Leeds United 0 Southampton 3: Rasiak leaves Leeds reeling
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Your support makes all the difference.Leeds United have not secured a single point this season from games in which they have conceded the first goal. Yesterday, for the 13th time, they fell behind and duly continued this miserable trend as Grzegorz Rasiak's ninth and 10th League goals of the season, either side of Rudi Skacel's first, gave this scoreline a lop-sided appearance.
In fact, until Skacel was presented with the ball, unmarked, on the edge of the six-yard area midway through the second half, Leeds had actually been the better team. But from that moment onwards, the degree of resilience Leeds had shown since falling behind evaporated, as the Championship's leakiest defence conceded three goals or more for the seventh time this season. "Our problem has been dominating games and not taking our chances so it was nice today to see some of those chances going in," said George Burley, the Southampton manager.
Southampton took the lead when Raziak met a Gareth Bale cross that Andrew Surman flicked on. The Pole measured a header back across goal that sailed over Graham Stack and dropped under the bar.
Following Leeds' best period of the game after half-time, Southampton made the game safe when John Viáfara delivered a low cross and the ball somehow found its way to an unmarked Skacel at the far post.
A few minutes later Skacel's corner found Raziak unmarked and he headed home a third. It left Dennis Wise, the new Leeds manager, with much to ponder.
"The second goal really killed us," said Wise. "At 1-0 down we were actually the better team. I couldn't fault the effort but we are still making silly errors."
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