Leeds
boss Terry Venables had special praise for Michael
Bridges after he played his first top-flight football
in almost two years on Thursday.
Former
Sunderland hitman Bridges came off the bench to great
affect against Metalurg Zaporizhia in the Uefa Cup,
chasing down a seemingly lost cause and creating the
only goal of the game for Alan Smith.
Venables said: "I thought Michael Bridges did
very well.
"It has been a long time for him and he came
on and worked very hard, it was a big moment for him
and I am very pleased for him.
"He did very well for the goal, and a lot more
besides."
Venables was pleased that Leeds finally managed to
break a packed defence down and they will take a lead
to the Ukraine in a fortnight.
He added: "I thought we needed to pick the pace
up in the second half, we did that and looked a lot
better as a result.
"In the end, I think we could have got a goal
or two more.
"They worked hard and ensured the game was stretched
out, I felt we improved on the Sunderland performance
when another team came to defend.
"We threatened to score a lot more and with a
bit more good fortune we could have scored three goals.
"This is a good result for Metalurg but at least
we did not concede.
"In the first half, they had a couple of players
who threatened us and they will certainly come at
us in the second leg."
