Leeds manager David O'Leary last night praised young striker Michael Bridges on a sensational night of European glory for his rampant side. Bridges scored a decisive double as Leeds ran out convincing winners against Lokomotiv Moscow for a stunning 7-1 aggregate victory.
The £5 million club-record signing was forced to play on his own up front as O'Leary chose to flood the midfield in the face of an expected onslaught from the Russian side.
Leeds were forced to weather an early storm, but then hit back in devastating fashion as Ian Harte scored from the penalty spot before Bridges crowned a fabulous first-half performance with a brace to take his tally to 11 for the season.
O'Leary said: "I wanted Michael Bridges about a year ago before he came to us. I had him marked down as somebody I wanted if and when he became available. When that happened in the summer we went and got him. He is a talent and somebody who will develop into a very special player.
"I didn't think it was an ideal situation for him to play on his own tonight, but he did it marvellously well. I have tremendous faith in him. He knows I am his biggest critic and that I am a taskmaster, but he knows it's all for the best.
"When he first arrived I didn't want to put him into the firing line. For a couple of games he struggled and he was a bit hard on himself.
"He also thought his fee was a lot of money and because of that he didn't want to let anybody down. But he has proved just what a good player he is although as far as I am concerned he didn't have anything to prove at all."
After the three goals during that first period, the second proved to be a stroll as Leeds coasted through to the last 32.
Leeds now face the prospect of being drawn against one of the eight `rejects' from the Champions League with the eight third-placed teams from the respective groups going into the hat for today's third-round draw.
"I wouldn't want to face any of those teams," said O'Leary, "but then the same goes for the likes of Juventus and Parma, but I can have no complaints with tonight's performance. We were a little bit lucky early on, but then we got the early away goal and it settled us down.
"I am just grateful to be in the next round and hope it's not a Champions League team we meet because they are far better than us.
"But going into this game we were in such a nice position and given the scoreline at the end I was very flattered. I think we did all the hard work in that first leg (a 4-1 win at Elland Road) because on that night we were terrific and took our goals well."
The only sour note for O'Leary was that skipper Lucas Radebe will miss the first leg of the third round after picking up his third booking.
LOKOMOTIV MOSCOW: Nigamtoulline, Arifoullin, Lavrik, Pashinin (Kharlachev 46), Ovannesyan, Tchougainov (Semenenko 74), Smertin, Boulykin (Piminov 74), Loskov, Sarkisian, Solomatin. Subs Not Used: Poliakov, Maminov, Neretine. Booked: Solomatin.
LEEDS: Martyn, Kelly, Radebe, Woodgate, Harte, Bowyer (Haaland 46), Batty, McPhail (Hopkin 80), Kewell (Huckerby 65), Bridges, Bakke. Subs Not Used: Robinson, Mills, Duberry, Smith. Booked: Radebe, Bakke, Kelly. Goals: Harte 16 pen, Bridges 28, 45.
Referee: Alain Sars (France).
