Evans: Leeds turned corner when I arrived
STEVE EVANS believes he has a job for the long-term at Leeds United and vowed to return the Yorkshire club to former glories. Their new manager claimed the club ‘turned the corner’ when he arrived at Elland Road on Monday and he received encouragement here despite a dominant performance producing only a 1-1 draw at Fulham. A second-half penalty by Chris Wood cancelled out Moussa Dembele’s opener but Leeds were disappointed not to take the maximum return as pressure mounted further on Fulham boss Kit Symons. ‘We know where the club’s going — it’s a matter of when, not if,’ said Evans, who became the sixth manager of the Massimo Cellino era when he replaced Uwe Rosler. ‘I think the players saw a corner turned when Steve Evans walked in. The results will dictate if I have a future. What I learned from the president was that he doesn’t want to be changing managers, he wants stability.’ Fulham were desperately poor but scored a soft opener when Dembele waltzed through the Leeds defence to beat Marco Silvestri at his near post. Other than that, it was one-way traffic, with Fulham keeper Joe Lewis making saves from Stuart Dallas, Wood, Gaetano Berardi and Mirco Antenucci at the death. Leeds equalised when Ben Pringle handled in the box and Wood’s penalty just beat the hands of Lewis. Fulham fans called for the sacking of Symons at the end. ‘I just keep doing my job, I do the best I can,’ he said. ‘We had a bad night.’