In recent seasons, clashes with Coventry City have always thrown up some interesting clashes of personnel - with former United saviour Strachan now at the Sky Blues' helm, with the once worshipped, now vilified, McAllister as his Captain. What's more, most Leeds supporters would agree that the selling of Noel Whelan to the Highfield Road club was one of Howard Wilkinson's very worst pieces of transfer business, especially as the money received went to finance the signing of a certain Tomas Brolin.

Now, however, it might be Coventry's turn to have an old boy come back to haunt them, following Darren Huckerby's move to Elland Road. In a Sky Blue shirt he was, of course, our prime tormentor a couple of seasons back, scoring a hat trick in a 3-3 draw at Elland Road. United fans will be hoping he can do something similar to his former team on Saturday.

Actually, although our home record against Coventry is formidable, Highfield Road has never been a particularly happy hunting ground for us. Indeed, you would have to go back as far as 1993/94 to discover our last victory there.

This season, Coventry made a predictably poor start to the campaign - but have turned things around a little in recent weeks. Their upsurge in form appears to have coincided with the record breaking capture of Robbie Keane from Wolves - the highly rated youngster bagging two goals on his home debut. Their last competitive game, prior to the International lay-off, was a 1-1 draw at Sunderland's Stadium of Light - where they dominated the opening half only to let victory slip from their grasp over the second period.

Team news for Saturday's game is perhaps slightly more worrying for the home team but both Managers have more injuries and suspensions than they would like, as well as the possibility of jaded International players returning from mid-week duty.

For United, Alan Smith is suspended, following his somewhat controversial sending off against Spurs, Eirik Bakke returned from Norway injured whilst Hopkin (who, unbelievably, scored in both matches against the Sky Blues last season), Haaland and Woodgate are all doubts.

For Coventry, Paul Telfer, Yousef Chippo, Gary Breen and Noel Whelan are all out through injury, whilst David Burrows is suspended.

Prior to the game, O' Leary had bemoaned the fact that, due to International commitments, he'd had little chance to work with his players this week - branding the situation as "farcical". Well, from a defensive point of view, this lack of preparation showed itself this afternoon, as Leeds

Like his Coventry counterpart, the United manager had injuries and suspensions to contend with - and had to make changes from the team which won at Spurs. Unlike previous away games, where he has preferred to play with three centre-halves, necessity meant that today he would play with a flat back four: Jonathan Woodgate returned from England duty with a slight back injury and was only on the bench. Hopkin took his place in the side whilst the forward line virtually picked itself. Alan Smith's suspension left Coventry old boy Huckerby free to take his place alongside Michael Bridges.

The game began at a frenetic pace but, unfortunately, not the way O' Leary would have wished. Within the first two minutes, Leeds' Captain Lucas Radebe was - somewhat harshly - adjudged to have handled the ball in the area. Former United hero Gary McAllister stepped forward to take the ensuing penalty, coolly slotting the ball past Nigel Martyn.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Leeds players' fury intensified just four minutes later. Danny Mills fired a ball in from 30 yards. Huckerby controlled it and played it to Bridges, who rounded the keeper beautifully to roll the ball home. Unfortunately, though, the referee disallowed the effort, adjudging it to be offside.

To their credit, though, Leeds continued to push forward for an equaliser and moments later they were level. On seven minutes, Lee Bowyer saw his first shot on goal rebound off the keeper but back into his path. He made no mistake with his second effort, beating Hedman in the Coventry goal.

For the next ten minutes, United upped the tempo and started to dominate the play. However, completely against the run of play, Coventry regained the lead with McAllister once again heavily involved in the action. The Coventry Captain curled a free kick from the right, which found the head of John Aloisi and ended up in the back of the Leeds' net.

Still, though, the first half scoring was far from over. On 25 minutes, Batty - who was having an outstanding game - slid a near perfect ball through to Huckerby, who showed supreme pace in beating the Coventry defence to fire the ball past the on-coming Hedman. Then, eight minutes later, it was Leeds turn to be awarded a penalty. Batty made his way towards the home team's goal but was upended by Hedman, the referee having no doubts in pointing to the spot. Of course, with our recent penalty-taking record, there was no certainty that we would take the lead. However, Ian Harte - who would be the supporters' choice - stepped forward to bury the spot kick in the bottom corner of the Coventry net.

That was the end of the first half goalscoring, with United deservedly going in at the interval 3-2 in front. However, it was a real nail biting roller-coaster of a half. Surely the second period couldn't be as entertaining?

The early stages of the second half seemed to suggest this, with the pace not quite what it had been at the end of the opening period. However, it was still difficult to take your eyes off the action for a split second. Coventry boss Strachan was forced into making changes over the interval, with more injuries to worry about. This time it was goalscorer Aloisi who failed to make the restart, to be replaced by defender Marcus Hall.

Just seven minutes into the half, United almost provided themselves with the luxury of a two goal cushion. Harry Kewell, who proved a thorn in the Coventry defence all afternoon, fired a powerful shot towards Hedman's goal, which was deflected wide for a corner. From the resulting dead ball situation, Duberry headed narrowly wide.

Still, though, Leeds were made to fight all the way. However, if the first two Coventry goals could partly be attributed to defensive lapses, their third goal was down to a moment of brilliance from Summer signing Yousseff Chippo. The Moroccan, who had been a doubt to actually start today's game, took possession of the ball on the right and smashed a ferocious volley past a dumbstruck Nigel Martyn.

Finally, though, it was the visitors who were to have the last laugh. On the hour mark, Kewell raced into the area to hammer a powerful shot past the Coventry keeper. Unfortunately though - as seems to be the case for Harry these days - his effort rebounded off the post. Luckily, this time Michael Bridges was on hand to tap the ball into an empty net.

There were still thirty minutes left to endure but, after all that had gone before, the surprise was that there were no more goals. Batty, who was the Man of the Match, and Kewell both had chances to make the game safe - but Coventry still had their opportunities too

Overall, though, this was a highly important victory. Following the disappointment of our last home match, against Liverpool, we have managed to take a maximum six points on our travels - meaning we can now look forward to next Sunday's televised Middlesbrough game with confidence. We are now sitting in fourth place, on 13 points, part of the chasing pack looking up at early runaway leaders, you know who.

United Star Man: David Batty