The fortress Leeds United had built in a string of good performances came crashing down last night, as Grayson’s men lost 5-0 to his former club Blackpool. Ironically, it was keeper Paul Rachubka whose hands had held together the final defence lines of so many championship clubs that dropped the ball on three separate occasions, reducing the Yorkshire side’s ambitions to rubble.

Rachubka’s performance had caused the Leeds boss so much concern he hauled off the former Blackpool keeper at half time, handing a senior debut to 18-year-old Alex Cairns.

Rachubka has seen a number of poor starts in a Leeds shirt and was at blame for a late equaliser against Coventry. Following that game though, Leeds Boss Grayson backed Rachubka to bounce back on with future good performances.

But with three errors in 45 minutes gifting the Seasiders three goals, Grayson was forced to make the substitution and bring on his promising Leeds academy graduate.

Unfortunately, the inexperience of Cairns showed, conceding a further 2 goals in the second half before the final whistle blew for full time and a 5-0 defeat.

Rachubka started the evenings calamities in the 13th minute when he could only parry a Jonjo Shelvey shot directly into the path of Lua Lua’s, leaving a simple tap in for the Blackpool striker. Following that the Leeds goalkeeper then dropped a routine pass, which lead to Right Back Tom Lees’ dismissal for handling the subsequent shot and reducing Leeds to ten men.

Rachubka’s hat trick of errors came in the 31st minute after a speculative 25 year effort from Lua Lua was palmed down Shelvey for his second goal of the game. The Liverpool based Shelvey then went on to score his hat trick in the second half.

It will be interesting to see the reception he gets from the Leeds faithful come sundae afternoon

Grayson now faces a tough tie at Leicester City, with a quandary as to who he will play between the posts. Leicester have also limped their way to 22 points alongside the Yorkshire club and are one place above them in the table. The Foxes had high hopes for this season after spending big money and signing ex-Leeds United hero Jermaine Beckford.