Ian Harte and Derby's Chris Powell at Elland Road (LaurenceGriffiths/Allsport)

Harry Kewell could not win this one, a physically demanding, defensive encounter with Derby County that blunted most creative expression, because he was granted merely 26 minutes to fill the saviour's role at Elland Road.

But the Australian, slowly recovering morale and combative fitness after a season rendered largely useless by Achilles tendon repairs, did score one essential vital point.

His impressive second-half emergence left the dossier men of Anderlecht with something to consider after they prepared to depart Leeds with Biros still full and minds blank.

The football spies from Belgium were threatened with a weekend of potential brain damage in trying to assess Champions League rivals who have humiliated and ravaged Europe's elite clubs yet yesterday could barely cope with a sorry bunch who let in five in midweek against Division One opposition.

Suddenly, though, before their startled gaze was Kewell, still measurably short of his own outstanding levels of performance, declaring that the Belgians could have a big problem come Tuesday night. So might Leeds manager David O'Leary.

The Irishman concedes that his No 1 player, by Kewell's own admission, cannot last a full game, so the decision is in which half he appears.

My own suggestion, based on this cameo display, is that he must start against Anderlecht.

Without recognising the weight of his own argument, O'Leary almost admitted as much when he said: 'You need the individual brilliance of a player like Harry to create the goals to win you matches. We gave him less than half-an-hour today, but he gave us that bit extra in a very tough game.

'We have to persevere with him because of his fitness and employ him in the right role. But Harry does give a different dimension to this side and, yes, he does scare the opposition.'

Not much else might disturb Anderlecht if they base their strategy on the way Leeds performed for most of this match against Jim Smith's resolute and robustly effective defenders.

In recent glorious memory, Leeds might well have taken care of Lazio, AC Milan, along with the six-goal demolition of Besiktas and the elimination of Barcelona from the competition, but those achievements have faded under a record of seven home defeats in League and Cup.

They were never under serious threat in this particular mind-sapping contest. But the longer it progressed the more you felt a team like Derby, playing not to lose, were bound to be too much of a headache for a Leeds side lacking the determination and goalmouth venom to break them down. At least for the first 45 minutes.

Derby were limited in both their application and ambition. They had a game-plan based on salvaging a point, and manager Smith shrugged: 'It was not pretty, but in our position it's not going to be. You are going to see us play like that against strong opposition a few more times.'

The powerful and disciplined presence of Horacio Carbonari had done much to smother the occasional panic within Derby's heavily-manned ranks as the potency of Robbie Keane and an unimpressive Mark Viduka was dealt with efficiently.

The long-range bombardment from Ian Harte and Olivier Dacourt, along with a rare reprisal from Taribo West and Branko Strupar, occasionally raised the pulse rate of an audience reduced to mute boredom.

Then came the appearance of Kewell. And suddenly the fans had an icon in their midst. In the limited time available, Kewell did not let them down with his mesmeric skills and ability to crack the most strong-willed defence.

One pulverising shot rattled past the post, another juggling run fed the ball with care and precision on to the waiting head of Alan Smith, and if those momentsof exhilarationwererarethey were all the evidence O'Leary needs.

Surely, he cannot afford to ignore Kewell come Tuesday night.