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Leeds leaps to third Ferdinand, Bowyer seal 2-1 win over Liverpool
Updated: Friday April 13, 2001 1:11 PM
LIVERPOOL, England (AP) -- Leeds defeated Liverpool 2-1 Friday on goals from Rio Ferdinand and Lee Bowyer and a took a big step toward securing a place in next season's coveted European Champions League. The victory moved Leeds into third place in the Premier League -- the final spot for Champions League qualifying in England -- with 56 points, three ahead of Ipswich and six above Liverpool. In the day's other Premier League match, last-place and relegation-bound Bradford defeated Charlton 2-0 on Robert Blake's 74th-minute penalty and an 80th-minute, 30-yard (meter) goal from Benito Carbone. Steven Gerrard scored for Liverpool in the 55th to make it 2-1, which made Lee Bowyer's goal for Leeds in the 33rd the decider. Gerrard was sent off in the 71st for his second yellow card, virtually ending Liverpool's challenge. Bowyer's goal came just four days after the collapse of a trial in which he and teammate Jonathan Woodgate were accused of beating a student outside a nightclub. A new trial has been ordered for Oct. 8. The first trial was stopped when the judge ruled a newspaper had published prejudicial material. Leeds' win was its second this season over Liverpool following a 4-3 victory at Elland Road five months ago when Australian Mark Viduka scored all four. It was the first season double for Leeds over Liverpool in 30 years. Leeds is undefeated in its last 11 Premier League games. Liverpool is simply exhaused. The Reds have now played five matches in 12 days and face archrival Everton on Monday and Barcelona on Thursday. The fight for third place is about the only battle left at the top of the English standings with Manchester United in sight of clinching its seventh title in nine seasons on Saturday. Man United, which has 73 points to 60 for Arsenal, can clinch if Middlesbrough beats Arsenal on Saturday and the leaders defeat Coventry. Leeds, the surprise team of English and European soccer, will take a 3-0 lead into next week's second-leg quarterfinals of the European Champions Cup at Spain's Deportivo.
Liverpool, which last won Europe's top cup in 1984, goes into this week's second-leg semifinals of the UEFA Cup after a 0-0 draw at Barcelona in the first leg. Liverpool has already won the English League Cup this season and will face Arsenal in the May 12 F.A. Cup final. "I thought we were excellent," Leeds' manager David O'Leary said. "We wanted to come and win here and we deserved it -- we could have scored a couple more goals in the second half. "Liverpool got their momentum up and we conceded a soft goal -- but we saw that out and I thought we were always a threat on the break." Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier admitted he was disappointed and called it a "bad day at the office." "We made two big mistakes, one from a corner and one when we lost the ball in a dangerous area in the middle of the park -- and we paid each time. But Leeds were the better side and deserved to win. "The boys have played a lot of games and I don't want to blame them -- but it hurts obviously. We didn't play well today. We were sometimes slow and out of sorts in the first half. We started slowly and paid for it." Leeds took a 1-0 lead in the 4th minute when Ferdinand drove home a header just inside the post off a corner. Leeds increased the lead to 2-0 in the 33rd on what turned out to be Bowyer's winner. Bowyer took a perfectly weighted, left-footed pass from Harry Kewell -- splitting the defense -- and shot from 6 meter (yards) with Sander Westerveld making a sprawling save. But Bowyer recovered the ball and drove it home. Liverpool made it 2-1 in the 55th when Gerrard, off a long, looping cross from the left wing from Michael Owen, drove home a perfect shot from 8 meters (yards).
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