Fallen giants Leeds United still proved to be a big draw as almost 7,000 fans turned up to watch the English League One side beat Glentoran 3-1 in a competitive encounter at the Oval yesterday.

The east Belfast men were looking a little leggy after their European exploits away to Maccabi Haifa of Israel in midweek but more than held their own for long periods of the game.

United took the lead through Robert Snodgrass after 14 minutes then doubled the advantage just before the break through Jermaine Beckford.

A raft of substitutions saw a younger Glentoran team take to the field after the break and their youthful exuberance brought its rewards when Grant Gardiner fired into the top corner on 57 minutes.

The fresh-faced Glens battled on but couldn’t grab an equaliser and Enoch Showunmi completed the scoring for the visitors with eight minutes remaining.

In the early stages the Glens were matching their more illustrious opponents in terms of tempo at least, though United keeper Shane Higgs was a virtual by-stander.

The Yorkshire men went in front when a miscue from Johnny Taylor found Snodgrass on the edge of the area and he slotted into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.

Beckford was proving to be a handful and he forced a great save from Elliott Morris just two minutes later then glanced a header wide on 22 minutes.

The Glens couldn’t get in behind the Whites’ defence and settled for long range efforts — Dean Fitzgerald and Richard Clarke coming close with their shots and at the other end Taylor made up for his earlier error by bravely blocking Beckford from close range.

The big striker did find the breakthrough, though, on the stroke of half time, rounding Morris after a through ball from Andy Robinson.

In the second half an almost completely different Glentoran side entered the fray and showed plenty of energy which brought about their goal when Andy Hall worked superbly down the right, cutting back to Gardiner who slammed into the top corner.

From then more substitutions took the pace out of the game and Showunmi wrapped up proceedings before James Taylor in the Glens goal made a stunning save from Mike Grella in the dying minutes.

GLENTORAN: Morris, Nixon, Neill, Clarke, Leeman, Black, Johnny Taylor, Fordyce, Waterworth, Hamilton, Fitzgerald Subs: James Taylor, Halliday, Burrows, Ward, McCabe, Gardiner, Hall, Callacher, Harris, Southam, McBurnie.

LEEDS: Higgs, Hughes, Michalik, Huntington, Robinson, Parker, Snodgrass, Delph, Howson, Beckford, Becchion Subs: Darville, Steehan, Prutton, Johnson, Showunmi, White, Elliott, Lees, Martin, Grella.

REFEREE: John McKnight