What a night!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another Fabulous night at the stadium of the gods. After all the build up to another Champions League game, the match kicked off to thunderous applause from the Elland Road faithful. The Besiktas players all carried flowers to various parts of the ground in memory to Chris Loftus and Kevin Speight, the two lads killed in Istanbul earlier this year, in an attempt to bridge the gap of friendship between the two footballing countries. This act was well received and respected from the entire Leeds crowd, who stood applauded this touching scene.

These European occasions are absolutely superb. My first visits to these occasions go back to the mid sixties, when as a 24 year old I screamed and yelled on my team in the then Inter Cities Fairs Cup. Don't let anyone tell any you different, these nights are enjoyed just as much now as they were 35 years ago.

Straight from the kick off, Leeds played the beautiful game with lovely crisp passing moves that had us holding our breath. After Saturday's dismal performance against Derby, we just did not know what to expect. We had no need to fear as pass after pass was superbly executed.

Mills was in for Doobs and Viduka in forBridges.The others heroes that started the game were: Martyn, Kelly, Harte, Radebe, Dacourt, Bakke, Matteo, Bowyer, Smith. The two Leeds players that were booked (Dacourt and Smith) were subbed late on by McPhail and Huckerby.

The superb football soon paid off as LeeBowya, Leebowya, LeeBowya found the net with an excellent goal after only 6 minutes. The pressure continued and the reward was an headed goal from Viduka. Only in patches did Besiktas show any sort of form and we wondered how this outfit could possibly have beaten Bacelona.

A magical first half flew by and Matteo made it 3-0 after only 22 minutes. Half time we were ready for a drink and a breather. The players must have been delighted with their performance.

The second half started with a bit of a spurt from Besiktas. Martyn made an excellent save, but any threat was soon thwarted as Leeds were dominant and never looked like conceding a goal. Leeds now with 80% of the play almost turned this into an enjoyable training session. We had to wait until the 65th minute for the next goalthatcame from the superb Bakke.

It was round about here that the two substitutes were brought on. Both Dacourt and Smith were given standing ovations from anenthusiastic crowd. Unbelievably the crowd started leaving and many missed two late goals both coming very, very late in the game. Huckerby the 5th and another from Bowyer for the 6th tied things up nicely.

The morgue once again (family stand) helped in the singing. An absolute wonderful perormance. The night passed without any ugly scenes and the only blip was an incident where Radebe was left injured on the ground and their players failed to kick the ball off the field. A confrontation followed and we thought that one of their players was about to be dismissed but their coach must also have got the same message and he was quickly substituted. The referee was good and the linesmen were excellent. I cannot remember one linesman's decision that was questioned.

Players Scores

Martyn 8 Two good saves, handling was good, ditribution was better but he should be more alert. There were times when Bowyer in particular was shouting for the ball wide right but Martyn wasn't quick enough to set up the attack.

Kelly 8 Solid, showed his pace a time or two. A much better performance.

Harte 8 Another much improved performer. No real worries and got forward at times.

Radebe 9 This man is a star, was injured and left in a heap in the second half which frightened us all to death. After being 4-0 up I wondered why he wasn't taken off. He was limping for some time after his injury.

Mills 8 Strong, alert, excellent tackles and clearances. Speedy at times. A good all round performance.

Bowyer 9 This is the Bowyer we want to see. What we need is a tiger with teeth, a goal scoring midfielder. We have it in LeeBowya, LeeBowya, LeeBowya!

Dacourt 9 Great player, this lad. He can find time when others lash out and panic. He is one of the best players I have seen at Leeds for a long time. Excellent.

Matteo 8 If this lad keeps up these performances he will soon be a Leeds favourite. Just what we needed. DOL was criticised for signing an injured player and a Liverpol reject but this is proven to be completely unfounded. An excellent signing.

Bakke 9 In the thick of every thing and with a bit of luck could have scored a couple more. Thank goodness he's back in the team.

Smith 8 He ran and ran and ran, getting balls when we thought he'd no chance, a tirelss grafter who deserved the best applause of the night.

Viduka 8 At last we saw something of the Viduka from last season. Unselfish, clever footwork,

this was a different Viduka from the one that went off to the Olympics.

Subs:

McPhail Came on and fitted in superbly, confident passing and always available. Not on long enough to give a fair score but did all that was asked of him.

Huckerby Made a goal and scored a goal in his brief appearance but still runsdown blind alleys.

Crowd: 8 out of 10

One of the best ever European nights at Elland Road.

Reporter: Graham Thirkill