Leeds United 4 - 3 Tottenham Hotspur

	Sir Les is carried off with concussion (Clive Mason/Allsport)

The timing was almost perfect - one day short of the two-year anniversary since Graham abandoned Leeds for seemingly more grandiose Tottenham Hotspur.

With Graham's team a goal to the good, the torrent of taunts were barbed and unequivocal. 'Judas, Judas' seared the branding iron.

But after Leeds retaliated with a devastating volley of on-field retribution - three goals in six minutes - the lyrical request to their former manager merely begged confirmation of the scoreline.

Spurs promptly narrowed the margin to 3-2 with a strike from Chris Perry, only to plunge back into a two-goal deficit as Leeds scored their fourth in a crazy 12 minutes.

Even after Alan Smith had struck the bar for Leeds, there was a third Spurs goal from Sergei Rebrov. All in all, six goals within the space of 22 second-half minutes, a statistic which was astounding given a deeply unsatisfactory opening half.

A sickening clash of heads in the 28th minute determined that Les Ferdinand would play no further part in the proceedings. Leeds captain Lucas Radebe continued in a daze before being forced to quit a minute before the break suffering from concussion.

Leeds lost Olivier Dacourt with a ham-string strain and Rebrov required lengthy attention following a clumsy assault by Danny Mills. But the talented Ukrainian retained sufficient wit and wherewithal to sweep Tottenham into a 37th-minute lead.

Tottenham goalkeeper Neil Sullivan contributed greatly to Leeds' first in palming the ball against his own post in the 52nd minute and when Ramon Vega failed to clear, Mark Viduka could hardly miss. Within a minute, the Australian was celebrating his fourth goal in a week since returning from the Olympics. Viduka reacted smartly to divert a spec-ulative shot by Gary Kelly past Sullivan.

In the 59th minute a free-kick from Lee Bowyer was converted by a smart close-range header from Smith but Perry registered a Tottenham response on the hour.

Four minutes on, Smith was unchallenged when he put Leeds 4-2 ahead. There was barely time to draw breath before Rebrov's second strike in the 74th minute set up a grandstand finale.

'The managers saw too many goals given away,' said Leeds boss David O'Leary. 'But we put our chances away.'

Graham confessed: 'I thought Leeds might be jaded after their splendid European effort in midweek. They didn't lift their fans at all and when we scored, I thought we'd go on to win. Then we had a crazy six minutes.

'Who would have thought that George Graham and David O'Leary could produce a seven-goal thriller?'

There had been the briefest of handshakes at the finish between Graham and the former assistant he had urged not to succeed him at Elland Road but to follow him to Spurs. Graham insisted at the time that Leeds had gone as far as they could.

Two years on they were able to go that little bit further than Tottenham.