Football: Dons show less fatigue

Wimbledon . . .1

Leeds United. .0

AT THE start of the season it would have been inconceivable that, of these two sides, it would be Wimbledon who still had something to play for in February. Evidently it is harder to recover from cup fatigue if you lose in mid-week. The exertions of Wednesday night more or less killed off the first half but, after the interval, Wimbledon scored the one goal they needed to consign a Strachan-less Leeds to an eighth consecutive away defeat in the League.

'We've just got to keep going,' said Howard Wilkinson afterwards. 'We've certainly done enough to get a result and that's putting it mildly.' Not including the last 10 minutes, that's putting it wrongly. Until the mildly gripping finale tacked on the end in the form of five minutes' injury time, in which shots from Lee Chapman and Carl Shutt cleared the bar, Leeds barely caused Hans Segers to get his knees dirty. His last-ditch tip on to the bar from Gary Speed's first-time volley sealed the win, but until then Leeds had attacked without venom or imagination.

The Norwegian import Frank Strandli may share the ramrod- backed comportment of his predecessor, Eric Cantona, but the likeness stops there. 'English football is slightly different to Scandinavian football,' Wilkinson commented, 'and playing against Wimbledon might be slightly different to English football.' Strandli was called off on the hour, leaving scarcely a memory behind him. That was just after Dean Holdsworth scored, pouncing on a corner after both John Fashanu and the Leeds defence had failed to send it in either direction. Earlier, Holdsworth had hit the post, efforts from Robbie Earle and Gerald Dobbs were palmed away by John Lukic, and Gary Elkins wasted two chances.

Wimbledon: H Segers; R Joseph, B McAllister, L Sanchez, J Scales, G Elkins, N Ardley, R Earle (S Talboys 79 min), J Fashanu, D Holdsworth, G Dobbs (A Clark 79 min). Sub not used: N Sullivan (gk). Manager: J Kinnear.

Leeds United: J Lukic; S Sellars, T Dorigo, D Batty, J Newsome, C Whyte, D Rocastle (R Bowman 77 min), F Strandli (C Shutt, 60 min), L Chapman, G McAllister, G Speed. Sub not used: M Day (gk). Manager: H Wilkinson.

Referee: V Callow (Solihull).

Goal: Holdsworth (1-0, 61 min).