El Tel under pressure after home defeat

Leeds 2 Bolton 4

Leeds left the field to cries of “Venables out” as two goals in the closing two minutes sent the Elland Road side spinning to a fourth straight home defeat in the Barclaycard Premiership.

Michael Ricketts kept his cool to beat Robinson from the penalty spot and Henrik Pedersen netted in the last minute to move Bolton off the foot of the table – and heap the pressure back on coach Terry Venables.

Leeds fifth loss in their seven home Premier League matches erased the hard work put in over the previous seven days with victories over West Ham and Hapoel Tel-Aviv.

Sam Allardyce’s men travelled to Yorkshire on the back of four successive away defeats and appeared ripe for the picking – but they showed they have the stomach for the fight.

Venables will point to the fact he was without a potential first-choice backline as Ian Harte (calf), Lucas Radebe (groin) and Dominic Matteo (knee) were all sidelined, along with Danny Mills still grieving following a family tragedy.

The trouble extended to the midfield for there was no Lee Bowyer because of a one-match ban, with Olivier Dacourt, Eirik Bakke and Seth Johnson also on the lengthening casualty list.

Venables had Jonathan Woodgate returning from his own two-match injury lay-off due to a troublesome groin, but he and partner Teddy Lucic, the Swede playing again after missing the demolition of Hapoel through ineligibility, were often exposed.

The first time was after just 121 seconds as Pedersen latched onto a through-ball from Youri Djorkaeff, despatching a crisp first goal of the season beyond goalkeeper Paul Robinson.

Bolton should credit referee Alan Wiley for an assist for despite a crunching late tackle from Jacob Burns on Kevin Nolan, the Burntwood official played the advantage, with the visitors clinically capitalising.

But just 84 seconds later, with the majority of that time occupied by Nolan having treatment, United responded straight from the restart courtesy of man-of-the-moment Alan Smith.

Stephen McPhail played in Harry Kewell down the left wing for a pull back into the area where Smith drove home a stunning right-foot shot from 16 yards which goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen could only help on its way.

After his one-man demolition of Hapoel when he scored all four goals in a 4-1 romp in Florence, it meant the 22-year-old had effectively scored five in just 64 minutes of playing time, although it was his first in the league since September 11.

With 15 minutes remaining Djorkaeff sent Pedersen on a foot race with Woodgate. The Dane held off the England international to fire in an angled shot which had Robinson beaten, only to cannon off the left-hand post and back into the grateful arms of the Leeds number one.

But Leeds’ relief was short-lived for just five minutes later Jay-Jay Okocha found Djorkaeff who in turn played a one-two with Pedersen on the edge of the area, the France international then curling a right-foot shot beyond Robinson.

As in the first half, Leeds’ response was again swift for inside four minutes Smith and Viduka set up Kewell for a rasping drive beyond Jaaskelainen.

But then in the 88th minute Ricketts, a 77th minute substitute for Nolan, steered a penalty beyond Robinson after the striker had been brought down by the Leeds keeper.

This time Leeds failed to hit back, and instead it was Bolton who had the final say, with Stig Tofting again the supplier just as he had been earlier when he played in Ricketts with a ball which had forced Robinson off his line to concede the penalty.

The returning Stig then floated over a delightful cross for Pedersen to volley home, leaving Allardyce off the bench in delight at the clinching goal and again at the end.

The final whistle led to the Leeds supporters showing their disgust at their team’s latest fall from grace.