Stoke City 0 Leeds United 2: Joel Piroe in at the double to take Whites to the top — Yorkshire Post 26/12/24
By Carl Livesey
JOEL PIROE bagged a brace as Leeds United moved to the top
of the Championship with a 2-0 win away at struggling Stoke.
The Whites’ leading marksman struck either side of half-time
to move his team above Sheffield United, who were beaten by fellow promotion
chasers Burnley earlier in the day, at the summit of the table on goal
difference.
The win was Leeds’ seventh in their last nine games overall,
but just their second in their last eight away matches.
The hosts created the first opening of the night early on,
with Lewis Koumas denied from close range by visiting goalkeeper Illan Meslier
after Junior Tchamadeu had pulled the ball back to him.
Down at the other end shortly afterwards, Dan James’ cross
from the right-hand side was superbly diverted wide of the post by Potters
defender Ben Wilmot to almost certainly prevent Manor Solomon from getting on
the end of it.
Leeds took complete control of the match from then on, with
Brenden Aaronson and Jayden Bogle both forcing good saves out of Viktor
Johansson from distance.
The away side should have gone in front just after the
half-hour mark when James broke free down the right and picked out an unmarked
Solomon at the back post, but the Israeli international put the ball wide with
his left foot.
It came as no surprise when Leeds did finally take the lead
in the 42nd minute as Piroe fired home a thunderous shot off the underside of
the bar having initially been thwarted in his attempt to round Johansson in the
Stoke goal.
The visitors’ domination continued into the second half and
Piroe probably should have doubled his and his team’s advantage with 52 minutes
on the clock, only to head wide from Joe Rothwell’s corner when unmarked.
Stoke didn’t show any lack of endeavour though, and they
nearly sneaked an equaliser just before the hour mark as substitute Eric
Bocat’s cross from the left was headed just wide by Ashley Phillips.
It proved to be a costly miss with Piroe soon nodding in
James’ hooked delivery to all but end the match as a contest and increase his
goal tally for the season to nine.
Leeds had a flurry of opportunities to add a third goal,
with Solomon and substitute Mateo Joseph both bending efforts from outside the
box narrowly wide and Aaronson calling Johansson into action again to tip a
shot over the crossbar.
The resulting corner led to another missed chance for
Joseph, but it didn’t matter as Daniel Farke’s side made a big move in their
push for promotion.