Leeds United and play offs

Watch the body language

Who would have predicted it? The Coca Cola Division One play-off at Wembley on May 24 will be between Scunthorpe and Millwall. Hardened punters would have put their money on MK Dons and Leeds United and, let’s face it, they are the two teams which should really be there.

Both played their hearts out during the season, only to be denied at the final hurdle. Scunthorpe and Millwall might well produce a thrilling match but Leeds versus MK Dons would really have lifted the roof. Ironically, it was penalties which played a major role in both Scunthorpe’s success and the failure of Leeds.

A thrilling encounter between Scunthorpe and MK Dons ended without goals after 120 minutes of non-stop action, with the Dons eventually losing out 7-6 in the shoot-out. Scunthorpe boss Nigel Adkins said afterwards “I enjoyed it” but he must have been the only one. Fans on both sides had no nails left by the end of it.

However, Adkins perhaps provided the clue to their success by revealing his players regularly practise their penalties and their body language and the latter is often the difference between slotting home between the posts or hitting over the bar. “They all looked as though they meant business,” he said.

Scunthorpe keeper Joe Murphy was certainly on fine form and was hailed the hero of the match. Not surprisingly, MK Dons were bitterly disappointed, with manager Roberto Di Matteo believing they deserved to go up after a long hard-fought season and few would disagree. But, as Nigel Adkins conceded, it’s all a bit of a lottery.

Leeds meantime are still counting the cost of a missed penalty by star striker Jermaine Beckford who had been so instrumental in Leeds’ push for the top. His missed spot-kick was incredibly the fifth time Leeds had failed from the penalty spot this season.

Leeds have now failed to make the play-off final for the third time in four years and face a third season in the third tier. A bitter pill to swallow given they had lost only two of their last 17 matches.

Interestingly, manager Simon Grayson and chairman Ken Bates had apparently already made plans for both Championship and League One football next season before the play-offs. A wise move given the previous financial history of Leeds, with the club at least knowing in advance where it stands with players and budgets. It does beg the question, however, of whether there was any tiny element of disbelief that Leeds would be unable to clinch the prize? Just like body language with penalties, can body language be detected amongst club officials too?

One thing is for sure. MK Dons and Leeds will both be gunning for automatic promotion next season and will be leaving nothing to chance. Perhaps fitting in a few more penalty training sessions might be advisable just in case.