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| Monday, September 23, 2002 24:16 EST |
Friedel saves Leeds' Smith penalty kick
[Reuters]
LONDON -- Leeds United has missed the chance to go second in the English Premier League after it was deservedly beaten 1-0 by Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park.
Leeds striker Alan Smith had a second-half penalty saved by Brad Friedel, after spot kick misses by Michael Owen and Thierry Henry for Liverpool and Arsenal respectively on Saturday, as Blackburn chalked up their first home win of the season.
In Sunday's other game Dion Dublin came off the bench to give Aston Villa a 3-2 home win over Everton after the visitors had fought back from 2-0 down.
Leeds dropped to fifth on 12 points as Chelsea, which plays at local rival Fulham on Monday, climbed above it by virtue of the goal the Yorkshire side conceded.
Tottenham Hotspur, 1-0 loser at Manchester United on Saturday, are third on 13 points. Liverpool, 2-0 winners over West Bromwich Albion, is second on 15, while Arsenal is top on 17 after an injury-time 3-2 win over Bolton, also on Saturday.
Blackburn and Leeds were both in UEFA Cup action on Thursday, neither looking too impressive, but the home side looked lively from the start Sunday.
They were missing strikers Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole through injury but had the best player on the pitch in David Thompson, the former Liverpool midfielder bought from Coventry City on transfer deadline day last month.
The only goal came in the 24th minute when Flitcroft turned in a Keith Gillespie cross, with the help of a slight deflection.
Blackburn continued to make most of the running and only solid goalkeeping by Paul Robinson -- and the woodwork -- prevented them adding a second.
Leeds manager Terry Venables made a triple substitution, throwing on Mark Viduka, Gary Kelly and debutant Jamie McMaster for the last half hour and the move paid off as the visitors began to take control.
Venables's team, which had beaten Manchester United and Newcastle United in its last two league games, should have levelled in the 66th minute when Henning Berg was penalized for handball in the box.
However, Friedel easily saved Smith's weakly-struck kick and then produced a much more difficult save to deny the young England striker 10 minutes from time.
At Villa Park Hendrie gave the hosts a flying start with great chip from the edge of the box and doubled the lead with a low shot two minutes after the break.
Everton hit back almost immediately when a strong run by Thomas Gravesen set up Radzinski to shoot low past Peter Enckelman.
Villa's Finnish keeper, embarrassed by a shocking own goal against Birmingham City on Monday, then saved well from Gravesen and brilliantly from Campbell as Everton piled on the pressure.
But he could do nothing to keep out Campbell's near-post flick from a 66th-minute Gravesen corner.
Villa took the points five minutes from the end when Olof Mellberg won a header from a corner and Dublin hooked home.
"We were under the cosh to say the least," Villa manager Graham Taylor told Sky Sports TV.
"It looked as if we were going to buckle under at one point but the players stuck at it and I'm really pleased with them."
Everton manager David Moyes said his team had thrown away the points.
"I thought we were in a position to win the game when we got to 2-2 but from then on our play was terrible," said the Scot."
"When we needed players to do their jobs carefully ... it was disappointing.
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