Leeds were held to a boring goalless draw at Elland Road, by a resilient and hardworking Ipswich Town who quite simply came to town for a point. A goalless draw at Elland Road is unheard of this season, but Ipswich frustrated the Whites for the full 90 minutes.
Simon Grayson stuck with the same eleven that he used on Tuesday, with Billy Paynter keeping his place up front after he scored his first goal against Preston. Barry Bannan was on the bench once again, although many believed he may be given his first start for the club. Jimmy Bullard past a late fitness test, even though he had been out for a week with a hamstring injury. Kieron Dyer also made the starting eleven, after he completed his loan move from West Ham in midweek.
As the crowd settled into their seats, Ipswich nearly opened the scoring barely a minute in, Priskin broke clear of the defence, but could only drag his shot wide of the post. United failed to settle into the match, the two teams enjoyed several games of head tennis, and the Leeds crowd were begging for the ball to be played along the floor. Max Gradel was once again a threat to the opposition defence, he had the first Leeds chance when he cut inside from the left, but saw his shot tipped wide of the post by Fulop.
Kasper Schmeichel was called upon minutes later, when he produced a good save from a Lee Martin shot. From the resulting corner Schmeichel was forced to tip another Ipswich effort over the bar to keep the game at all square. Gradel continued to go close from long range, cutting in from the left hand side on several occasions but failed to find the target.
It wouldn't be a football Saturday at Elland Road without some shocking refereeing decisions. The first diabolical decision was regarding a back-pass, the 27,000+ crowd were stunned to see how a pass back from the half-way line to the goalkeeper was classed as ok. The referee continued to miss the obvious, and the chant of "We always get s**t refs" was in full voice, when the ref failed to spot a blatant hand ball within the box.
In the second-half United upped their game, for twenty minutes they dominated the Tractor Boys but just couldn't find the back of the net. Billy Paynter went close after some good individual play, but his scuffed his shot and Fulop saved easily. Grayson introduced Becchio and Bannan, to try and grab a late goal but it just wasn't meant to be today.
Paul Jewell is a top manager, he has past experience of how to grind out results which is what his Ipswich team did today. It was difficult to watch at times, but at least United kept a clean sheet for a change. Leeds looked comfortable defensively, the problem today was the distribution of the ball. The Whites resorted to route one, on far too many occasions, instead of playing the usual fluid football that the Leeds faithful have come to love.
It was a disappointing result, considering the results elsewhere in the table, with Forest drawing and Burnley and Swansea both losing. However a point is a point, and Leeds are still in the running for automatic promotion, next week the Whites take on Sheffield United at Bramall Lane where three points will be expected by the travelling fans.
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