The returning Chief sees rampant Leeds blitz Birmingham

Birmingham did have the ball in the net from Novak but he was offside before Burke wasted a good chance after Mowatt’s poor clearance. Wootton seemed to have the measure of his highly rated ex colleague Lingard as Leeds powered on.

The inevitable 2nd goal came on 33 minutes when excellent running from Ross Mac made space on the left for him to launch a pin point cross onto the head of the rejuvenated Austin who steered the ball home. 2.0 to Leeds and the home side were in overdrive.

Unbelievable? After all the doom and gloom of recent weeks here was a Leeds team giving an admittedly poor Birmingham side a proper spanking.

At 2.0 Leeds weren’t entertaining any ideas of taking their foot off the accelerator as they went for the Birmingham jugular and their efforts were rewarded just before half time as big Matt Smith stroked home the 3rd goal after Randolph had saved a Ross Mac shot. 3.0 Leeds at Half Time!

The urinal philosophers were buzzing. Everyone had smiles from ear to ear as they dissected as good a 45 minutes seen at Elland Road for a long time. In fact the only dispute was when we had last been 3 up at half time. Nobody knew. One particularly difficult to please fan reminded us that “We were once 4.1 up and lost 6.4 not so long ago” I couldn’t see that happening though as I checked by betting slip. A 4.1 win would return the princely sum of £85 to my coffers. Mmmmm still possible?

The ominous and unmistakable figure of Mr Zigic appeared at the start of the 2nd half. “Hope he doesn’t get 4 again” commented a nervous fan. Birmingham stuttered into life with their substitutes giving them a spark of hope but still Mr Kenny had little in the way of shots to deal with as Lee Clark’s charges sort an unlikely comeback.

Tom Lees made a fantastic headed clearance to keep the three goal advantage before Kenny tipped over a stunning drive from who else but Zigic. At the other end Randolph was doing his level best to keep the score respectable as he made fine saves from first Austin and then a Smith header that he acrobatically tipped over the bar.

Leeds weren’t to be denied though as Smith’s next header from an exquisite Mowatt cross was unstoppable. 4.0 Leeds and suddenly missing a good old fashioned Sunday roast and Yorkshire Puds seemed a minor inconvenience to witness the mighty whites in this form. Ironic cheers of “what the f*** is going on” tumbled down from the kop as the home fans basked in the rare occurrence of a comfortable home victory.

I was now left with a dilemma as Brum pushed on for a consolation goal that would have seen me £85 to the good. Do I cheer if they score? Well thankfully they didn’t and Leeds finished well deserved winners over a poor Birmingham side. Austin was my man of the match for an impressive showing playing in an advanced role but in truth this was a sterling performance from the whole team from back to front.

Smith was a handful all afternoon and his two goals showed promise of more to come. Byram looked back to full fitness and Mowatt again purred through the game like a veteran. All in all an excellent performance. Much credit to Brian McD though for his astute change of tactics.

Lots of smiling faces adorned the usually craggy features of Leeds fans streaming away from Elland Road. We’re not used to this type of domination from the mighty whites but it is something we could get used to. Was this a flash in the pan or a seminal turning point of a testing season? Time will tell starting at Huddersfield next Saturday lunchtime. One thing for sure……………..

Can’t wait.

MOT.