Leeds United 0 Birmingham City 1: United’s luck runs out as Lita gifts Clark present

Not just during the game itself, Birmingham City having looked the most likely side to make the breakthrough long before Leroy Lita did just that with a thunderbolt of a strike 14 minutes from the end.

But also in the four fixtures that had preceded the visit of the Blues.

Neil Warnock’s side may have emerged with six points from that quartet of October fixtures courtesy of a win and three draws. But, hand on heart, surely even the most one-eyed among the Elland Road support must recognise that their team had enjoyed an element of good fortune along the way.

Against Barnsley and Bolton Wanderers, for instance, the opposition could easily have been out of sight before Leeds belatedly started playing to claim a 1-0 win and 2-2 draw, respectively.

Similarly, Sheffield Wednesday were the better side in the recent derby at Hillsborough, while had Chris Powell shown a tad more adventure earlier than he did last Tuesday then chances are Charlton Athletic could have returned to the capital with all three points rather than just one from a 1-1 draw.

No wonder, therefore, that Warnock is now keeping his fingers crossed that the much-touted takeover goes through in the near future so he can be allowed to bring in the two or three new arrivals he has been eyeing in recent weeks.

Against Birmingham, Leeds could point to a couple of goal-scoring opportunities that, on another day, may well have gone in as Rodolph Austin was denied by a rather fortunate first-half save by Jack Butland, who then kept out a flying header from El-Hadji Diouf in an altogether more impressive fashion after the break.

But, even so, there was precious little of the attacking fluidity that had been on show in last month’s victories over Nottingham Forest, Bristol City and Everton.

Only Diouf, with his trademark guile and vision, was able to pose a sustained threat with too many of the Senegal international’s team-mates taking the easy option of passing backwards or sidewards when the braver option was to try to prise open the Blues’ defence.

Even when the ball was finally moved forward by Leeds, it was done so in a largely aimless manner that suited the aerially dominant Blues defensive pairing of Steven Caldwell and Curtis Davies.

In contrast, Birmingham, despite starting the afternoon just above the relegation zone, played with far more freedom.

The movement up front of Marlon King, who was continually roaming across the United back four in search of space, plus the impressive promptings of Nathan Redmond in midfield meant the visitors were able to ask serious questions of the Leeds rearguard.

In terms of chances, Birmingham may not have created as many as their fluid approach play merited, but they still carved out enough to warrant their second victory on the road of the season.

Warnock admitted to being disappointed by his side’s unbeaten run coming to an end. But ahead of tomorrow’s Capital One Cup tie at home to Southampton, the United manager insists he could not fault his team for effort.

He said: “The players gave me everything. It might not be good enough in certain areas but I can’t complain about the effort.

“I saw the response of their bench at full-time. You would think they had won the World Cup.

“But in fairness to Birmingham, they came and had a go. Not like the other night where Charlton were just happy to get a throw-in. I can’t watch games like that.”

Birmingham, who settled much quicker than their hosts, fashioned the two best chances of the opening half.

First, Redmond’s free-kick found Davies unmarked but the Blues defender could only head wide despite being unmarked just six yards from goal.

Then, 10 minutes before the break, an incisive move saw the ball worked out to the right flank, where King curled over a delightful cross that Lita seemed certain to head in at the back post. That was, however, until Tom Lees nudged the former Middlesbrough striker in the back to ensure the ball sailed harmlessly across the six-yard box as referee Graham Salisbury waved play on.

United’s best effort of that first half was a 20-yard shot from Austin that was blocked by the legs of Butland, who, it seemed, had been deceived by the flight of the ball.

England Under-21 goalkeeper Butland may have been fortunate in that instance but the same could not be said about his acrobatic save that kept out Diouf in the 70th minute.

The value of that stop became fully apparent six minutes later when a dummy by King saw the ball find Lita, who cleverly used the overlapping Chris Burke as a decoy before thundering an unstoppable 30-yard shot past Paddy Kenny.

For Blues manager Lee Clark, Lita’s strike was the perfect 40th birthday present – as the former Huddersfield Town boss acknowledged when speaking to the Yorkshire Post in the tunnel area after the game. “I am 40 years young and the thing I wanted more than anything as a present was the three points. I am going to enjoy my glass of beer tonight.”

Reminded that this was the second time one of his teams had marked an important date in the calendar by beating Leeds after his Town side triumphed 1-0 over their neighbours on Valentine’s Day 2009, Clark laughed before adding: “I hope to get as drunk as I did that night.”

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