PAT’S MORE LIKE IT!
Bamford leads recovery
PATRICK BAMFORD led a dramatic Leeds fightback as Marcelo Bielsa’s men finally calmed their major promotion panic.
The striker scored twice as the Yorkshiremen grabbed three goals in 18 second-half minutes to wipe out Millwall’s two-goal lead.
Only a second win in nine games, following a miserable five weeks, put Leeds back on top of the Championship on a night where the game, and their promotion hopes, took dramatic twists.
There is an increasingly desperate feel to Elland Road, sensing it is now or never to go up, but last night the fervour fuelled a spirited turnaround.
Leeds kicked off in the grips of a mini-crisis on the field and it immediately worsened.
Since mid-December only rockbottom Luton had taken fewer points than Bielsa’s men.
Gary Rowett took over as Lions boss at the end of October and nobody had earned more points than them – and in a blistering first 22 minutes they showed themselves up for a play-off bid.
Jed Wallace was the architect, box. Leeds were adamant the ball had gone out before the incident but Wallace rifled home into the bottom left corner.
Fuelled by perceived injustice, Leeds came out punching after the break and the south Londoners couldn’t cope with the intensity.
Pablo Hernandez’s corner was hooked goalwards by Jack Harrison and Bamford tapped in.
A spell of severe pressure saw Harrison and Bamford go close but it was Hernandez’s deflected skidding shot that made it 2-2.
Leeds then turned the screw, Luke Ayling ripping down the right wing to cross for Bamford to head in his second at the back post.