Murphy steps into spotlight to save Leeds

Leeds Utd Birmingham

LUKE MURPHY stepped out of the Elland Road shadows to save Leeds from tumbling to another damaging defeat.

Midfielder Murphy has struggled to find his touch since arriving as a £1.2million recruit from Crewe but decorated what was only his fifth start this term with a fabulous finish three minutes from time to earn boss Neil Redfearn’s side a vital point.

After seeing Murphy’s volley crash into the roof of the net a relieved Redfearn said: “I had a chat with Luke a few weeks ago to try and get him in a better place, and he’s done nothing but impress me since.

“He did things out there that only good footballers can do, took his goal superbly and I was delighted with his contribution to what was a terrific all-round performance.”

Leeds and Birmingham are two of the Championship’s biggest clubs, but their fortunes have headed in very different directions lately.

Leeds went into this game just one place and two points off the drop zone, while Birmingham seem to have turned the corner after looking like relegation certs before Gary Rowett replaced Lee Clark as boss.

A run of seven wins in 11 games going into this match had propelled City to within seven points of the play-off places and not surprisingly they were unchanged from last week’s 3-1 triumph over Wigan.

Tumbling

And it took them just eight minutes to go ahead through a Paul Caddis spot-kick after Liam Cooper had sent Clayton Donaldson tumbling. Donaldson made a meal of the challenge but that didn’t bother Caddis who beat keeper Marco Silvestri from 12 yards.

Mirco Antenucci was only just off target for Leeds with a close range effort from Sam Byram’s cross and Birmingham were indebted to keeper Darren Randolph, who pulled off a brilliant one-handed reflex save to deny Giuseppe Bellusci before the break.

And they had a huge let-off seven minutes after the interval when Steve Morison flicked a glancing header from Lewis Cook’s cross against the post with Randolph beaten.

Morison was out of luck again on 59 minutes with a far post volley that shaved the frame of the goal after City had failed to clear Cook’s inswinging corner.

But Murphy’s late strike rewarded Leeds with the draw they fully deserved and even Blues boss Rowett admitted: “It would have been unfair on Leeds not to have got something. We were fortunate to still be a goal up when they scored.”