Leeds 1 Wolves 1 - BBC 23/10/21

Rodrigo kept his nerve to convert an injury-time penalty as Leeds snatched a draw from their Premier League clash with Wolves at Elland Road.

Wolves looked to be heading for a fourth successive top-flight win for the first time since 1972 after Hwang Hee-chan gave them a first-half lead.

But the introduction of 19-year-old Joe Gelhardt by Leeds just after the hour proved an inspired move by Marcelo Bielsa.

The former Wigan forward brought a superb save out of Jose Sa and then, as Leeds piled forward at the end, weaved his way into the box, where he was brought down by Nelson Semedo.

The result keeps Leeds outside the relegation zone but seems to have come at a price as playmaker Raphinha needed to be helped down the tunnel after being caught by Romain Saiss' sliding tackle.

It was perhaps no surprise Rodrigo snapped the corner flag in delight as he ran away to celebrate after sending Sa the wrong way.

As with his team as a whole, it was a frustrating afternoon for Leeds.

The rapturous reception Kalvin Phillips received as he emerged for his first warm-up of the day after being named on the bench by Bielsa after recovering from a calf strain was an indication of how key the England midfielder is to the West Yorkshire side.

With Patrick Bamford sidelined as well since the middle of September, it is little wonder Leeds have lacked the decisive edge that earned them so many plaudits last season.

The sight of Raphinha sprinting back 40 yards into a Leeds half empty other than goalkeeper Illan Meslier to retrieve the ball after it had been hacked clear by the Wolves defence was not really the way the hosts needed him to be in possession.

Chances were few and far between for Rodrigo and, until Gelhardt was introduced, the best Leeds could manage were efforts from Jack Harrison and Tyler Roberts, neither of which threatened the Wolves goal.

The fear for Leeds now will be the length of Raphinha's absence, although at least Phillips should be available for a very important trip to bottom club Norwich next weekend.

Wolves inserted an option to buy into the loan deal that brought Hwang to Molineux from RB Leipzig at the end of August.

Given the forward's impact already, it might be worth triggering it.

With the exception of Jimenez, Wolves have found goals hard to come by since they returned to the top flight in 2018 and when the Mexican suffered a fractured skull in November that ruled him out for the rest of last season, the failing almost landed them in trouble.

There was nothing pretty about Hwang's latest effort. Fast reactions meant he was able to get a shot off after Jimenez's effort hit him. Questions should be asked of Harrison though after the former England Under-21 international opted to move in for a tackle on Semedo by the touchline, when the Portuguese wing-back was going nowhere.

Harrison's error allowed Semedo to skip into a danger-area, after which Leeds were always in trouble.

Wolves were largely content to sit on what they had after that, earning the ire of the home fans for the number of times they went down following tackles.

It also appeared objects were thrown towards the visiting players by fans behind the goal Wolves defended in the second-half, although referee Robert Jones did not seem to get involved.

Leeds 1-1 Wolves: Bielsa reaction

Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa to BBC Match of the Day: "I think that given how the game went, we deserved more than one goal and to have won the game.

"Apart from some moments at the start of both halves, the game belonged to us.

"And even if we didn’t create too many dangerous chances I think we did enough to score more than one goal and it would have been enough to have got the deserved win."

On Joe Gelhardt’s performance: “Very positive. At the start of the 35 minutes he played it was difficult for him to create danger. But as the team got closer to the opponent's goal he had decisive interventions and could have scored one or two goals apart from the penalty he won."

On fitness of Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips: "With Raphinha, we don’t have the diagnosis yet. Phillips spent three weeks without playing and he is healthy but has not got match fitness yet. But we think he will quickly be in condition to start. Today would have been far too quick and not prudent."