MOUNIE IN THE MOOD FOUR MORE
Rookie stopper Meslier can keep Leeds on road to Prem
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STEVE MOUNIE helped demolish Charlton – and then promised more of the same.
Mounie (above) scored Huddersfield’s second goal moments after coming on as the hosts completed back-to-back wins for the first time since November. Victory hoisted the Terriers five points above the relegation zone and £12million Benin striker Mounie says now the only way is up.
“I knew I was capable of scoring goals in this league,” he said. “I can play and score goals and everyone can see that. I will try and do that for the rest of the season. That is my job – scoring.
“I know I would have scored more than eight, but I didn’t really play until December.
“Everyone is now is focused in one direction and pushing each other. We are reaching a point where everyone knows each other better.”
Karlan Grant scored twice and Juninho Bacuna fired home a spectacular fourth in added time as the Terriers claimed their biggest win since Danny Cowley took charge last September.
Next up is a trip to Elland Road, home of high-flying local rivals Leeds United, as the Terriers look to put more distance between themselves and the drop zone.
Defeat stranded Charlton in 20th place, just two points above Middlesbrough in the third relegation spot.
Boss Lee Bowyer didn’t pull any punches after the club’s third defeat in four games. “It’s been a tough week but we have to learn from it,” he said. “There are no easy games so it’s the same for everybody. There’s no excuse.” HUDDERSFIELD: Lossl 7, Simpson 7, Stearman 7, Schindler 7, Toffolo 8, Chalobah 7, O’brien 8, Willock 7 (Bacuna 66, 8) Smith Rowe 7 (Pritchard 70, 7), Grant 8, Campbell 7 (Mounie 74)
CHARLTON: Phillips 6, Matthews 6, Pearce 5, Oshilaja 5, Doughty 6, Cullen 7, Lapslie 5 (Hemed 82), Mcgeady 6 (Bonne 61, 5), Oztumer 6 (Williams 45, 7), Green 6, Taylor 6 REF: Geoff Eltringham ATT: 21,539
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OPPONENTS may see Illan Meslier as Leeds’ weak link, but Grant Mccann believes he has already proved his strength.
Meslier, 20 today, belied his lack of senior experience with an assured and confident display on his Championship debut for Leeds.
The French keeper, signed on loan from Ligue 2 side Lorient, is deputising for Kiko Casilla during his eight-game ban for racially abusing Charlton’s Jonathan Leko and Hull boss Mccann was impressed.
“He’s a very good goalkeeper,” he said. “There were a couple of times when the ball went into the box and he was very confident and caught it.
“He’s good, that’s why he’s there. We were aware they had a young keeper and it’s easy to say put some balls on top of him, but the game doesn’t always go the way you think it will.”
Leeds believe in Meslier and did not sign an experienced goalkeeper in January because they were confident he could replace Casilla.
He is reminiscent of Paul Robinson, who also made his debut at 19, and Leeds fans were calling for the youth international to replace Casilla even before the Spaniard was suspended.
At 6ft 6in, Meslier personifies the modern keeper and is as comfortable kicking the ball as he is handling it.
Tyler Roberts (left) says the players are confident in him after just two appearances for Leeds.
“We all knew as soon as he came in that he was a great keeper,” said the striker. “He tried what the manager wanted him to try and didn’t back out of things.
“He was confident and commanding and it’s good for the defenders to have him behind them.”
Roberts scored twice as Leeds finally displayed the clinical edge Marcelo Bielsa has been calling for to register their biggest away win since November 2011 to close the gap on leaders West Brom to a point.
Luke Ayling and Pablo Hernandez also scored and Leeds have reeled off four straight wins without conceding to get their promotion bid back on track.
“Scoring four shows how sharp we are,” added Roberts. “But we’re not going to get ahead of ourselves. We know what happened last season and we’ve learnt from that.”
Hull are feeling the loss of Jarrod Bowen and Kamil Grosicki in January and have been sucked into the relegation fight, taking just two points from their last 10 league games.
They also had 10 players injured on Saturday, but Mccann will not tolerate any moping. “I’ve no time for people feeling sorry for themselves,” he added. “If anyone feels like that, they can go home or play for the Under-23s.”
HULL: Long 8, Mckenzie 6, Pennington 6, Mcloughlin 6, Elder 5, Honeyman 6,
Stewart 6, Da Silva Lopes 5 (Batty 63, 6), Wilks 5, Magennis 6 (Balogh 63, 7), Samuelsen 6 (Maddison 76, 5)
LEEDS: Meslier 7, Ayling 7, White 7, Cooper 7, Dallas 7, Phillips 7, Costa 7, Klich 8, Hernandez 9 (Shackleton 87), Harrison 8 (Alioski 87), Bamford 7 (Roberts 66, 8)