Bamford a ‘cheat’ for his elbow goal
Richardson raps star and unprofessional official
PATRICK BAMFORD was labelled a cheat after giving Rotherham the elbow.
The Leeds striker admitted to scoring his side’s crucial first goal with his arm — a cynical sleight of hand missed by the officials.
At half-time, referee Andy Madley apologised to Leam Richardson for the gaffe, with the Millers boss hitting out at assistant ref Nick Hopton for joking with Bamford about the pivotal incident.
‘The referee apologised because he wasn’t fully committed to the decision, so he didn’t want to guess,’ Richardson said. ‘He said he’d spoken to Patrick and he said “Yes it did hit my arm and it’s gone in”.
‘I didn’t appreciate the linesman laughing and joking with Patrick after the game. It’s unprofessional.’
Bamford had no need to cheat as Leeds had more than enough to stroll past the outclassed Millers to maintain their bid for a top-two finish.
Bamford grabbed the important first goal as he deflected Junior Firpo’s cross home at the near post with a flick of the elbow to set Daniel Farke’s men on the way to a sixth straight league win.
The Millers’ protests were ultimately ignored. For once, a Championship clash followed the form-book as Leeds continued their perfect start to 2024 and maintained the EFL’s only unbeaten home record.
Rotherham have not won away in the Championship for 15 months and are set for an imminent return to League One.
It was Crysencio Summerville with two goals in the space of eight minutes after the break that put a more realistic slant on the scoreline.
The Dutchman swapped passes with Georginio Rutter and burst through to double the lead before, on the hour, picking himself up after Peter Kioso’s clumsy trip and confidently dispatching a Panenka penalty for his 15th goal of the season.
Summerville, Willy Gnonto and Bamford could all have helped themselves to a hat-trick as the hosts wasted a string of chances.
Farke said: ‘I haven’t watched the first goal back, but someone mentioned it was deflected by Patrick’s arm.
‘If it was then it shouldn’t have been allowed, but I think had it been disallowed it would have still been the same outcome, so it wasn’t decisive. It should have been more like a tennis result.’
It took Rotherham 88 minutes to muster a threat on Leeds’ goal, when Illan Meslier saved Hakeem Odoffin’s header.
The Millers are rooted to the foot of the table and 12 points adrift of safety after one win in 19 games. ‘The first goal hasn’t cost the result,’ Richardson said, ‘but it’s a large part of it with the handball.’