Roofe raises Leeds
LEEDS UNITED’S week has been all about responding to the departure of a 27-goal striker. A third win in three games, this time against Nottingham Forest, was no bad way to go about it.
As they chase a replacement off the field, an on-pitch solution may have emerged. Kemar Roofe defined the game with his leaping header, helping to cast aside memories of Chris Wood among the 1,993 away fans.
More than 25,000 had shown up to see this fixture, one that has turned into a rivalry over the years, primarily centred around the spells Brian Clough, on the cover of the match programme, had in charge of both clubs. But yesterday it was Leeds, not Forest, who were the on- pitch proponents of the pass a nd move s t yl e Cl o ugh preached.
By the time Roofe scored his fourth goal in two games, Leeds had pinned Mark Warburton’s side in their own box for nearly 10 minutes. When Pablo Hernandez whipped in a free-kick and Matt Mills headed it away, Roofe rose highest to head into the bottom corner of Jordan Smith’s net.
Sam uS aiz,a dynamic Spanish No10, was central to everything Leeds did, finding not just pockets but oceans of space.
And if it were not for some questionable decision making in the final third from the otherwise impressive Gianni Alioski, it may have been much more comfortable. The Macedonian winger twice chose to shoot from range when a through pass would have released a team-mate.
Finally t he ball fell to Alioski’s feet outside the box, and he fired it straight past Smith to continue boss Thomas Christiansen’ s undefeated start.