BIELSA BOYS ARE ON THE MARCH...
MARCELO BIELSA was adamant his Leeds side deserved their Yorkshire derby victory with Rotherham United.
But the Argentine head coach, who became the club’s first manager to win his opening four matches, played down the Whites’ fine start to the new Championship season.
Rotherham could have led at half-time at Elland Road if Jon Taylor’s shot had not rattled the left upright and keeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell had not produced a fine pointblank block to thwart winger Ryan Williams.
But goals from Luke Ayling and leading scorer Kemar Roofe did the damage as Bielsa’s team made it three successive league victories and four in all competitions.
And probably more importantly for the Whites fans they were able to go home happy after once again securing welcome bragging rivals over their Yorkshire rivals.
“Winning three games in a row is good for us,” reflected Bielsa, speaking with the aid of a translator.
“You have to respect your opponent, but I think we deserved to win the game.
“The problems we had in the first half were more linked to our own goal rather than focusing on our defensive actions.
“In the second half it was looking like what happened in the first half, but the opponent didn’t have any offensive action. Our opponents were tired so we had more space to attack.
“Rotherham had three clear moments where they could have scored a goal, which was because of the mistakes we made.”
Leeds have now won their last five meetings with Rotherham and, on this early form, they already look one of the teams to beat this season.
There was a personal milestone for Ayling who scored his first Leeds goal with a diving header and also his first goal since April 2015. Top scorer Roofe continued his fine start to the season by slotting home his third goal in four games.
Rotherham United manager Paul Warne stressed his team missed a good chance to upset Leeds on their home patch.
Warne said: “The lads had a real opportunity to upset the apple cart today – and they didn’t take it.
“In the Championship you don’t get many opportunities to score, so hopefully we take more of them going forward.”
Roofe went close to opening the scoring with a right-foot drive from the edge of the box and keeper Marek Rodak saved easily from Spanish forward Samuel Saiz as Bielsa’s team maintained their sustained pressure, but it was the Millers who should have taken the lead.
Shot-stopper Peacock-Farrell produced his fine save to deny Williams after skipper Liam Cooper had carelessly given the ball away inside his own penalty area.
The visitors were also unlucky not to score when midfielder Taylor’s blistering strike hit the inside of the post.
Lone striker Michael Smith then teed up midfielder Matthew Palmer on the edge of the box but he disappointingly blazed his shot over.