Richard Sutcliffe
at Elland Road
Leeds United 3
Barnet 1

TWO OF Leeds United's forgotten men stepped out of the shadows to end what was fast becoming a damaging scoring drought for Leeds United and earn Kevin Blackwell a desperately-needed victory.
United went into last night's tie with the second worst goal tally in the Football League with a paltry five in nine games, the most recent of which had come almost five hours ago.
Robbie Blake took just seven minutes to end the drought, however, with a cool finish before Ian Moore sealed a comfortable passage to the next stage of the Carling Cup with his first two goals since joining Leeds in March last year.
It was a welcome fillip for Blackwell who has come under mounting pressure due to a string of poor results dumping United into the relegation zone of the Championship.
Defeat was unthinkable for the under-pressure Leeds manager and he duly selected a starting line-up containing seven full internationals, in contrast to his Barnet counterpart Paul Fairclough who made eight changes to the side beaten by Notts County last Saturday.
Relying on experience duly paid off with the only downsides of the night for Blackwell and a crowd of 7,220, Elland Road's lowest since just 5,070 watched a Simod Cup victory over Blackburn in 1989, being a late strike by Barnet substitute Magno Vieira and Geoff Horsfield limping off with a tight hamstring towards the end of the first half.
The crowd was, in fact, so sparse inside Elland Road that only the 'I' of the letters that pick out 'United AFC' in the lower tier seats of the East Stand was completely obscured by supporters.
Those who did take the trouble to attend saw United go ahead after just seven minutes when Ismail Yakubu was unable to cut out Gary Kelly's curled pass from close to the halfway line.
The Barnet defender's mistake allowed Blake, overlooked for much of the season with his involvement being restricted to cameo roles from the bench, to race clear and finish coolly by drilling past Ross Flitney from 12 yards out.
It was just the confidence boost Leeds needed and they came close to doubling that advantage when Blake curled a free-kick from 20 yards just wide. A drilled cross from Eddie Lewis then almost brought a second goal eight minutes before the break when Yakubu fired a clearance against the back of Nicky Bailey, the ball trickling just wide with Flitney stranded.
Leeds did double their advantage 10 minutes into the second half when Lewis's corner was nodded goalwards by Blake for Moore to flick into the net from close range.
It had taken the striker 18 months to break his United duck but within another 18 minutes he was able to celebrate a second goal after finishing with aplomb from 15 yards.
Barnet pulled a goal back shortly after through Vieira, but there was no denying the home side a much-needed victory to slightly ease the pressure on their manager.
richard.sutcliffe@ypn.co.uk
Leeds United: Sullivan; Kelly, Foxe, Kilgallon, Crainey; Stone (Howson 76), Nicholls (Derry 65), Douglas, Lewis; Blake, Horsfield (Moore 42). Unused substitutes: Westlake, Carole.
Barnet: Flitney; Nicolau, Warhurst, Yakubu (Hessenthaler 75), Devera; Puncheon, Bailey, Sinclair, Graham; Grazioli (Vieira 46), Hatch (Kandol 46). Unused substitutes: King, Harrison.
Referee: D Drysdale (Lincolnshire).