Leeds United 3 Middlesbrough 2: Slice of Whites history and new look in Elland Road thriller — YEP 2/12/23
Leeds United emulated a 24-year record as a thrilling Championship hosting of Middlesbrough ended in a 3-2 victory for Daniel Farke's side.
By Lee Sobot
Leeds approached Saturday afternoon’s contest having won six
games at Elland Road in succession and made it seven in a row in one of the
country's top two divisions for the first time since 1999 via strikes from Dan
James, Crysencio Summerville and a Joel Piroe penalty.
Boro led after just three minutes but the afternoon ended in
defeat for Michael Carrick’s attacking visitors who had to play the last half
an hour with ten men after Anfernee Dijksteel was dismissed for a second
booking.
The division’s top four all recorded victories, leaving
third placed Leeds seven points off the division’s second automatic promotion
place occupied by Ipswich Town and eight points adrift of leaders Leicester
City. Southampton remain just a point behind the Whites in fourth.
For the second time in four days, Elland Road witnessed a
crazy opening to a game in which Boro went ahead with just three minutes on the
clock. Alex Bangura's pass picked out Emmanuel Latte Lath down the left channel
and the Boro forward turned Archie Gray before firing in an attempt that beat
Illan Meslier at his near post.
Yet within another four minutes Leeds were ahead as both
full backs and wingers combined as part of a rapid and impressive response.
After a Georginio Rutter effort was saved, Leeds attacked again and Sam Byram's
cross from the left flank was met by James who managed to outjump two men to
head home at the far post.
Then, just two minutes later, Archie Gray proved the
architect with a cross from the opposite flank that took a deflection off Paddy
McNair before being met by another diminutive attacker in Summerville to head
Leeds in front.
As part of a frantic opening, Boro should have equalised two
minutes later but Latte Lath blazed wildly over from the middle of the box.
Latte Lath then squandered another fine chance when unable to finish a one on
one as Meslier raced out to save after Pascal Struijk had been caught out of
position in the middle of the park.
Instead, Leeds opened up clear daylight in the 37th minute
from the penalty spot after a disaster from Boro substitute Matt Clarke who
conceded a spot kick within one minute of coming onto the pitch. Clarke was
brought on to replace the injured McNair but his first act was to tangle with
Rutter on the edge of the box which led to a penalty that Piroe converted in
emphatic style.
Boro, though, continued to cause problems at the other end
and the Riversiders pulled a goal back through Latte Lath within minutes of the
same player missing another golden chance.
Latte Lath sent an awful free header wide from the middle of
the box in the 41st minute but made no mistake in first half stoppage time when
flicking home a headed finish to a corner which arrived after Boro surged
forward with Struijk again out of position upfield.
There were no changes during the interval, after which Leeds
squandered a massive chance in the 50th minute as Ampadu's superb pass sent in
Rutter whose low drive towards the bottom left corner was tipped wide by keeper
Seny Dieng for what should have been a corner only for Boro to get a goal kick.
Boro continued to ask questions themselves and a neat move
ended with Isaiah Jones firing straight at Meslier from the edge of the box.
But another sub-plot to the game involved the amount of yellow cards that
referee Darren England was suddenly dishing out and the seventh one of the game
led to an early bath for Dijksteel who caught James on the left flank in the
63rd minute.
Dijksteel had already been booked and England quickly pulled
out another yellow to the dismay of the Boro defender who headed for an early
bath.
Leeds suddenly had space but several more chances were
squandered and Boro continued to attack despite their numerical disadvantage as
the clock hit the 70 minute marker. Five minutes later, only the frame of the
goal saved Leeds as a rapid Boro break ended with substitute Sammy Silvera's
strike took a deflection off Struijk before cannoning back off the post.
An excellent block from Joe Rodon denied the follow-up
attempt from Morgan Rogers as Leeds survived and Whites boss Farke then called
for a double change wth seven minutes left.
Patrick Bamford pulled off his hat to unveil a new look of
bleached hair to the gasps of the crowd and the Whites no 9 replaced Rutter
upfront as Willy Gnonto took the place of James out wide. Within five minutes
of coming on, Bamford almost scored with a flicked header from a corner which
was saved by Dieng who also kept out the follow-up attempt from Piroe.
Boro were then given four minutes of added time to bag an
equaliser but Leeds kept the ball well and referee England eventually brought a
thrilling contest to an end with 95 minutes on the clock.
