RAMS RAIDED

RAMS RAIDED

United are the comeback Kings...

LEEDS UNITED 4, DERBY COUNTY 3

Nov 8 1997

LEEDS UNITED : Martin, Maybury (Bowyer 46), Wetherall, Radebe, Robertson, Kelly, Haaland, Hopkin (Hasselbaink 75), Ribeiro, Wallace, Kewell.

DERBY COUNTY : Poom, Rowett, C Powell, D Powell (Hunt 84), Sturridge, Asanovic (Trollope 82), Laursen, Carbon (Kozluk 52), Carsley, Dailly, Baiano

Substitutes Lee Bowyer and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink were the match winning heroes as United staged one of the most amazing fight-backs ever seen at Elland Road.

It made for excellent viewing and for United fans the script of this Premiership thriller had the perfect ending with Bowyer smashing in a 90th minute winner from Hasselbaink's pass.

United had found themselves 3-0 down in 33 minutes and an Elland Road crowd of 33,572 must have been fearing a real hiding from the Rams but they pulled themselves together and stormed to a 4-3 victory.

The game is a lasting memory for Tom Chapman, who e-mailed us at leedsunited.com  to say that this particular game was the one that "hooked" him to Leeds for life. "I have been a Leeds fan for 13 years, since I was nine years old, and the first of three games that have been my best memories was the 4-3 win over Derby," he wrote.

"A quarter of the way through the game I was feeling pretty low wondering how much worse it could get. But the boys somehow pulled a performance out of the bag and when the final goal went in from Bowyer's foot I was absolutely ecstatic," he added.

But his No 1 game was our 4-3 win against Liverpool when Mark Viduka got all four.

Another fan, who lists the comeback against Derby as his best memory, is Dave MacKay who told us: "It's got to be the 4-3 win over Derby. Harry Kewell's strike was great but the best bit was watching the highlights afterwards…'Hasselbaink lays it back….Bowyeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrr!' Unbelievable," he wrote.

Ady Smith from Burton-on-Trent is another with a find memory of that great comeback. "This game will always be etched in my mind. The Revie stand went into raptures after Bowyer's screamer," Ady wrote.

Victory for United had seemed out of the question as they gifted Rams striker Dean Sturridge with two early goals and when Aljosa Asanovic hammered in a 33rd minute penalty Derby must have thought they were coasting to a big win.

But George Graham's side were made of stern stuff. They regrouped and the fight-back was launched in the 37th minute when Rod Wallace diverted a Bruno Ribeiro shot past Derby keeper Mark Poom for his ninth goal of the season.

Harry Kewell was only 19-years-old at the time and I remember describing him as the most exciting a young forward Elland Road had seen in a long time and the Australian brought the fans to their feet just before half time when, from near the corner of the penalty area, he unleashed a stunning left foot volley which gave Poom no chance as it zipped into the net.

Defender Alan Maybury, who was making his home debut, took a knock and was replaced by Bowyer and though United's will to win shone through it was the manager's timely substitution 15 minutes from the end that gave the side that extra spark.

Graham sent on Hasselbaink in place of skipper David Hopkin. "David was having an excellent game but I just wanted to try something different," the United boss explained. "Rather than have the game peter out at 3-2 I tried another forward and played Kewell just behind the front two - and it worked," he added.

Hasselbaink had scarcely had time to get warmed up, but he had no hesitation in taking the 81st minute penalty awarded to United after Christian Dailly had handled under pressure from David Wetherall.

United went hard after the winner and the seconds were running out when it came, Hasselbaink getting round the back of the Derby defence and, from near the dead ball line, cut the ball back for the inrushing Bowyer to hammer a super left-foot shot past Poom.

Don Warters
(Leeds United Press Officer and former correspondent in the Yorkshire Evening Post)

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