Leeds Utd - 0 Sunderland - 1:SOCCER/English FA Premiership: As the boos echoed round the emptying arena, Peter Reid could, for once, greet them with a smile and even a triumphant, if tentative, punch at the air.
Gutsy victory here may have been unlikely, but it was utterly deserved. Jason McAteer's goal, his side's first of the campaign, left the Sunderland manager's detractors choking in disbelief. The disgruntled home support followed suit, stunned by Sunderland's first league win in West Yorkshire for 41 years.
Reid stayed up in the stands for the first half last night, perhaps wary that the sight of Leeds's substitutes might push him over the edge. There, alongside Jonathan Woodgate and Olivier Dacourt, sat Robbie Keane - chosen for the front of the programme but once again left out of the team. Sunderland had been desperate to sign the Irishman and even agreed a £9 million fee, though the player's public reluctance to move to Wearside slammed that door shut.
Instead, Leeds officials spent yesterday in talks with Tottenham Hotspur in an attempt to offload the unsettled striker to White Hart Lane ahead of Saturday's transfer deadline. The two clubs' valuations remain distant, though the sight of Harry Kewell leaping above Stephen Wright to nod the best chance of a mind-numbing first period wide suggested Keane might still be needed at Leeds.
In truth, that the home side created so little was down to the visitors' tireless efforts to stifle the play. Thomas Sorensen deflected Mark Viduka's shot wide of his near post while Danny Mills's ambitious drive was well blocked by Jonas Bjorklund. When Leeds found rare width - Mills's fizzing cross ricocheting off Bjorklund and on to the prostrate Michael Gray - Wright did well to shield the loose ball from the marauding Kewell at the far post.
The visiting fans crammed into one corner of the arena were cheered by such resilience though the lack of bite up front remains a concern.
Reid's latest attempt to woo Ajax's Zlatan Ibrahimovic in Amsterdam at the weekend has yet to suggest it will culminate in an £8 million move. The French striker Pierre-Yves Andre should arrive on a year's loan from Nantes with a view to a £3 million transfer. But, to most, the potential arrival of a 28-year-old who scored four league goals last season smacks of the fiasco that was Lilian Laslandes' wretched time on Wearside.
In the meantime, Kevin Phillips cut a lonely figure up front, watching helpless as Claudio Reyna robbed the dawdling Eirik Bakke and saw his shot deflected wide by Paul Robinson.
That may have been Sunderland's only effort of the first period, but their workaholic defensive display was always likely to leave Leeds prone to over-attack.
Sure enough, with home minds bent on venturing upfield, Thomas Butler wriggled unchallenged down the left channel within 30 seconds of the restart. His cross arced exquisitely over Dominic Matteo for Phillips to nod down into the six-yard box and Jason McAteer, sprinting from deep, to ease the ball home.
Stunned by such a careless concession, Terry Venables threw on Keane to add more bustle but Sunderland settled back into their old routine. A combination of Phil Babb and Piper scrambled Viduka's header from the line, while the Australian's close-range volley from the subsequent corner was blocked by Sorensen.
When Leeds did bypass the visitors' defensive blanket, Ian Harte's free-kick flew narrowly wide while Gray's clumsy challenge on Viduka in the area went mysteriously unpunished.
Guardian Service
LEEDS: Robinson, Mills, Radebe, Matteo, Harte, Bowyer, Bakke (Dacourt 54), Barmby (Keane 54), Kewell, Smith, Viduka. Subs Not Used: Martyn, Kelly, Woodgate. Booked: Bowyer, Dacourt.
SUNDERLAND: Sorensen, Wright, Babb, Bjorklund, Gray, Piper (Arca 75), McAteer, Reyna, Thirlwell, Butler, Phillips (Kyle 77). Subs Not Used: Macho, McCartney, Quinn. Goals: McAteer 46.
Referee: M Halsey (Lancashire).
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