Snodgrass superstrike wins it for Leeds

Leeds guaranteed top spot at Christmas with a hard fought 1-0 win over inform Southampton at a freezing cold Elland Road.

The win almost moved Leeds onto 50 points before Christmas and they are now four points clear at the top again after Charlton failed to win.

Leeds had a great chance early on when Beckford was played through but his scuffed shot went well wide.

In a first half when neither keeper had to make a save the best chances fell to Leeds just before half time. Firstly, a superb ball into the middle was met by the head of Becchio who headed over when he should have scored.

Beckford had another chance on the stroke of half time but his shot went wide.

Leeds started the second half on the front foot and Howson`s shot in the first minute of the second half looked destined for the top spot before a fantastic save by Bialkowski in the Southampton goal.

Leeds went close again within a minute when an excellent ball into the middle by Kilkenny agonisingly missed the onrushing strikers.

Patrick Kisnorbo and Ricky Lambert came to blows on the hour with both players receiving a yellow card.

Howson went close again for Leeds but his effort just went wide of the post.

Boss Simon Grayson decided to make changes with just under twenty minutes remaining, bringing on Max Gradel and Bradley Johnson for Jon Howson and Jermaine Beckford. Beckford looked shocked when his number was held up despite another poor performance; he slowly walked off the pitch before dismissing Grayson`s handshake and storming straight off the pitch.

Grayson`s decision was quickly justified when Max Gradel who is about 4`11" won something that Beckford hadn`t wanted to win all afternoon, a header.

In a very tight battle it was always going to take something special to win the game and that came just inside the final fifteen minutes when a poor clearance by former Leeds defender Dan Harding fell to Andy Hughes he played in Snodgrass who turned inside onto his right foot and his curling effort nestled in the top corner.

This brought Southampton out of their shell who had surprisingly looked happy to play for a point most of the afternoon.

Ricky Lambert went close in injury time when his shot beat Ankergren and went just wide of the far post.

Southampton had one final chance to claim a point when Harding`s shot went just wide of the post which was followed immediately by the full time whistle.

A great three points for Leeds who now go into the Christmas period with a clear advantage at the top.

Vital Leeds United is a fast growing Leeds United fan site, with the sole aim of becoming the #1 unofficial website for Leeds United fans everywhere.

The site is regularly updated with news and views regarding all the current events at Elland Road, alongside a fully interactive message forum and regularly looks at the clubs past. Vital Leeds offers everything that a Leeds United supporter could wish for. If you can think of something and suggest it, we`ll put it on the website!




With news and views, along with a forum, polls and article comments, everything you need in a fans site is right here!

You can even win prizes, by posting articles comments, posting on the message forum and voting on the polls.

Vital is also 100% interactive. Not only can you have your say on the articles and the forum but you can also suggest an article or a poll so you can air your views.

So why not join Vital today?

It's easy to register here and enjoy getting involved

Message Board

To visit the message board, click here.

Get involved

This website is your website and we are looking for people to help run the site. Do you go to most of the games and have an opinion? Why not write a match report? Perhaps you are a budding journalist or even just someone who is very opinionated? Well why not join our team? If this interests you please contact Vital leeds .

Vital F1 Prediction League - Join now for Monaco