Brilliant Leeds United ignore the excuses to claim big 3-2 win at West Ham United - Yorkshire Post 16/1/22
Midway through the first half Leeds United were given another excuse to feel sorry for themselves.
By Stuart Rayner
Junior Firpo had been rubbing his hamstring gingerly for
some time when Adam Forshaw went to ground, and began doing the same.
With Leo Fuhr Hjelde stripped and ready to come on, a pause
probably nowhere near as long as it felt followed after Forshaw left the field,
his race run. Lewis Bate was sent on instead, Hjelde packed off to warm up a
bit longer, then two minutes later replace Firpo.
Considering what it takes some teams to call off north
London derbies - sorry, Premier League games - you have to look at the way
Leeds plough on with a mixture of admiration and sympathy. They got their
reward with a 3-2 win secured by Jack Harrison's hat-trick.
In the fifth added minute they even had the stroke of luck
they had earned, Jarrod Bowen somehow chesting Michail Antonio's cross over the
bar.
At kick-off Leeds had six senior players injured - plus
Charlie Creswell who, unlike seven of their nine substitutes had played in the
Premier League - and Diego Llorente suspended. It left Spanish international
Rodrigo on a bench which otherwise would have an average age of 18. They just
got on with it.
Leeds were winning 1-0 when Forshaw and Firpo - both of whom
had started the game well -came off and 10 minutes later they did what they do
when they play West Ham United and conceded a corner.
It could have been a signal for the roof to fall in, but
instead they just scored again, as they did when Pablo Fornals equalised a
second time.
Even with Raphinha hitting a free-kick against the post and
Mateusz Klich unfortunate to have a goal disallowed, they still came out on
top, restoring the gap to the relegation zone to eight points but throwing the
now managerless Everton in the way. A win over Newcastle United could make
things very good indeed, but that is getting ahead of ourselves.
It could have been one of those days for Leeds had they not
refused to let it be.
They were terrific in the opening 10 minutes, Luke Ayling -
surprisingly chosen at centre-back so that Robin Koch could hold the midfield -
wide at a free-kick, and Harrison unable to wriggle a gap big enough to force a
shot Lukasz Fabianski would have to save through.
They got their reward in the 10th minute, Ayling playing a
ball over the top for Raphinha, who picked out Klich. He did force a save and
when it came out to Forshaw, with a fair amount of net to aim open but his back
to goal, rather than try to spin on it and snatch some glory, he laid it back
for Harrison to open the scoring.
Forshaw then played a lovely outside-of-the-boot pass to Dan
James, who worked hard for plenty of chances as the emergency centre-forward
but wasted all of them.
In the 29th minute, Leeds had their warning. When Stuart
Dallas conceded a corner, Craig Dawson got free and headed a fraction wide of
the goal he found the last time the sides met here in the Premier League.
Five minutes later Dallas conceded another flag kick. Hjelde
had been brought on to shadow Bowen in open play, changing Leeds's formation
from a back three to a four depending on the whim of the former Hull City man.
At the corner, though, he was Dallas's man and he lost him, heading in an
equaliser.
Leeds just scored another, surprisingly from their own
corner.
When Ayling headed Raphinha's corner on, Harrison found
himself in so much space you wondered if he was offside but he was not.
West Ham came back strongly again at the start of the second
half. When Ayling gave the ball away, the Hammers worked it to Antonio, whose
touch Fornals ran onto and hit a clever shot inside the near post. It took an
important Ayling header a minute later to deny Nikola Vlasic the chance of a
third.
Leeds just refused to throw in the towel.
When a brilliant Raphinha pass picked out Harrison and
Fabianski ran out to him, he showed the composure of a man who has scored four
goals in his last two league games, not someone who had not broken his duck for
the season until then.
The Brazilian was starting to take control of the game,
picking himself up after a Manuel Lazini foul and curling the free-kick against
the post.
Rodrigo had come on by now, harshly replacing Premier League
debutant Bate, but he did not have the impact hoped for.
When Raphinha skipped passed Issa Diop and pulled the ball
back,. Klich's shot grazed Rodrigo, stood on the line on its way in.
On the one hand, the forward ought to have kept himself in
an onside position but was he really interfering with play? Video assistant
referee Craig Pawson decided he was.
The Hammers also had a goal disallowed for offside, given
against Bowen, although some Leeds fans would argue the flag went up a bit
late. About seven days late.
With Bowen's incredible miss, Leeds could not say all the
luck went against them, but everything they got was very hard-earned.