Perhaps Steve Evans’s appointment at Elland Road was not the strangest moment of Leeds’s week after all. United had sacked five managers since Shola Ameobi last scored a goal. Perhaps they will part company with another five before he finds the net again but while Bolton’s debutant striker ended a personal 539-day drought, Evans’s rather shorter wait for a victory continues.
A manager who polarises opinion has brought parity to a club where instability is institutionalised. His second game in charge, like his first at Fulham, ended in a 1-1 draw. Leeds again came from behind to level from the penalty spot. If the manager seems to change by the week, so does the spot-kick taker. Chris Wood scored at Craven Cottage, Mirco Antenucci at the Macron Stadium.
“I don’t care who takes them providing it goes in the back of the net,” Evans said. A voluble character was rather more strident at half-time. “I told them to play without fear and it was much better,” he added. “But we’re going home disappointed. We feel that’s two points we’ve given away.”
But both managers pronounced themselves frustrated in a tale of missed opportunities. Bolton prop up the table after going seven games without a win but initially prospered in quixotic fashion. Neil Lennon has a penchant for acquiring superannuated centre-forwards on free transfers and reaped an instant reward for signing Ameobi.
“He is over 30 but compared to players we brought in before like Emile Heskey and Eidur Gudjohnsen he is a novice,” said Lennon. If he again delved into scouting reports of emerging attackers from 2001 to unearth Ameobi, his recruitment policy is understandable. He lacks the funds to buy. Ameobi had to reduce his wage demands to even facilitate a short-term deal and then emulated Heskey by scoring on his Wanderers bow. The older man, who has not struck since, was rested. “Rigor mortis is setting in,” quipped Lennon. His intention was to ease the substitute Ameobi into the team but a change of plan was enforced when Gary Madine was concussed.
The former Newcastle forward scored within 20 minutes. Leeds allowed José Manuel Casado’s corner to bounce and Ameobi drilled Bolton ahead with a confidence that belied his 17-month wait. “A soft goal,” complained Evans. “There was a minimum of two mistakes.”
But Ameobi’s aerial ability, allied with an eye for a pass, rendered him a menace. When he teed up Liam Feeney, the winger ought to have doubled Bolton’s advantage.
But Bolton’s inability to add a second goal – they are not the Championship’s joint lowest scorers for nothing – proved costly. Seconds after Marco Silvestri clawed Stephen Dobbie’s shot away, Leeds counterattacked at pace. As Antenucci accelerated into the 18-yard box, Prince-Désir Gouano clipped his heels. “The lad slipped,” said a sympathetic Evans but Lennon had no complaints when the referee, Simon Hooper, applied the dual punishment of a penalty and a red card. Antenucci chipped his spot kick past Ben Amos with enviable nonchalance.
“We have let Leeds off the hook with a bit of indiscipline,” lamented Lennon, but the visitors merited their point. They dominated the second half, with Antenucci a particular threat, and struck the woodwork in each period, both through Tom Adeyemi but in contrasting styles. When Liam Cooper flicked on Luke Murphy’s corner, the midfielder responded with a tentative prod. “It would be simpler to score,” Evans felt. Adeyemi produced a crisper strike to a later half-volley but Amos excelled to tip it on to the post while his manager felt a third shot ought to have produced a second penalty. But Leeds are yet to lead, let alone win, under their sixth manager in 16 months.
