Aa Wrap - Viduka Sees Red For Leeds

Socceroo striker Mark Viduka went from hero to villain for his Leeds United side, as they attempted to avoid relegation with a victory against Bolton Wanderers.

Socceroo striker Mark Viduka went from hero to villain for his Leeds United side, as they attempted to avoid relegation with a victory against Bolton Wanderers.

Leeds had to win to have any chance of avoiding the drop and after being awarded a penalty; Viduka kept his cool to blast home the spot kick and put Leeds ahead after 25 minutes.

However things then only went wrong for the Australian international, as five minutes later he picked up a yellow card for a swipe at Emerson Thome with his leg. Two minutes later, Viduka then found himself in hot water again, as he contested a high ball he was ruled to have used an elbow at Bruno N-Gotty and subsequently received a second yellow and his marching orders.

Leeds though held onto their lead till the half time break, but that unfortunately was to be the last positive for the match.

Bolton came firing at the start of the second half, smashing three goals home in the first ten minutes and a fourth with 12 minutes remaining. Leeds now while they mathematically can still avoid the drop, with the last match away at Chelsea and needing to win both games by huge margins, it would take the biggest of miracles.

With Leeds demise, it would seem certain that Viduka will be on his way out of the club, as he is one of the highest wage earners and with the club in huge debt, he would be one of the first to go.

Meanwhile fellow Socceroos Harry Kewell and Mark Schwarzer faced off against one another, with Kewell-s Liverpool strengthening their position for the fourth Champions League spot after winning 2-0.

The two were in the action right from the start with Schwarzer twice denying his Socceroo teammate with excellent saves, while Kewell just missed a cross from Jamie Carragher that would almost certainly have gone in if he connected. All this action coming in the opening three minutes.

Kewell then had a diving header goal ruled away for offside and the teams went to the interval all square. Liverpool came out firing in the second half and but for Schwarzer they might have taken the lead, with the Aussie custodian twice blocking Michael Owen efforts.

However Liverpool-s pressure paid off and they were rewarded with a penalty and this time Schwarzer was unable to save Danny Murphy-s shot. Minutes later Emile Heskey made it 2-0 and Liverpool is now a point ahead of Aston Villa, who also won yesterday and three points ahead of Newcastle United, whom the merseysiders meet in the last match in two weeks time.

In Spain, Socceroo striker John Aloisi couldn-t come off the bench and help Osasuna to victory, instead they collapsed and lost to a last minute goal against Racing Santander, which has not helped their chances of qualifying for Europe next season.

In Italy, the news was good for all our Socceroo stars with Marco Bresciano (Parma), Vince Grella (Empoli) and Zeljko Kalac (Perugia) all recording wins with their respective teams. Bresciano again was on the scoresheet for Parma as they won 3-1 at home against Ancona and to move to fourth spot. Next week Parma is away to fifth place Inter Milan and a win will virtually seal a spot in the Champions League next season.

Meanwhile relegation threatened Empoli and Perugia helped their chances of survival with wins over Bologna and Juventus respectively. Grella started for Empoli as they beat Bologna 2-0 and they are one of four teams separated by one point and play last placed Ancona next week in a must win game.

Perugia despite their win over Juventus will have to win both its last two matches and rely on the teams above them to lose to have any chance of staying up.

Finally, Socceroo midfielder Scott Chipperfield celebrated his FC Basel-s team winning the Swiss Championship with still four games to go, scoring one goal in the 2-0 win over FC Thun.