Narky Farke
BOSS DAN CROSS AT DROPPED POINTS By Clive Hetherington
LEEDS boss Daniel Farke wants his players to “feel the pain’’ of their failure to beat stubborn Coventry.
Farke’s men missed the chance to cut the gap on second-placed Ipswich to eight points.
Dutch winger Crysencio Summerville’s 10th goal of the season on 58 minutes handed Leeds the lead but centre-back Bobby Thomas levelled eight minutes later with his first for Coventry.
Farke, whose side lost at 1-0 at Sunderland on Tuesday, saw the end of their seven-match winning home run.
And the German said: “I want them to feel the disappointment. I don’t want to take the pain away – I want them to feel the pain.
“It was very frustrating. We should have won this game – we did more than enough to win. We should have defended the situation much better for their goal. It was a sucker punch.’’
Coventry were heading for their Christmas party last night and boss Mark Robins was happy for his players to celebrate.
He said: “It was a brilliant point for us and we could have won if we’d taken the chances we had on the counter.
“It’s been a difficult week for us against two relegated teams – we also drew at home to
Southampton the other night.’’ Striker Georginio Rutter drove wide across goal shortly before the interval but played his part when the deadlock was broken. Ethan Ampadu found the Frenchman and he slipped a cute ball inside the defence for Summerville to guide his finish into the far corner.
But Coventry replied when Thomas got between defenders Pascal Struijk and Archie Gray to head in Tatushiro Sakamoto’s right-wing cross.
And Daniel James wasted a late opportunity to win it for Leeds when he fired wide with only keeper Brad Collins to beat.
An on-pitch bust-up between opposing players on the final whistle had to be broken up but Robins insisted: “It was handbags.’’ LEEDS: Meslier 6; Gray 5, Rodon 6, Struijk 5, Spence 6 (Gnonto (78) 5); Ampadu 6, Kamara 6 (Bamford (78) 5); James 5, Piroe 5 (Gelhardt (85) 5), Summerville 7; Rutter 6 COVENTRY: Collins 6; Van Ewijk 6 (Allen (79) 5), Thomas 7, Kitching 6, Bidwell 6 (Wright (67) 5); Latibeaudiere 6; Sakamoto 6 (O’hare (67) 5), Eccles 5, Sheaf 6, Dasilva 6; Simms 6 (Palmer (78) 5) STAR MAN: Crysencio Summerville – Opened the scoring and was always a bright spark for Leeds. REF: Geoff Eltringham 5