SILVESTRI IS THE STAR FOR LEEDS
STEPHEN Warnock’s smart first-half strike and some heroics from goalkeeper Marco Silvestri gave Leeds their second win of the season much to caretaker boss Neil Redfearn’s pleasure.
To call this a period of upheaval for United would be an understatement; just two of the starting 11 in this game started the same fixture in March – a 5-1 win for Bolton – and club president Massimo Cellino has also seen off two managers in that time.
The most recent was Dave Hockaday, sacked on Thursday after just 70 days and six games in the job.
But caretaker head coach Redfearn made the case that this could represent a fresh start for the club, and exhibit A was 17year-old academy product Lewis Cook, who excelled at the base of a midfield diamond.
Redfearn said:“I thought Lewis Cook was the best player out there on display, and he’s going to be an outstanding young player.
“He’s got half a yard of pace and that gets him into tackles and second balls before other players, and his range of passing is there to be seen.
“He’s such a level-headed kid and I told the president at the start of the season that playing at Elland Road wouldn’t phase him, and that’s how it appeared during the game.”
Redfearn seems unsure about the potential to take the job full time though, saying: “To be honest, I’ve not really put it in my mind.
“I’ve got a big job on at the academy and there’s been a lot of change.
“I’m a servant of a club and I’m helping out for the time being.”
For all the drama at Leeds, it’s not exactly been roses for Bolton owner Phil Gartside either.
Bolton would nevertheless have got something out of this game if not for Silvestri, who made a string of second-half saves to keep Leeds ahead after Warnock’s excellent low finish from Billy Sharp’s through ball on 17 minutes.
Silvestri set the tone by keeping out Joe Mason – who had earlier hit the bar from distance – with a superb near-post save on the stroke of half time.
Some slightly more routine long-range stops followed to deny Jay Spearing, Lee ChungYong and Neil Danns in the second half.
And it took great reactions to pull off an excellent double save in injury time, with returning Leeds favourite Jermaine Beckford heading at the keeper from Liam Feeney’s cross before Silvestri held up Lee’s follow-up on the line.
Bolton boss Dougie Freedman confessed his frustration at the scoreline.
He said: “When you dominate possession as much as we did – total domination for the last hour – and create as many opportunities as we did, and still come away with no result, I’m left scratching my head.
“We were very disappointed with yet another mistake leading to their goal, which costed us dearly.
“But we rallied and gave it a go. Statistics will show you that we had opportunities.
“But I’m hugely disappointed to come away with nothing – I thought we deserved a lot more than to finish empty-handed in that game.
“You could look at it as the keeper being in inspired form but I think our finishing has to be better.
“We had clear cut opportunities and maybe three or four half-opportunities and that’s a real problem.
“The goalkeeper has played his part but I’m still scratching around to understand how we didn’t win that game of football and get the points.
“I feel very frustrated after watching that game of football.”