Out of the darkness cometh light, Elland Road’s east stand late last night.

The roads around Elland Road were unusually quiet last night and, as the players walked out, the atmosphere amongst the 17,634 attendees seemed flatter than a Lincolnshire pancake in a Dutch trouser press .

Not an awesome turn-out, admittedly, but when you consider the current turmoil at the club, the bitterly cold wintry night, the fact this game had been only recently brought forward from saturday due to Bournemouth’s FA Cup involvement and the damn-near 10-hour round trip for the visitors (whose away end is pictured below), it’s a wonder that many people still had enough faith to trudge on down.

Bournemouth showed why they’re currently at the top of the league and hadn’t lost away since September, against similarly high-flying Derby. They play an attractively high tempo game, lots of one-touch interplay, niftily working the ball to each other’s feet and the Leeds defenders seemed reluctant to get tight to their men, backing off slightly and allowing their forwards to come at them.

They had an effort just zip past the post from a cutback, had a goal disallowed for offside and worked Silvestri into making a dramatic mid-air goal-line save straight off the cover of Sondico’s glossy new equipment catalogue.

Leeds got a grip of the game soon, though. A defender’s leg just prevented Morison finding Mowatt at the far post, the all-action Rudy Austin (playing up front, weirdly enough) flashed one across the face and Luke Murphy stung Artur Boruc’s palms with a blaster before THIS HAPPENED….!!!

Boom! What a strike! Murphy hit it beautifully, after attacking the space Austin’s ball inside had granted him and there was a nice bit of ‘to you-to me’ interplay leading up to goal too, between Wootton and Byram.

Bournemouth hit the post later on and had another couple of chances but equally, Austin could’ve scored from a header after Byram’s strike had been parried and 17-year old Lewis Cook was once again the best player on the pitch, showing a degree of ball-retention skill and composure that belies his inexperience.

He’s my new favourite player. Not just because he looks a genuinely exciting talent, almost definitely ready to work his way up through the England team pyramid (hopefully while still playing for us :-/), but also because, while everyone else is rocking ridiculous day-glo shades, he’s one of the few modern-day players to prefer traditional black boots… Classic Adidas ones at that. Good lad!

Late in the game, things looked to have turned as grim as the snowy weather when Bellusci was sent off for a blatant but reasonaby necessary professional foul, his dismissal succeeding the award of an entirely unjust 88th-minute penalty. For this challenge (below)… clearly some distance out of the box.

I think the referee must’ve got the call to award it in his earpiece, direct from the Football League’s HQ.

“…and now you’ve gotta believe us…. the Football League’s corrupt…!”

For the resulting spotkick, Cherries substitute Jann Kermorgant decided placing the ball in the same top corner as Murphy’s strike was the best course of action. Luckily, his aim wasn’t true and he shaved the top of the crossbar instead.

Which made for a much better evening of course. Having a good reason to jump around frenziedly and hug the person next to you is something that’s been scarce at Elland Road this season, so to have two in one night was a double bonus.

Bournemouth are clearly a better, more attractive side than us but with the effort we put in and the attitude we showed, not to have won tonight would’ve been really unfair, especially with a decision as dodgy as that late penalty award.

If I was a superstitious type, I’d insist on the team having the same pre-match meal, prepared by the same person for the next few games. It seems last night’s chef might have plenty of time on his hands until April, as was revealed here:

Considering our lowly league position right now, that was a vital three points and what a surprisingly pleasing evening… The team had worked hard for a deserved result, we’d witnessed a cracking match-winning goal and an attractive, positive approach from the visitors, the snow looked real pretty as we exited the ground, all-white and pure like United themselves, while the bargain hot food flask and fleecy-warm ski trousers I’d bought earlier from Aldi had served me admirably, the warm glow I felt walking up Wesley Street almost Ready Brek-esque in its luminescence.

Our ‘get-up-and-glow’ hasn’t got up and gone just yet…