Leeds United 1 Blackburn Rovers 1: Daniel Farke's John Eustace hoodoo continues as spoils shared after drama — Yorkshire Post 1/1/25
By Tom Coates
Leeds United’s first fixture of 2025 presented Daniel Farke
with an opportunity to settle a score.
His inability to outwit John Eustace stands as one of the
few blemishes on his record as Whites boss, with Farke simply having been
outmanoeuvred on more than one occasion by his opposite number.
Eustace’s Birmingham City were the first side to beat
Farke’s Leeds in the Championship, all the way back in August 2023.
Farke is not the type to be dragged into words of war, but
finding a way to beat Eustace will have most likely been on his list of New
Year’s resolutions.
Unfortunately for Farke, the monkey remains very much on his
back.
Leeds gently knocked on the door early on, as opposed to
forcing their way through. Build-up play was patient and measured, with
Blackburn’s tight and well-drilled structure proving difficult to circumvent.
There were some early indications Leeds would get joy but
Blackburn are rarely easy to open up. Jet-heeled Dan James won an early foot
race with Owen Beck, latching on to a Joe Rodon clip before seeing his cross
blocked.
Joel Piroe is not generally considered a particularly
aggressive presser, certainly not in comparison to Mateo Joseph, but almost
forced Rovers stopper Aynsley Pears into an early blunder.
Flickers of promise, however, were just that. Leeds looked
to orchestrate moves that simply fizzled out, stifled by the rigid nature of
the low block they were up against.
At times, the hosts were guilty of making it easy for
Blackburn with their pedestrian nature.
The game was crying out for attacking inspiration and for a
while, it felt as if it would never come.
Leeds came closest on the stroke of half-time, when James
utilised his pace to make an incisive dart in behind the Blackburn backline.
The Welsh winger rolled across goal with Piroe lurking, but Dominic Hyam hooked
away from danger in dramatic fashion.
When the half-time whistle blew, fans could not retreat to
the concourses quicker. It had been relatively ugly viewing, just as the
visitors intended.
The opening stages of the second half were disrupted by
stoppages, the first allowing for Jayden Bogle to receive treatment. In a game
Leeds needed to breathe life into, the stop-start nature was hardly ideal.
Neither was losing Bogle to injury.
When the game did start to flow again, it was Leeds in the
ascendency. They continued to go for the jugular, but Blackburn held strong.
Solomon sent a cross fizzing in from the left that needed
the faintest of touches to bundle it home, but the ball skidded across the box
and out the other side.
Ventures forward from Blackburn were rare but Harry Leonard
did raise pulses with a looping header that Illan Meslier scooped out of the
air.
At the other end, Aaronson danced his way into space and
sent a thunderous effort whistling over the crossbar as Leeds upped the ante.
Wilfried Gnonto was among the attackers introduced as Farke
rolled the dice and he sent a piledriver of a volley narrowly wide of the post.
Leeds were eventually rewarded for their relentless pressure
when Hyam felled Mateo Joseph in the box, giving Pascal Struijk the opportunity
to step up and convert from 12 yards.
It was a short-lived lead, as some sloppy defending allowing
Danny Batth to bundle home from a corner in the midst of a sea of bodies.
Leeds pressed for a winner late on but failed to edge ahead
as the game descended into a messy, scrappy affair.
Max Wober twice went close in the dying embers as Rovers
fought with their lives to hang on, which they managed to do.
At the time of writing, Sheffield United and Sunderland are
a matter of hours away from doing battle under the lights.
Farke has spoken of his desire to pay little attention to
the progress of promotion race rivals, but internal focus may prove harder for
the fans to commit to.
Leeds remain very much in the hunt for promotion but the
Championship has a knack of reminding you of its volatile nature.
The latest reminder came courtesy of Blackburn, a side who
seem to be a regular vessel for the league’s stern messages of warning.