Perils of a doubleton lead

Do you like leading from a doubleton (vs a suit contract)? Generally speaking, I do not. I will almost never lead from an honour-doubleton (e.g. Q4, J8). When I lead the honour [and unless you live in Poland, it is universally standard to lead top from two cards], my partner will think I have the card immediately beneath (and am leading top of a sequence). Furthermore, the honour is too valuable merely to toss on the table and (in all likelihood) lose.

What happened
West led ♦ 7, top from his doubleton. This gave declarer all four diamond tricks, by finessing East out of his guarded ♦ J. Trick One went ♦ 7, ♦ 4, ♦ J, ♦ A, whereupon declarer drew trumps and played ♦ A and over to ♦ KQ, discarding ♥ 4. He now had the luxury of leading towards his ♣ K for the overtrick. This did not materialise with West holding ♣ A over ♣ K, but the game was made.

What should have happened
West immediately eliminates a club lead (we have spent several Fridays looking at why leading away from an ace is bottom of the heap; here you can see that it promotes declarer’s ♣ K). But he prefers a heart to the top of a doubleton diamond.

♥ 3 goes to ♥ 2, ♥ 10 (note that there is no reason for East to play ♥ K, as he knows West cannot hold ♥ A; indeed it imperative that he keeps ♥ K, to prevent dummy’s ♥ J from being promoted). Declarer wins ♥ A, cashes ♠ AK, then follows with ♦ A and over to ♦ KQ. ♦ J does not appear and now, with just three diamond tricks, declarer is left leading to ♣ K for his game. When ♣ K loses to ♣ A, he is down one, losing two clubs and two hearts.

If you remember one thing...
Beware the (top of a) doubleton lead. It often helps declarer to set up a side-suit.