Leeds strolled into the second round last night, succeeding in a game which held all the competitive edge of a pre-season friendly. The Yugoslavs of Partizan Belgrade could muster neither enthusiasm or artistry and in the end they were simply content to lose narrowly.
David O'Leary addressed the problem of precisely how to motivate a side which had returned home from the tie's first leg with a commanding 3-1 advantage in the now familiar manner.
O'Leary - "I'm young and naive" - would preach caution if his team was asked to pit itself against 11 dustbins, so his appeal for patience on the field was the evening's least remarkable feature.
They still love European nights in West Yorkshire. They had cut the admission prices and Elland Road was bulging at the seams, a testimony to both the quality of O'Leary's players and to the traditional Yorkshire virtue of thrift.
The new Leeds will always believe that if their opponents can score three goals they will find four and it is the naivety of this gung-ho feeling which makes them so very engaging. Not for one second did they seek to hold what they had, to ringfence their advantage.
They poured forward with familiar zeal, creating little for themselves but leaving sufficient gaps in the centre of midfield to keep Partizan vaguely interested in proceedings.
Not that Partizan seemed to be imbued with self-belief; they played with a rather depressing air of resignation throughout a first half which resembled a testimonial game.
The undoubted highlight of this drab opening phase was the sight of an Austrian assistant referee frantically waving a stick after his flag had caught the breeze and fluttered away.
With the patience which O'Leary had demanded eventually came chances but it was a most painful process.
After David Hopkin carelessly lifted his shot high over the crossbar when well placed, Harry Kewell was similarly wasteful in steering his low drive into the legs of the goalkeeper Nikola Damjanac after collecting a Lee Bowyer cross.
The tedium was ended after 55 minutes when Partizan's not-sodogged resistance was ended. Even then, it was a curate's egg of a goal. Although Kewell's pass to release Darren Huckerby was expertly timed, the striker's shot from an acute angle may not have found its way home had it not struck the boot of Marjan Gerasimovski who was standing on the line.
O'Leary said: "The UEFA Cup is a great learning experience for us, but to be honest I don't believe it's a competition we can win this season. I don't think at the moment we have a squad who can play regularly on Thursday night and then again on Sunday in the league."
LEEDS UNITED: Martyn, Kelly, Woodgate, Radebe, Harte, Hopkin (Bakke 81), Batty, Bowyer, Kewell (Jones 85), Bridges (Smith 68), Huckerby. Subs Not Used: Haaland, Robinson, Mills, Hay. Booked: Bowyer. Goals: Huckerby 55.
PARTIZAN BELGRADE: Damjanac, Savic, Sabo, Gerasimovski, Stanojevic, Trobok (Duljaj 67), Ivic (Stojakovic 87), Tomic, Obradovic (Baljak 63), Pekovic, Stojisavljevic. Subs Not Used: Vukovic, Arnaut, Ilic, Miskovic. Booked: Pekovic, Tomic. Agg (4-1).
Referee: F Stuchlik (Austria).
