midfield was made up of Robert Snodgrass (24), Adam Clayton (22), Fabian Delph (22) and Andros Townsend (20) to give the Leeds side an average age of just 23.





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