Leeds United 3 Manchester City 0 - report

Leeds United 3 Manchester City 0

Nick Barmby proved life after Rio Ferdinand can be just as sweet as he inspired his new club to a 3-0 victory over Premiership new boys Manchester City.

Barmby, a new signing from Liverpool, needed just 15 minutes of his first league game for the Yorkshire club to collect his first goal.

And it was he who provided the pass for Mark Viduka to make it 2-0 seconds before the break.

Substitute Robbie Keane, who turned down a summer move to Sunderland to fight for his place at Elland Road, added a third nine minutes from time as Kevin Keegan’s troops finally surrendered after a brave fight.

Much of the speculation in recent weeks has been centred around just how Leeds would replace Ferdinand, but in new skipper Dominic Matteo and Lucas Radebe, they had the perfect answer as new City striker Nicolas Anelka was limited to a handful of half-chances.

United keeper Paul Robinson had to pull off two fine saves and saw both his post and crossbar rattled, but the Yorkshiremen were good value for the points as Terry Venables got one over on another former England manager.

Barmby may not have been the big-name signing for which Leeds fans were hoping when their club bit the bullet and sold Ferdinand to Manchester United for £30m, but he started to pay back the cash Venables invested in his services earlier this month within quarter-of-an-hour of his debut.

After an indecisive start by the home side, it was Barmby, playing in front of England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson, who set the ball rolling when he darted into the City penalty area to turn Danny Mills’ cross past Carlo Nash for the opening goal.

The strike came against the run of play, and it took good saves from Robinson, promoted above Nigel Martyn, to keep out Marc Vivien Foe and Eyal Berkovic, although the England Under-21 keeper needed the help of his left post with 20 minutes gone when Sun Jihai cut in an unleashed a fierce drive which hit the woodwork and ran safe.

City, last season’s Division One champions, showed few signs of nerves as big-money signings Anelka and Sylvain Distin helped take the fight to Leeds in the early stages, with Berkovic and Ali Benarbia in particular causing problems for the home side.

Indeed, they should really have been back on level terms with 30 minutes gone when Robinson miscontrolled a dreadful back-pass from Lee Bowyer straight into Anelka’s path, but Matteo got in a vital challenge to protect his keeper.

However, as Barmby, Bowyer and Eirik Bakke gradually got to grips in midfield, United started to exert the pressure with Viduka, Alan Smith and Harry Kewell putting the visitors’ defence under increasing pressure.

All the hard work paid off on the stroke of half-time when Barmby’s pass caught Keegan’s rearguard square and Viduka raced clear to slot past Nash and make it 2-0.

The second-half largely followed the pattern of the first as City, who had replaced Steve Howey with Richard Dunne at the break, took the game to Leeds.

Berkovic was unfortunate to see a 55th-minute shot clip Robinson’s crossbar with the keeper rooted to the spot, and it took a fine interception by Radebe to keep out Anelka after a mazy run by Benarbia.

But as Leeds soaked up the pressure, they always looked dangerous on the break and they could have extended their lead on 63 minutes when Kewell robbed Dunne inside the penalty area, but saw his cross-cum-shot fly across the face of goal where Viduka was unable to get a touch.

City should have reduced the deficit four minutes later after Benarbia picked out substitute Darren Huckerby inside the box, but his shot on the turn flew over Robinson’s bar.

The introduction of Keane in place of Viduka with 20 minutes remaining added even more pace to the Leeds attack as the visitors started to wilt, and it took him just 11 minutes to make his mark.

Smith climbed well to flick Robinson’s clearance into the Irishman’s path, and he calmly drew Nash before lobbing the ball over him and into the empty net to make it 3-0.

Keane should have doubled his tally with six minutes remaining after Kewell put the ball on a plate for him, but his toe-poke past Nash trickled wide of the post.