Sam hit by a

There was no fairy tale miracle for Big Sam or the travelling Leeds army but a narrow defeat to Manchester City was hardly a disaster.

And there were clear signs that if Leeds do end up going down it won’t be without a real fight – and that couldn’t be said in recent games.

Leeds stuck together after falling 2-0 behind showing the character and backbone that’s been missing.

And they finished the game strongly, scoring a late Rodrigo goal which spooked City fans who’d been expecting another goal romp against a team with a shocking defensive record.

Even Pep Guardiola was unnerved, bringing off two-goal hero Ilkay Gundogan in the closing moments to send on defensive midfielder Rodri to protect the points.

Sadly for Big Sam, the fightback came too late and victory took City back top over title rivals Arsenal.

And it sends Guardiola’s treblechasers off to Real Madrid in impressive form as they chase down a first-ever Champions League trophy.

Allardyce didn’t need 1,040 games in management to know it was going to be a long old afternoon and so it proved as City dumped Leeds into deeper relegation trouble.

Stepping forward from Guardiola’s galaxy of stars to inflict the damage this time was Gundogan with carbon copy goals that left Big Sam’s masterplan in tatters with less than half an hour gone.

The German could have had a hat-trick but missed an 84thminute penalty which left Guardiola hopping mad with usual taker Erling Haaland, who handed the ball to his team-mate.

Allardyce’s surprising return after almost two years away put a fresh twist on their visit to the defending champions.

But more rank bad defending spiralled the Yorkshiremen into what looks like a terminal mess.

Not even survival specialist Allardyce can rid this Leeds team of an affliction that’s haunted them all season and cost Jesse Marsh and Javi Gracia their jobs.

He only had three training sessions to come up with a solution to a team shipping goals for fun.

But he made a huge decision in dropping French keeper Illan Meslier who’d picked the ball from his net 18 times in the last five games since Leeds last win against Forest a month ago.

Experienced Spaniard Joel Robles was drafted in as replacement for his first Premier League game of the season.

And he was grateful that Haaland, City’s 51-goal hitman who had scored 19 times in his last 13 games, was for once off key – although the Norwegian came mighty close, hitting the bar and post in the second half as well as missing a first-half sitter. There was no such failure for Gundogan, who fired home a Riyad Mahrez cross after 19 minutes then scored an identical second into the opposite corner seven minutes later.

Leeds briefly flickered with a Weston Mckennie header turned over the bar by Ederson in a rare Leeds attack.

But as Haaland missed chance after chance, Leeds sensed an opening and seconds after Gundogan’s penalty miss when Pascal Struijk felled Phil Foden, the visitors threw themselves a lifeline. Manuel Akanji’s header fell for Rodrigo, who calmly tucked his shot past Ederson.

Leeds couldn’t conjure an equaliser – but they’ve at least sparked hope under Allardyce the drop isn’t inevitable.