Huge Elland Road difference highlighted as Leeds United rock into Play-Off Final — YEP 16/5/24

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By Chris Holt

A raucous atmosphere produced by Leeds United fans at Elland Road helped their side to a stunning Play-Off semi-final victory over Norwich City

Elland Road had been a little quiet in recent weeks but the levels were turned back up to 11 on Thursday night as Leeds United thumped Norwich City to book their place at Wembley for the Play-Off Final.

The stage had been set from before kick off with fans raising scarves and turning the stadium into a sea of white as Marching on Together thumped around the ground and the Canaries looked shellshocked from the off. Ilia Gruev kicked things off with a stunning free kick after just seven minutes and even then it looked as though there was no way back for David Wagner’s side.

Further goals from Joël Piroe and Georginio Rutter killed the tie off at half time and Crysencio Summerville simply made sure there was something to cheer in the second half as he capped off the goalscoring.

It was Leeds and Elland Road back at their best - both having been a little sombre in recent weeks after throwing away the chance to win automatic promotion back to the Premier League.

And it was felt that the crowd more than played their part as they turned up and put on a display that was matched by those on the pitch.

“It hasn’t been like that for a few weeks,” EFL pundit Joby McAnuff said on Sky Sports. “We can go back to that Leicester game where we had a brilliant atmosphere but this tonight, I have got to say, from the minute we walked into the stadium, the scenes before the game, we spoke about the crowd and what a part they could play and it did energise the players. They embraced it, they were fantastic.”

On the players, McAnuff was equally impressed, adding: “You talk about results being the most important thing. I felt it was really important tonight to see that level of performance from that Leeds United team. It hasn't been there in recent weeks but it looked like they were clicked back into that gear they were in during the brilliant run of wins and a really top performance from them.”

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