Leeds miss chance

Leeds United missed the chance to secure automatic promotion after losing at Charlton.

A victory would have been enough for Leeds with Millwall losing at Tranmere Rovers.

Leeds lost the game in the final few minutes when Richard Naylor headed into his own goal when trying to clear an Akpo Sodje goal bound header.

Simon Grayson made two changes from the side that beat MK Dons the previous Saturday, Mike Doyle and Shane Lowry replaced Ben Parker and Sanchez Watt.

Max Gradel missed a great opportunity to give Leeds an early lead when he got the wrong side of Sam Sodje and found himself one on one with Randolph in the Charlton goal.

His poor shot was straight at the keeper and the early chance to calm some nerves was missed.

The game was very similar to the one at Elland Road earlier in the season with chances limited with both defences on top.

Charlton`s best effort of the first half fell to Deon Burton but his shot was well saved by Higgs.

Neil Collins came close to breaking the deadlock close to half time but just as he was about to pounce inside the six yard area a Charlton defender was on hand to clear.

As half time approached news filtered through to the Leeds fans that Tranmere had taken the lead over Millwall thanks to former Leeds striker Ian Moore.

Sam Sodje missed a great chance to give the home side the lead when he headed wide from close range when it looked harder to miss.

Leeds came back at Charlton and after some good work down the left Snodgrass saw is weak effort easily saved by Randolph.

Simon Grayson made his first change around the hour mark when he brought on leading goal scorer Jermaine Beckford in place of the quiet Snodgrass.

More good news from Prenton Park quickly followed with the news that Andy Robinson, on loan to Tranmere from Leeds had doubled the lead for Rovers.

Leeds boss Simon Grayson decided that there was nothing to lose by going for the win and threw on Sanchez Watt and Mike Grella, a move that saw Leeds playing with five strikers.

Jermaine Beckford had a good chance to give Leeds the lead after good work from Max Gradel on the right but he failed to hit the target from close range.

Charlton got the only goal of the game with just minutes remaining; Akpo Sodje`s goal bound header was headed past Shane Higgs by Leeds defender Richard Naylor as he tried desperately to clear.

The home side almost doubled the lead soon after when Kyle Reid saw his free kick come back off the inside of the post and out to safety.

Leeds almost grabbed a point in injury time when Randolph excellently saved Beckford`s header.

Leeds will be disappointed to miss a chance to wrap up promotion with a game to spare but with only one game to go and that being at home to Bristol Rovers they are still very firmly in the driving seat.

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