O'Leary uses fear as his motivator

David O'Leary says the fear of failure should be motivation enough to prevent his side becoming a Uefa Cup first-round casualty at Elland Road tonight.

The Premiership leaders face the prospect of an early exit to Maritimo after an embarrassing 1-0 defeat to the Portuguese side last week in Madeira. O'Leary's players were accused of complacency and taking the game "light-heartedly", although the Leeds manager claims the defeat was just "a bad day at the office".

"The lads know they let themselves down last week," the Irishman said. "But they're only human beings, although human beings can honestly play just as badly twice.

"I never thought they could play that bad in the first place, but it goes to show that you can't legislate for some things. There's a hunger among the players to win because they know if they go out of this competition then it would leave a very, very bitter taste."

The good news for O'Leary is that the Frenchman Olivier Dacourt, who faces a late fitness test, could be back from a hamstring strain to boost a midfield hit by injury and suspension last week.

Lee Bowyer completes the final game of a three-match European ban following his stamp on Juan Sanchez in the first leg of the European Cup semi-final at home to Valencia last season. However, the Norwegian Eirik Bakke has shown no ill effects from his hamstring problem after playing the full 90 minutes of Sunday's 3-0 win at home to Derby, in which he scored the opener.