Maybury's chance to dent Leeds hopes

Carl Marston

Maybury's chance to

Dent Leeds hopes

By Carl Marston

ALAN Maybury only made 14 league appearances in six years at Leeds United, but he still travelled all over Europe with the once mighty Yorkshire club.

Dublin-born Maybury was only a raw teenager when he first signed for Leeds - he had celebrated his 17th birthday just nine days before his move from Irish club St Kevin's BC.

During the next few years he made his mark as a radio pundit, and as a squad player, but he never really established himself at Elland Road - he always played second-fiddle to Gary Kelly at right-back.

Today, though, and Colchester United's regular right-back has a chance to put a dent in Leeds' push for promotion. Ironically, he had made his U's debut in a 2-1 win at Elland Road last December.

“I sat on some of the best benches around Europe when I was at Leeds!” joked Maybury.

“I went to AC Milan, Real Madrid and also Valencia in the Champions League semi-finals (2000-01).

“The club always had plenty of money then, but that was just beginning to change when I left (in 2001). In fact, I seem to have the ability to leave a club just before things get even worse!

“A few of my old clubs have fallen into difficulties,” added Maybury, who also spent three years at Leicester City.

The Foxes are poised for a quickfire return to the Championship, following relegation last term, and Leeds are hoping to join them.

Simon Garyson's men really need to beat the U's this afternoon, to preserve their hopes of stealing into the second automatic promotion slot. But they will not find it easy, especially as Paul Lambert's side were good value for their win at Elland Road.

Maybury continued: “Leeds have found a bit of form recently, and they had a great result against MK Dons (2-0) last weekend. They seem to have fixed some of their financial problems, which were so well documented.

“I was surprised to see them drop into the third tier of the Football League, because they were still near the top of the Premier League when I left.

“We had been in the Champions League the season before I left, and we expected a repeat the following year. But it wasn't such a good season.

“I was only a young lad at the time, and I didn't know much about the running of a club.

“In fact, I made more of a name for myself on the radio than on the pitch! I used to do a lot of radio work because I wasn't playing a lot, so that's what I'm probably best remembered for at Leeds.”

Maybury has been ever-present since making his U's debut at Leeds on December 13. Today is set to be his 23rd successive appearance.

The 30-year-old was part of an impressive four-man defence that kept a clean-sheet, in front of keeper Mark Cousins, at Millwall on Tuesday night. Marc Tierney has been just as consistent at left-back, while Pat Baldwin and Preston loanee Neal Trotman have gelled as the new-look centre-half partnership.

Now, though, the U's will be looking to address their home form, which has been patchy all season. Less than half of their points - 25 from 57 - have been collected at the Community Stadium.

“We looked much more solid at Millwall. I thought we kept our shape well,” said Maybury, with reference to the 1-0 win at the New Den.

“Two individual errors really cost at Scunthorpe (3-0 defeat). That put us on the back foot, but we got a good reaction on Tuesday night and we're full of confidence.

“Much has been said about our pitch not being that great, but that's just the way it is. The surface is a bit bobbly, which means that we cannot play exactly the way we want to.

“But it's the same for both sides and we should be able to adapt better, because we are used to playing on it.

“There's no doubt that we have been better away from home than at home, but we have also tended to play better against the better teams. Hopefully that will be the case against Leeds,” added Maybury.