Ross Mac's touch of class illuminates a derby stalemate: Leeds vs Sheffield Wednesday

Rodolph Austin of Leeds United in action with Jeremy Helan of Sheffield Wednesday

Planet Leeds returned to some sort of normality this week and not just because yours truly had returned from holiday and was eagerly awaiting the clash with Dave Jones’ Wendies. News of the new Leeds owners shuffling their ownership shares between them selves and the manager declaring he needed to move players out before he can afford to bring new ones in had an all too familiar ring to it. Capt Birdseye may have sailed off into the Monaco sunset but the mighty whites still lack the financial clout of many of their championship rivals.

There is a significant difference this time though and his name is Brian McDermott. His press conferences are refreshingly honest and overflowing with common sense. His tactics on the field of play focus more on “pass and move” rather than “hoof and hope” and he has a steely determination to get the best out of his resources at Leeds United.

So it was with renewed optimism and buoyed by an unbeaten start to the season that I joined the Happy Chocker, the Quiet One and the rest of the motley crew of Leeds fans on Selby station ready for the trek to Leeds to continue hostilities with our South Yorkshire friends. The sense of deja vu was enhanced by the sign on platform 2 squeaking reassuringly in the wind for the 7th season running. Presumably grease is as scarce as sightings of the Pope at Selby station?

All the pre match talk revolved around potential player sales from Leeds and who the mystery player is Brian McD is waiting to bring in. Aidey White wasn’t getting many votes for him to stay whereas the more realistic Leeds fans saw Diouf as an unfortunate sacrificial lamb in Brian McD’s quest to get funds to find some much needed rigidity for the Leeds back four. A disappointing but noisy 23,700 crowd were inside the Theatre of Hope for the kick off. Poleon replaced Hunt up front as Diouf returned to the bench.

The match started in typical derby fashion, all bluster and brawn, as both sides struggled to cope with the swirling wind. Leeds had the better of a scrappy first 30 minutes with Poleon stretching the Wendies defence with his pace without quite executing a decent final ball. Kirkland flapped at a teasing cross before Lees got a weak header that the big goalie easily saved.

At the other end, Kenny gratefully flopped on a loose ball inches from the line as the South Yorkshire side pushed for an opening goal. Austin was purring in midfield as Leeds began to get the better of their pointless rivals. Then on 35 minutes the game sprung into life. Wednesday won a corner and swung a deep ball to the back post where Antonio headed unchallenged back into the box for Zayatte to loop an agonisingly simple header over Kenny to the unguarded right hand post. If anyone wanted to market a video of how not to defend a corner this footage would be gold dust. 1.0 Wendies.

Both the team and the home crowd were shaken by the goal and Wendies had their best spell as half time approached. The referee, Roger East, angered the frustrated home fans with some weird interpretations of the rules as the Owls looked for a killer 2nd goal. It so nearly came as well as a corner deep into added time caused more havoc in the Leeds box. HT 1.0 Wendies.