Blackburn Rovers 0 Leeds United 2: Winger impact, injury return and youngster run as gap closes — YEP 9/12/23
Leeds United took on Blackburn Rovers in a Saturday lunchtime kick-off.
By Lee Sobot
Leeds United maintained their brilliant recent run as a 2-0
victory at Saturday's Championship hosts Blackburn Rovers closed the gap on the
top two.
Leeds went ahead in the 27th minute through winger Dan James
who drilled home a low finish into the bottom left corner following Georginio
Rutter's pass into the box after Rutter had surged forward down the opposite
side of the pitch.
The Whites took their 1-0 advantage into the break, after
which they survived Blackburn's appeals for a penalty for a possible Pascal
Struijk handball.
Whites boss Daniel Farke made a double change with 20
minutes left as Djed Spence and Willy Gnonto replaced Sam Byram and goalscorer
James respectively, Spence appearing for the first time since recovering from
his knee injury.
Gnonto was then denied a combination of Rovers keeper
Leopold Wahlstedt and the crossbar as the Whites looked for a second goal which
arrived moments later through winger Crysencio Summerville.
The Dutch winger netted after a neat one two involving
Archie Gray who played in Summerville to dink home a lovely finish to double
the Whites advantage.
Jaidon Anthony, Ilia Gruev and young forward Mateo Joseph
were then all introduced from the bench as the Whites left Ewood Park with a
2-0 success.
The victory left third-placed Leeds four points behind
second-placed Ipswich Town and five points behind leaders Leicester City who
were both in action in Saturday 3pm kick-offs.
