Leeds spot an injustice

Kevin Blackwell pointed to the injury-time yellow card frenzy at Manchester City last night as evidence of a team who care.

A hard-fought 1-1 draw exploded into life in the final minutes when Leeds were denied what they believed was a penalty when City defender David Sommeil brought down James Milner.

TV replays showed initial contact was made outside the box, and Barber waved play on. Sommeil was fortunate to have escaped a red card but the Leeds players were infuriated, particularly firebrand striker Alan Smith who had to be hauled away from the touchline by team-mate Gary Kelly as his anger threatened to boil over.

With tempers fraying, Michael Bridges, David Batty and Michael Duberry were all booked for wild lunges in second-half stoppage time.

But Blackwell, in charge of the Elland Road club while caretakermanager Eddie Gray attended his daughter's wedding, shrugged off the incident, believing instead it highlighted an excellent team spirit.

"I have seen the Milner incident again and if it had been at the other end you can see a penalty or free-kick being given," he said. "The more galling thing is that we picked up three bookings from it, but such is the spirit of the players, it showed how much they cared about it."

Leeds went in front midway through the first-half when Mark Viduka rounded David Seaman before tapping the ball into the net.

The Australian striker, a reported target for Manchester United, also set up Jermaine Pennant but the chance was wasted.

On top form, Viduka's value to Leeds is enormous but the debt-ridden club are in no position to turn down a decent bid should United manager Sir Alex Ferguson come calling again.

Leeds' battle to beat the drop suffered a blow after 73 minutes when defender Lucas Radebe was carried off with a hamstring injury that will rule him out for at least two months.