"The second was allegedly for a kick off the ball, but what we saw from Dabizas in the first half should have merited a straight red card.  

"Simon Johnson would have been clean through with just the keeper to beat but Dabizas deliberately handles the ball 20-yards out , the referee sees it, the whole stand sees it, but he only gets a yellow card. I think that was a deciding factor in the match. 
 
"What's disappointing is there didn't seem to be any consistency when it came to us.

"But I have to say that overall I am very pleased with the attitude and commitment that we saw from Leeds out there tonight.  

"Newcastle had players like Lua-Lua, Dabizas, Cort, Ambrose and Chopra out there and we knew it was always going to be a very stiff test for them, but for the first 45 minutes it was a finely balanced game.

Fielding a much-altered side to the one which had done so well last week in defeating Blackburn at Kingston Park, it was the home side who threatened first.

After five minutes an Ambrose corner from the right was met with a downward header from LuaLua that Henry McStay booted to safety from the goal line.

Referee Richardson then made his presence felt with a yellow card for Dabizas after the Greek had handled deliberately to break up a Leeds attack. James Milner sent the resultant free kick narrowly over the bar.

On 21mins a Lua Lua crossfield ball reached Ambrose, who jinked into the box but couldn't force his shot beyond the goalkeeper and into the net.

Referee Richardson then cautioned Gary Caldwell after a lunge on Leeds forward Simon Johnson, having given the Scottish defender the benefit of the doubt on a couple of previous occasions.

With 32 minutes on the clock, a long range LuaLua effort from centre field deceived 'keeper Scott Carson totally as it flew into the top right hand corner of the net. As usual the Congo striker had refused to pass to a well-placed colleague and embarked on a trademark meander. For once though, there was an end product.....1-0.

However, ten minutes later Leeds had deservedly drawn level after a quick counter attack from Milner split the Newcastle defence and allowed Martin Woods to beat Bartlett from 12 yards via a post 1-1.

And in a re-run of the incident within three minutes, The Yorkshire side would have almost certainly taken a half time lead, had Johnson not elected to shoot from the right hand side of the box with two colleagues screaming for a pull back pass.

That miss was to prove costly when within five minutes of the restart, Michael Chopra had put Newcastle ahead from a LuaLua through ball, Chops netting with an angled low shot from the right into the opposite corner 2-1.

Five minutes later and things went from bad to worse for the visitors after some needless petulance from Robert Constable, who pushed McClen away from a free kick, having earlier been booked for moving the ball away from a free kick awarded to Newcastle.

He walked after being shown a second yellow and although nothing came of the resultant free kick, a short-handed Leeds side were seldom seen as an attacking force thereafter.

Victory was confirmed for Tommy Craig's side in the 67th minute when Carl Cort finished well with a strong shot through the 'keeper at the end of his run into the box, having been picked out by LuaLua with a neat ball in from the left 3-1.

The margin of victory could have been greater, with Darren Ambrose frequently finding space down the right flank but struggling to make his final ball count. LuaLua as well was seeing plenty of the play and teasing the Leeds players but without really punishing them.

And the Congo striker was to leave the pitch early after looking to have taken a whack on the ankle in the closing seconds. He was replaced by Bradley Orr, who himself came close to scoring with his first touch, as an inviting cross whizzed across the Leeds six yard box.