WHOLLY MOSES

Odubajo feels ‘amazing’ on first league start after two-year injury nightmare

Jansson 88

BRENTFORD boss Dean Smith is a wanted man... and so is ‘Comeback Kid’ Moses Odubajo.

Smith has been on the radar for the Aston Villa vacancy after his repeated top-10 success story with the Bees.

As for Odubajo, he has that wanted feeling at Griffin Park, as he makes his way back from two years on the sidelines with serious knee injuries.

The 25-year-old Londoner was given the first league start of his comeback at Leeds and said: “It felt amazing for me to be finally classed as a fit player. It felt especially good coming to a ground like Elland Road, which has one of the best atmospheres in the league.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t get the right result but the gaffer says if we don’t win games then we should definitely not lose them.”

Odubajo, who was orphaned aged 13 when his mother died of malaria, was crocked while playing for Hull City in 2016, but has battled back and signed a one-year contract with Brentford in the summer.

He revealed there had been dark moments after he dislocated a knee and suffered damaged ligaments, admitting: “There were times I felt like giving up but luckily I had good people around me.” Smith knew of Odubajo from his days at Walsall and allowed him to train with the Bees while looking for another club.

“The minute I started training with the team it automatically felt it was the right decision to come back to Brentford,” said the former Leyton Orient player.

“You can see the type of football we play, especially coming away to the top club like Leeds and having them 1-0 down until 80-odd minutes. It feels like home and was the right decision for me.”

The Leeds players and fans were furious when referee Jeremy Simpson awarded a penalty after keeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell collided with Ollie Watkins, who appeared to be going down before any contact was made. Neal Maupay kept his cool to score from the spot for his tenth goal of the season, with some in a near-32,000 crowd making their feelings known and then showering the pitch with plastic bottles.

Leeds sub Adam Forshaw said: “I thought it was soft. If you’re going to give a penalty for that, then there are going to be a lot of penalties with players going through on goal and trying to get a shot off, and the keeper trying to spread himself.

“The referee didn’t have his best game. When you have two really fluid sides who want to play in the right way, he treated the game like it was almost a non-contact sport.

“He blew his whistle far too much and ruined any sort of fluidity. He just didn’t give the game enough rhythm for two teams who wanted to play fluent, attacking football.”

Pontus Jansson headed in a late equaliser. When asked about the penalty and the referee, the Sweden centre-back replied: “I’m feeling s***.”

MATCH STATS