Graham baffled as Leeds leak goals

FIVE consecutive clean sheets, 11 in the last 15 games - if there is one thing that George Graham has brought to Leeds United it is, obviously, unquestionably, unsurprisingly, defensive stability. In the Premiership it has taken Leeds from the fringe of relegation to the comparative safety of 11th spot.

In the FA Cup, it has been the foundation for victories over Crystal Palace and away at Arsenal and, with so many big names having slipped through a hole in the velvet bag already, that record alone suggested Leeds might be able to go all the way to Wembley.

By 5.0 p.m. on Saturday, though - the hour the match ended due to the ludicrous amount of extra time played by Paul Alcock - the logic supporting that proposition had been dismantled brick by brick.

Against a charming, chiming Portsmouth side, the second favourites for the cup were exposed as a collection of hod carriers and even the foreman, Graham, agreed. Where teams like Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham all hit the Leeds wall, Portsmouth found only open doors. Their live forwards slipped straight through and could have had half a dozen.

"The scoreline flattered us," admitted Graham, but the gaffer seemed as perplexed as anyone as to why Leeds had suddenly become so generous. "On the day, just off form" was his conclusion, although the defence was a particular let down. "The back three had a very, very poor game. In fact, individually, eight or nine players were way, way, way below par. There is no way I could anticipate that."

"What next? Graham was asked. "Back to work, I won't start panicking."

It could be a long, dull run-in for Leeds fan who have turned up in their tens of thousands this season, shown remarkable patience in the face of mediocrity and it was no surprise to see them still mobbing Tony Yeboah, fit, playing and scoring for the reserves, in the car park after the game. In Yeboah's absence, Lee Bowyer has become Leeds' second top scorer with, five goals.

Of his two on Saturday, the second was an injury time irrelevance, but Bowyer's first should have been the turning point. Six minutes after the interval, it made the score 1-1 and with Portsmouth having already missed a first half-penalty and, just before Bowyer's equaliser, the otherwise excellent Lee Bradbury having scorned an easy headed chance, the force should have been with Leeds.

However, it was not and if Graham did not know why then Terry Fenwick did. "Leeds are not so clever when asked to create," was the Portsmouth manager's brutally correct assessment.

Fenwick's side was the exact opposite, with Graham's former midfielder at Arsenal, David Hillier, providing a two-footed lesson in progressive passing that Fenwick had not thought within Hillier's capabilities.

It was Hillier's pearl of a ball down the left to Matthias Svensson that initiated Portsmouth's second. Svensson, a cheap Swede, still had much to do but he turned Robert Molenaar inside out before lashing a shot across Nigel Martyn from a narrow angle.

The game had swung Portsmouth's way again. After Alan McLoughlin had stooped to place a brave header past Martyn in the seventh minute, it should never have been any different because Leeds' inability to take advantage of McLoughlin's subsequent injury and Fitzroy Simpson's blocked penalty meant that when Bradbury tucked away the third with four minutes to go, this was a Just upset.

Strangely, Portsmouth's new owner, Terry Venables, did not see the climax, he was off to the airport at a fare around 20 times the money he paid for Portsmouth.