IF LEEDS UNITED have been flirting with relegation, it could be said that last night they bought it a drink and asked for its phone number. It was not for the want of effort and chances, but a draw against an Everton side that have endured their own reality check this season is a blow to their prospects. It was typical of Leeds’s capacity for selfinflicted wounds that one of their former players was primarily to blame.

Nigel Martyn’s departure from Elland Road last summer was not one of those that had the fans picketing the gates, but the 37-year-old may have struck a mortal blow to his old club. Leeds showed enough to suggest that they can still rescue the situation, but they are two points adrift of the pack with an inferior goal difference and a date with Arsenal next on the agenda. Everton, by contrast, are all but on dry ground.

Martyn, who made 273 appearances for Leeds and whose renaissance on Merseyside has led to talk of an England comeback, made four excellent saves to thwart Leeds as they tried to recover from Wayne Rooney’s early goal. James Milner gave them a lifeline just after the break, but Martyn snatched it away.

A cynic might say that, as Martyn started life as an accountant, Leeds were doubly wrong to let him go. “You expect Nigel to come here, given the circumstances, and give a performance,” Eddie Gray, the Leeds caretaker manager, said. “But after starting sluggishly, I thought we dominated the game and deserved to win. The players could have folded and, while there is an opportunity to survive, we will keep going.”

Leeds have spent much of the season taking one step forward and one step back, and remain hugely reliant on Mark Viduka and Alan Smith. However, this game also showcased the talents of Milner and Jermaine Pennant, two of the new generation. Sadly, for Leeds, Pennant is likely to return to Highbury in the summer.

For all the platitudes about Leeds having the players to escape, the gossamer quality of the squad was typified by Seth Johnson’s knee injury, forcing Gray to field two centre halves in midfield. One of those, Lucas Radebe, had not played since December and the other, Dominic Matteo, is the side’s best defender. The luckless Johnson, meanwhile, will not play again for at least six months.

If the line-up made for a gloomy portent, the first quarter of an hour inflated the fears of a sell-out crowd. Buoyed by their win over Tottenham Hotspur, Everton could have been three up in quick time.

Just seven minutes had elapsed when Tobias Linderoth threaded a pass to Tomasz Radzinski, whose low shot forced a fine one-handed save from Paul Robinson. Elland Road heaved a collective sigh of relief, but it proved a brief respite. Another warning was sounded when Michael Duberry blocked Joseph Yobo’s shot and the threatened goal duly came from the most predictable source. Steve Watson played his part with a clever ball behind Pennant and Rooney drilled a low 20-yard shot to Robinson’s right to score his fifth goal in six games on his comeback from suspension.

“We started great but Leeds gained spirit from us not getting the second,” David Moyes, the Everton manager, said. “They put us under pressure and there is no more fitting place for Nigel to have a blinder than here.”

Rooney, playing with the style of a veteran and the pent-up energy of the average youth club disco, almost scored a second after Radzinski’s shot bounced back off a post. He was preparing for more heroics when Duberry got in the way. Leeds built on that to gain a foothold in the match and would have climbed the mountain but for Martyn. “Nigel, Nigel, give us a goal,” the home fans chanted and he nearly obliged with a scuffed clearance to Milner. The teenager curled a 30-yard effort from the touchline but Martyn recovered to make the pick of his saves.

When Martyn then tipped over a long-range piledriver from the indefatigable Smith, one sensed that this might be one of those nights. As much as Everton had dominated the opening, Leeds tore into the blue shirts with renewed purpose after the break. A snapshot from Smith, a header from Duberry and a surge and strike from Viduka all tested Martyn’s agility to its limit.

It was left to Milner, whose experience is the main plus of the exodus from Elland Road, to score the goal that Leeds deserved when he took another astute lay-off from Viduka, skipped to the side of Yobo and drilled a daisy-cutter past Martyn’s outstretched hand.

Having emerged from their shell, Leeds verged on ebullience. Pennant and Milner taunted Everton with their youth and Smith almost won it after a one-two with Viduka, only for Martyn to produce more heroics.

For him it proved a happy homecoming. For Leeds, the party may be finally drawing to a bitter end.

LEEDS UNITED (4-4-2): P Robinson — G Kelly, M Duberry, S Caldwell, I Harte — J Pennant, L Radebe, D Matteo, J Milner — A Smith, M Viduka. Substitutes not used: S Carson, N Barmby, S Olembe, A Lennon, Simon Johnson. Booked: Caldwell.

EVERTON (4-4-2): N Martyn — A Pistone, J Yobo, D Unsworth, G Naysmith — S Watson (sub: J McFadden, 55min), T Gravesen (sub: L Carsley, 77), T Linderoth (sub: A Nyarko, 55), K Kilbane — W Rooney, T Radzinski. Substitutes not used: R Wright, T Hibbert. Booked: Nyarko.

Referee: P Durkin. Leicester stumble