Albion 0 - Leeds 3

FIRST came the bounce effect which often accompanies a change in manager, now the reality check.

The champions-elect showed how much ground Gus Poyet has to make up to deliver Championship football to Albion by the end of next season, in time for the move to Falmer.

He has only just begun that journey and the astute Uruguayan will not have been surprised that his old club outclassed his new one.

Poyet knew Albion would need to be at their very best in every department to trouble opponents who were, by a country mile, the most impressive they have encountered this season. Instead they were second-best in every area.

Glenn Murray and Nicky Forster were barely given a kick by outstanding Australian international Patrick Kisnorbo and towering Slovakian Lubomir Michalik.

Andrew Crofts and Gary Dicker were outshone in midfield by another Aussie, Neil Kilkenny, whose eyecatching performance demonstrated why Micky Adams was interested in signing him last season.

In the wide areas, Elliott Bennett and Dean Cox could offer little going forward, because they were too occupied helping out their full-backs.

A back four, unchanged after 180 minutes without conceding in open play, struggled to contain Robert Snodgrass out on the left and could not prevent the lethal Jermaine Beckford from collecting his customary goal.

And to think Snodgrass was switched to the role normally filled by the free-scoring Bradley Johnson, who, together with club captain Richard Naylor, was missing through injury.

That is a scary indication of how strong Leeds are and why they are sailing clear at the top of the table but there was a valid reason for Albion’s failure to give them more of a run for their money.

The Leeds players, with the exception of their cluster of internationals, had their feet up for ten days.

During that period the Albion players have had to adjust to their new manager, play a highly charged and sapping South Coast derby at Southampton and an FA Cup replay against Wycombe.

With a crowded fixture list impeding Poyet’s opportunities to work on the team’s shortcomings, they have not had a day off yet and will not get one until Wednesday after the Norwich game.

It was hardly surprising then that Poyet’s side looked at times as weary as the Withdean-numbed supporters, who, on a foul afternoon, found it as difficult as the players to summon the energy to upstage their bedraggled but buoyant Leeds counterparts.

For the first half of the first half there was nothing in the match and no chances for either side but it was always going to be an uphill battle for Albion once they fell behind.

Kilkenny and Beckford combined to set up Snodgrass for an angled shot from 20 yards which swirled wickedly and dipped over Graeme Smith, deputising for the injured Michel Kuipers.

There were exonerating factors. The strike from Snodgrass was unexpected and it took a deflection off Andrew Whing’s boot as he challenged.

Two minutes later, Beckford volleyed against the outside of Smith’s left-hand post from a Snodgrass cross.

Two minutes before half-time, the league’s leading marksman delivered the killer blow and provided in the process an uncomfortable reminder of Albion’s defensive failings pre-Poyet.

It was a delight from a Leeds point of view; a 70-yard pass by Kilkenny, instant control from Beckford and a classily stroked finish.

From an Albion perspective, losing concentration to allow the deadliest striker in the division room to manoeuvre from a pass hit from such distance was asking for trouble. They have been undone far too often this season by balls over the defence. The game, from a neutral stance, cried out for an Albion goal after the break, which the stretching Murray almost delivered with a toe-poked volley wide from Cox’s near-post cross.

You still sensed Leeds were in cruise control and would have stepped back up a gear if challenged.

The margin of their superiority was increased on the stroke of full-time, Kilkenny converting a cross by sub David Prutton, with Albion outnumbered by a quick counter-attack from their own corner.

A heaviest home defeat since February was a touch harsh, although the Seagulls did not muster a single shot on target and the well-shackled Forster will rarely be less of a goal threat.

Poyet said: “They (Leeds) showed why they are top of the league, with the confidence in the way they played, the way they passed the ball.

“For a few moments we looked like we were able to compete and get back into the game. I think the second goal was the end of the afternoon.

“We needed to be at our best in every department, in defending, our passing and attacking, and unfortunately we weren’t.

“We take it and move forward, we have to accept it. All credit to Leeds, this is probably the season for them to get up into the Championship.

“They were fresher than us, that’s for sure, but I’ll never make excuses. We lost, we’ll take it and look forward to Tuesday (at Norwich).”

Poyet’s induction to management does not get any easier but he would surely have grabbed with both hands three points from tests against Southampton and Leeds.

Albion (4-4-2): Smith; Whing (Navarro 69), Elphick, Tunnicliffe, El-Abd (Davies 79); Bennett, Dicker, Crofts, Cox (McLeod 69); Murray, Forster. Subs not used: Livermore, Hart, Virgo, Pelling.

Yellow cards: None.

Leeds United (4-4-2): Ankergren; Bromby, Michalik, Kisnorbo, Hughes; Howson (Prutton 81), Doyle, Kilkenny, Snodgrass; Beckford (Gradel 90), Vokes (Showunmi 84). Subs not used: Grella, Robinson, Martin, White.

Goals: Snodgrass (27), Beckford (43), Kilkenny (90).

Yellow cards: Michalik (80) foul.