When Leeds held off Derby 14 times in a row

The Premiership years were different. In that period Derby struggled through 14 games against Leeds without winning once. There were epic scorelines – County’s 5-0 beating in 1998 and their capitulation from 3-0 up four months earlier – but no result carried more weight than United’s 1-0 victory at Pride Park 15 years ago this week.

Nigel Martyn, United’s goalkeeper at the time, remembers two things about it: the significance of the outcome and the spectacular dive from Harry Kewell which won Leeds a penalty in the fourth minute of injury-time.

“It was a dive,” Martyn says. “It was definitely a dive. There was a lot of arguing afterwards about whether Harry’s heel had been clipped or whether there’d been contact but I had a perfectly clear view from the other end of the pitch.

“When he went to ground, my first reaction was ‘oh Harry.’ It looked so obvious. But the referee bought it and Ian Harte – well, his penalties were absolute bankers.”

The injury-time goal and the scrambled win made a point to the Premiership. The previous weekend, David O’Leary’s squad had climbed to the top of the division after a dramatic win over Southampton, salvaged in the closing minutes by a 25-yard finish from Michael Bridges. Their visit to Pride Park on December 5, 1999, was scheduled for a Sunday, 24 hours after Manchester United regained first place by smashing Everton at Old Trafford. Derby away was a test and one Leeds passed with Kewell’s help.

The Australian led a final attack in the 94th minute, sprinting down the left side of Derby’s box and drawing Horatio Carbonari towards him. Carbonari lunged in with his right leg and Kewell went to ground as the away end behind Mart Poom’s net appealed as one. The referee, Paul Alcock, penalised the tackle and Harte stroked a risk-free penalty down the centre of Poom’s goal.

The arguments about the foul on Kewell raged in the aftermath. O’Leary defended him, saying: “It was a definite penalty. It’s not my fault their player pulled him down. A rash tackle and thank you very much – we’ve won.”