Leeds show their grit - report

Newcastle 0 Leeds 2

Leeds goalkeeper Paul Robinson fully justified Terry Venables’ decision to promote him to number one with a match-winning display at Newcastle.

It may have been Mark Viduka’s fifth-minute strike and a late second from emerging England star Alan Smith which ultimately claimed the points, but the series of saves the 22-year-old produced to preserve the visitors’ lead almost defied belief as Sir Bobby Robson’s side were thwarted at every turn.

Alan Shearer, Laurent Robert, Shola Ameobi and Nolberto Solano among others were denied by Robinson as the Magpies carved out more than enough chances to win the game but eventually finished empty-handed.

The keeper’s heroics were the major feature of a battling display by Leeds, who rode their luck at times but worked desperately hard throughout to keep the game within their grasp.

Leeds’ win brought an end to a run of five successive defeats by the Tynesiders, the last four of them engineered from a deficit, and the fact that the Yorkshiremen at last managed to hang on to a lead against Robson’s men will give Venables all the more pleasure.

In the end, Newcastle were left to pay once again for their deficiencies at the back, a frailty which will cost them dear this season if they do not find a solution.

Robson had predicted there would be goals in this fixture, and it was difficult to argue with his logic.

Indeed, by the time referee Dermot Gallagher brought an end to the opening 45 minutes, the sides could quite comfortably have shared six goals between them.

As it was, Viduka’s fifth-minute strike – television replays later suggested the visitors had got the benefit of a generous offside decision – was the only entry in the goals column, and that was largely down to the brilliance of Robinson.

At a conservative estimate, Newcastle managed no fewer than seven shots on target before the break, the vast majority of them repelled with increasing athleticism by a goalkeeper who seems intent on making the senior England shirt his own in the very near future.

Leeds needed just 28 seconds to get their noses in front at St James’ Park last season, when they eventually went down 3-1, but if it took a little longer this time around, the response was the same.

Virtually from the moment Viduka’s shot from Harry Kewell’s cross hit the back of Shay Given’s net, the men in black and white surged forward like a runaway train, Robert and Olivier Bernard down the left and Solano and Aaron Hughes down the right linking with the non-stop Kieron Dyer and the lively Shola Ameobi to pin Leeds back deep inside their own half.

Shearer forced Robinson into his first real save of the game with 16 minutes gone with a smart turn and shot, and the keeper managed to beat away Robert’s rasping 33rd-minute drive after the path to goal opened up for the Frenchman.

But as the half drew to a close, he found himself called upon repeatedly, blocking a close-range effort from Ameobi and a Bernard piledriver before somehow clawing back an Ameobi toe-poke right on the goal-line.

There was no let-up after the break as Newcastle threw everything they had at Venables’ side, Shearer passing up a golden opportunity after racing away from Dominic Matteo but firing straight at Robinson and then Ameobi heading over from Bernard’s cross to the far post.

Kewell reminded Given that he still had to remain on his toes by firing just over on the hour and then forcing the keeper into a vital block nine minutes later, but the flow of the game remained heavily towards Robinson’s goal with substitutes Craig Bellamy and Hugo Viana having joined the search for an equaliser.

Defender Andy O’Brien was horrified to see his downward header from a 72nd-minute Solano corner bounce over the bar, but it took yet another superb stop from Robinson to keep out Solano’s swerving 35-yard strike seconds later.

Newcastle started to run out of ideas as Leeds shut up shop, and their hopes were effectively killed off three minutes from time when, after they failed to clear a corner, Lee Bowyer’s shot came back off Titus Bramble for Smith to blast the ball past Given and into the net.