Di Canio shines as Leeds settle for lacklustre

West Ham United 0 Leeds United

Comparisons between West Ham's team and their raw, unfinished new main stand may be tempting, but they could so easily have done more profitably than a no-goals draw against a Leeds side who, by the admission of their manager, David O'Leary, were tired after their midweek exertions against Arsenal and also lacklustre up front.

With their captain, Paolo Di Canio, defying the conditions to turn in an inspiring non-stop show, West Ham had enough of the game to test fully the quality of a Leeds defence in which Rio Ferdinand not only excelled but came through without appar-ent harm before next Saturday's England crucial World Cup qualifier in Munich.

The news for Ian Harte was less good. The Leeds defender was carried off 10 minutes from the end following what seemed an innocuous collision with Di Canio. Another slice of bad news for O'Leary on the injury front, with Alan Smith and Eirik Bakke out of this game with injuries incurred at Highbury.

Smith's commitment up front was certainly missed. Robbie Keane achieved little, while Mark Viduka squandered a couple of chances he would bury comfortably on other days. "Viduka will make up for his misses today," said O'Leary. "But Keane could have done better and I have told him so."

In their opening home game, West Ham's new manager, Glenn Roeder, was formally greeted before the start, followed by a minute's silence for the Hammers' former keeper, the late Les Sealey. "Let's win it for Les," roared the announcer at the kick-off, and West Ham certainly tried hard enough.

With Di Canio teasing, taunting and building promising moves, there were early opportunities, but time after time the ball was hoofed high into the Centenary Stand behind Nigel Martyn's net. Perhaps it was something to do with the hot air.

When Leeds settled, they ought to have gone ahead in the ninth minute. Lee Bowyer's cross was pinpoint, right on Viduka's forehead, between Shaka Hislop's posts, but again the ball was propelled too high. Then, in a rare moment of inspiration, Kewell drifted past two tackles only to see his drive deflected into the side netting, before Viduka fluffed another opening, topping his shot along the ground into Hislop's arms.

In this spell of Leeds pressure, West Ham suffered two bookings: Rigobert Song for a tackle from behind on Keane and Svetolav Todorov for felling David Batty. Before half-time Dominic Matteo and John Moncur joined them in referee Paul Durkin's book, but the game never turned vicious. Perhaps that was something to do with the heat, too.

Leeds should have gone in at the interval with the lead, but Viduka again targeted the goal poorly from Danny Mills' fine centre, putting a header straight at Hislop. But either side of the break, Joe Cole could have claimed the game's first score. Mills got in a tackle as the West Ham youngster pulled the trigger from close range, and after the restart Cole had the ball in Martyn's net, only for it to be disallowed for a foul on the goalkeeper by Todorov.

Michael Carrick's ability to spot a chance offered West Ham their best hope of a goal. Having driven narrowly wide from long range and then almost lobbed Martyn from the halfway line in the opening half, he produced a fine effort after an hour, turning inside Matteo to curl a shot narrowly beyond the far angle.

Leeds could never tame Di Canio. Having bamboozled Mills comprehensively, the Italian laid the ball into the path of Nigel Winterburn, invitingly on his trusty left foot. The shot was low and excellent, but so was Martyn's save. But it was Di Canio himself who came closest for West Ham. His vicious shot from 10 yards looked a certain goal, only for Ferdinand to stick out a foot and turn it over the bar.

Roeder said: "I thought Paolo had scored and so did he. But it was just a case of Rio coming back to haunt us. David O'Leary knew what he was doing when he paid £18m for him. Rio showed what he could do today."

There was to be only one more possibility of a goal for West Ham. Di Canio, inevitably, played the ball which sent Trevor Sinclair haring towards the Leeds goal, only to be halted by Matteo's perfectly timed tackle with the home supporters howling for a penalty as Sinclair tumbled.

So Leeds remain unbeaten, but a draw, according to O'Leary, was just about what his side deserved. "We were nice and solid at the back," he said. "But we needed more attacking options. I would have liked to make changes up front but I didn't have anybody else to put in. Having said that, we have done well."

But, as he knows, they can and will do better.

West Ham United 0 Leeds United 0

Attendance: 24,517