Coventry City 1 Leeds United 1: Blackwell tries to keep lid on Leeds' burgeoning expectations
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Your support makes all the difference.Kevin Blackwell is understandably wary of tempting fate but everyone connected with Leeds United is beginning to get excited. Victory tomorrow against Crystal Palace will put "this special club", as the manager had it, within touching distance of an automatic promotion place.
The plan was to cement a top-10 place, then go for the big prize next season. But progress has been far quicker than expected.
"The pressure at this football club is far, far greater than at any other club," Blackwell said. "Leeds carries so much history. The grounds we've visited have almost all had their biggest gates of the season. Everyone gets fired up to play us. That's why my players deserve extra credit."
It is not just on the field that a transformation has taken place. "When you look at the state the club was in, it was probably used at every university about how not to run a business," said Blackwell.
Coventry, backed by the majority of the biggest crowd in England outside the Premiership, pushed the visitors all the way and deserved more at half-time than the one-goal lead provided by Gary McSheffrey.
After a wretched first half of the season, when they flirted around the drop zone, Micky Adams' team are now just behind the play-off places after a terrific run that has turned the state-of-the-art Ricoh Arena into a fortress. They were within two minutes of a seventh straight home win yesterday before a blatant handball allowed David Healy to rescue a point from the spot.
One of the first statements Coventry's new chief executive Paul Fletcher made was that the club would back Adams in a bid to get back into the top flight within three years while opening new income streams at their £64m home. Adams is beginning to pay back that trust despite spending only £20,000 and bringing in 10 players on free transfers.
"I had every faith in my ability," he said. "People expect instant results but it doesn't always happen. What's great is that everyone in the city is talking about football again, rather than our debts."
Goals: McSheffrey (26) 1-0; Healy (88 pen) 1-1.
Coventry City (4-4-2): Fulop; Whing, Page, Shaw, Hall; Scowcroft, Hutchison, Doyle (Thornton, 84), McSheffrey (Impey, 79); John, Adebola. Substitutes not used: Ince (gk), Williams, Morrell.
Leeds United (4-4-2): Sullivan; Kelly, Butler, Kilgallon, Crainey; Douglas (Moore, 74), Derry, Miller, Lewis; Blake (Healy, 61), Hulse. Substitutes not used: Bennett (gk), Einarsson, Bakke.
Referee: C Oliver (Northumberland). Booked: Coventry McSheffrey, Hutchison, Page.
Man of the match: McSheffrey.
Attendance: 26,643.
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