LEEDS SHOW THEIR CLASS IN EPIC FIGHT
Bielsa throws on Bamford to turn the tide
HoNoURS even, reputations as the Championship’s great entertainers intact, and absolutely nothing to separate the two best sides in the second tier.
the contest could have been won by West Brom in the first half and Leeds in the second after a brave double substitution by Leeds coach Marcelo Bielsa.
Patrick Bamford’s arrival at halftime provided impetus but it also marked a sad end for loan striker eddie Nketiah, who heads back to Arsenal early.
Bielsa tried to argue afterwards that Nketiah had softened up Albion’s defence to make Bamford’s task easier, which was nice of him.
First-choice Bamford has seen off the challenge of Nketiah and he proved to be a real nuisance to West Brom too, even though his claim for an 11th goal of the season is likely to fall on deaf ears.
Defender Semi Ajayi will have to take responsibility for finding the net at both ends, the first just a minute and 15 seconds into the game, the own goal in the second half.
there were chances galore, brilliant goalkeeping, and the inescapable feeling that the next time these two meet they will be back among the big boys in the Premier League.
Both coaches were singing from the same song sheet afterwards too and, in a public display of respect, the managers hugged each other.
‘I rate myself and I am confident, but it is Bielsa,’ Slaven Bilic explained.
‘to be in the same league, to be able to talk football, it is an honour. It was a fair result.
‘Both teams should use this mentally, “Yeah we are good, we coped really well with the best from their side and the best from our side”. I even told the boys that I don’t care about the result, just go out and be us and we were.’ His words echoed those of Bielsa.
‘I respect him,’ said the Leeds coach. ‘ I know he is a great manager.
‘I am very happy with the kind of match we played. two sides played, without violence, nobody wanted to use the rules to take advantage.
‘I think we should have won the match but we could have lost the match. How we managed the game was very good.’
Bilic’s only gripe on a gripping afternoon was the failure of Matt Phillips to score a second just before half-time.
‘It was a great chance, Matt had time, and it was Matt Phillips, it was all there to score but he had to beat the keeper who made a great save. But the scoreline was fair.’
talk about a dream start for Albion. Matheus Pereira floated the corner, kiko Casilla could not get any impetus to his punch which led to head tennis between kyle Bartley and Ajayi before the latter poked the ball goalwards. Jack Harrison failed in a desperate attempt to hook the ball to safety and the home side were a goal up.
Albion and Leeds have been the two stand-out performers of the first half of the Championship season and, by a strange quirk, both have hit the buffers at the same time too. West Brom had only one win to show from their five previous games while Leeds had one victory in four. Hardly crisis levels considering the gap at the top.
Having taken the lead, Albion really should have been further ahead by half-time but Casilla saved from a Pereira free kick and then showed amazing reflexes to throw himself at that shot by Phillips.
Leeds had their moments too, not least when Harrison’s raking cross-field pass was met by Helder
Costa’s instant shot and keeper Sam Johnstone made the save.
Both sides had penalty shouts. Albion were convinced Mateusz Klich hauled down Romaine Sawyers and Leeds were just as adamant that Conor Townsend handled just before half-time. Referee Robert Jones was having none of it.
Leeds were not firing on all cylinders and needed some help, which they got thanks to a double tweak from Bielsa which saw Bamford and Barry Douglas released from the bench.
Top scorer Bamford was not in the starting line-up after just recovering from a dead leg. On his arrival he certainly made his presence felt but may be unlucky if he tries to claim the equaliser.
harrison pinged over another cross and Bamford got his head to it but the ball was going wide before it struck Ajayi and deflected past Johnstone.
A very fair result indeed.