Leeds United 4, Blackburn Rovers 0
Leeds United banished their FA Cup blues and kept their hopes of a UEFA Cup place alive by thumping Blackburn Rovers 4-0 at Elland Road.
Quality goals by Alfie Haaland (2), Lee Bowyer and Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink in a blistering second half display of finishing eradicated their disappointing Cup exit at the hands of Wolves four days earlier.
Rovers felt the full backlash as rampant Leeds ran up their biggest win of the season to blow a big hole in the Ewood Park outfit's Champions League aspirations.
The two sides produced a cracker in September when Leeds triumphed 4-3 in Lancashire - all the goals coming in the first half. This time United hit full power after the interval with three goals in an eight-minute spell entertaining their suffering fans with some spectacular strikes.
But there was little hint of the fireworks to come in a torpid opening half hour when Rovers looked far the better side.
Leeds boss George Graham opted for five-at-the-back with uncle-and-nephew combination Gary Kelly and Ian Harte operating as wing backs.
That left Leeds light in the middle and it was no surprise that Rovers hogged possession.
The Premiership's top scorer Chris Sutton and Martin Dahlin had mobility up front, while Damien Duff's speed and trickery caused a bundle of problems.
With Leeds unable to put together any meaningful moves, Rovers rolled forward smoothly but didn't look that convincing when Leeds did manage to piece together an attack.
Lee Bowyer raced onto Ian Harte's long ball, but as goalkeeper Alan Fettis charged out of goal, Bowyer was unable to get any accuracy into his lob. Then Colin Hendry's awful back-pass was seized upon by Harry Kewell, but the young Australian striker hit the ball against the bar when it was easier to score.
It looked as though Leeds would pay for that miss when the slippery Duff chipped in a great cross from the right which Martin Dahlin headed powerfully to the bottom left hand corner, but Nigel Martyn produced a world class save, diving low to his right to paw the ball away for a corner.
That stop was the platform on which Leeds built an impressive response with Hasselbaink drawing a good save from Alan Fettis. That just a hint of what was in store for the former Hull goalie who was blitzed in the second half as the defenders in front of him crumbled.
Blackburn were caught out at a 48th minute throw-in on the right which David Wetherall headed on and Bowyer, timing his run perfectly allowed the ball to drop invitingly in front of him before despatching a great volley past Fettis. Five minutes later Bowyer turned provider as his perfect pass released Hasselbaink down the right and he cut inside Gary Croft to thump a left foot screamer past Fettis, for his 15th goal of the season.
Suddenly Leeds were attacking shell-shocked Rovers from all angles and killed the game off in the 53rd minute when Hendry and Co failed to clear a bouncing ball in the box and Haaland flicked it up and hooked in a spectacular goal into the top left hand corner.
With the game won, Leeds were content to soak up pressure, but Martyn was barely troubled and Haaland produced another stunning goal to crown a marvellous night for Leeds - a fizzing 30-yard shot which nestled into Fettis' left corner.
Was this the same Haaland whose airshot two yards out against Wolves proved so costly?
The blond Norwegian's spectacular double strike against Blackburn merely emphasised what a wonderful, unpredictable game football can be.
Leeds fans, who were left wondering why their team could not have finished with equal aplomb last Saturday, will probably be wondering which Leeds turn up at Pride Park on Sunday for a game against Derby crucial to both clubs' European ambitions.
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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