EL TEL 1, Tel Aviv 0. In the long run, this may prove to be a bigger result for Terry Venables than for Leeds United. The Uefa Cup is low on the list of priorities for a team clinging to the wreckage of its Premiership reputation, but the last thing their manager needed was a Hallowe’en fright night.

Venables’s pleas for patience have fallen on deaf ears and the natives are revolting. Cynics might say the team is not much better, but this was an improvement for Leeds. Their play was still disjointed and the close-knit midfield unit is now a mess of unravelling threads, but there were positive signs against a bright Hapoel Tel-Aviv team.

Among them were flashes of the old Harry Kewell. Although the Australian remains an enigma, effortlessly wavering between the sublime and the substandard, he is at least showing glimpses of former glories. Ultimately, he proved the difference last night, latching on to Alan Smith’s overhead kick to volley the winner with eight minutes left. It was Leeds’s first victory in seven matches and Venables said: “There is a bit of relief.”

Venables had sounded a cautionary note ahead of the match, highlighting Hapoel’s defeat of Chelsea a year ago and championing the rise of Israeli football. If it sounded as if he was getting his excuses in early, the opening period proved him right. Hapoel were the better team and the contrast between Pini Balili and the pinball control in the Leeds engine room was marked.

Certainly, Dror Kashtan, the Hapoel manager, was encouraged. He also felt hard done by, claiming that Smith should have been sent off and that it was unfair that the return match will be in Florence. “If we were playing in Tel Aviv, it would be different,” Kashtan said. “But this is a good result for us. Their goalkeeper was the man of the match.”

Venables had called for the disaffected Leeds fans to rally behind their team, but Elland Road soon echoed to the familiar sound of anxiety. Hapoel, unbeaten in the Israeli league, played with a verve and adventure that signalled their belief. They could have scored in only the seventh minute when Balili was put clear by a long pass. Paul Robinson resembled a rabbit caught in headlights as he froze in no man’s land and Balili should have cleared him with his lob.

Time and again in the first half, the raking pass over the top found Jonathan Woodgate and Lucas Radebe wanting. Only one good recovery tackle by Woodgate and a smart save by Robinson denied Balili as he wrought havoc with a statue-like rearguard. Clad in a flowing black raincoat, Kashtan stalked the touchline with menace. Leeds had reason to be afraid.

They improved as the match wore on, though, and came close to equalising with a move that was out of kilter with all they had managed before. Eirik Bakke and Mark Viduka combined to set up Nick Barmby, but his delicious overhead kick bounced back off a post. Viduka then hit the woodwork with a free kick and, when Ian Harte did the same, Leeds wondered whether bad luck was going to be added to their list of ailments.

Kewell twice went close as Leeds turned up the heat, but Josef Abukasis’s late strike ensured that Leeds never entered the comfort zone. “They showed what they were capable of in the first half,” Venables said. “But everyone has to realise that we are trying to set ourselves up for the next few years, not the next few weeks.”

Myopia is a common problem in football, however, and the next fortnight, comprising two Barclaycard Premiership matches, a Worthington Cup tie against Sheffield United and a trip to Tuscany could define Venables’s first season.

LEEDS UNITED (4-3-1-2): P Robinson — G Kelly, J Woodgate, L Radebe, I Harte — E Bakke, O Dacourt (sub: S McPhail, 65min), N Barmby (sub: M Bridges, 70) — H Kewell — M Viduka (sub: D Mills, 90), A Smith. Substitutes not used: N Martyn, M Duberry, J McMaster, H Singh. Booked: Bakke, Radebe, Smith.

HAPOEL TEL-AVIV (4-4-2): S Elimelech — R Halis, A Domb, S Gershon, I Antebi — O Afek, J Abukasis, G Halmai (sub: S Abutbul, 65), S Toema — C S Welton (sub: S Clesenko, 59), P Balili. Substitutes not used: G Salemi, A Halfon, B Luz, K Saban, K Udi. Booked: Toema, Domb.

Referee: J van Hulten (the Netherlands).

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