Sheffield Wednesday 0 Leeds United 2: Whites blow Owls off course in Yorkshire derby — Yorkshire Post 23/8/24

By Leon Wobschall

ON A day when Storm Lilian hit parts of northern England, Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United were seeking to avoid any further disturbances.

After a sunshine result and performance on the opening weekend against Plymouth Argyle, Wednesday were on the receiving end of a Wearside whirlwind last Sunday, succumbing to a heavy 4-0 loss at Sunderland.

At Leeds, perfect storm conditions remained. After a tempestuous - and winless - opening to the season, compounded by the sale of a third marquee player in the shape of Georginio Rutter, whose transfer was officially completed on Monday night, the West Yorkshire outfit were seeking some respite from the elements and maybe a welcome shaft of light down the M1.

Here, it was provided emphatically as they got their season up and running in eye-catching fashion and much-needed fashion as far as they were concerned.

Leeds were going for automatic promotion when they triumphed 2-0 at Hillsborough in early March.

Ahead of this latest instalment, that represented the last time that Wednesday - whose mojo has been restored under Danny Rohl - had lost on home soil.

Here, they got a carbon-copy defeat in terms of scoreline - headlined by a second goal of the campaign from Brenden Aaronson and a head-turner from Dan James.

Wednesday were handed a bit of a chasing in truth as Leeds provided evidence that rumours of their demise - following the loss of Rutter, Crysencio Summerville and Archie Gray - might be greatly exaggerated.

Daniel Farke said beforehand that he wanted ’a little less conversation, a little more action’ to quote Elvis Presley - after a tough start to the season. He got it and Wednesday were left all shook up.

After stating he would not overreact following events in the north-east, Rohl proved as good as his word, making just one change.

It saw Pol Valentin come in for Djeidi Gassama, who dropped to the bench, with the Spaniard operating in an advanced role.

United’s one switch in personnel also grabbed the attention with Aaronson handed his first league start in Leeds colours since April 2023, with Joel Piroe paying the price for a subdued opening to the campaign.

His promotion reaped fruit midway through the half with a fine goal that was testament to the way Leeds grew into the game,

Wednesday had a clear advantage in terms of height, Farke was relying on cunning from his rather more diminutive attackers and they pieced together a quality moment to put the visitors in front.

Wilfried Gnonto, who made the most of his licence to roam and posed problems when moving into the centre, led the charge on the break and his piercing angled pass found Mateo Joseph.

Beadle then thwarted James in front of the United followers in the West Stand, who were enjoying themselves immensely.

He was thwarted by a desperate last-ditch challenge from Valentin, who sprinted from one side of the box to the other. The loose ball was picked up by Aaronson, who had the ingenuity and intelligence to check inside Svante Ingelsson before coolly firing low into the net.

He also provided an encore with a curling free-kick which flew just wide.

Leeds - who should have done better early on when Pascal Struijk planted a header wide from Dan James’ deflected cross from the right - were full value for their interval lead.

They almost had another before the break with James and Joseph just failing to get on the end of a fine ball, which flashed across the box from Junior Firpo and just needed a touch.

At the back, Leeds - aside from a couple of unconvincing moments under the high ball from Illan Meslier were safe enough, In contrast to events at West Brom, they mustered far more fluidity and intent on the counter and the likes of Gnonto and Aaronson looked like they were enjoying it.

Wednesday had one or two promising situations and hinted at things but never quite delivered.

Early on, it looked like Anthony Musaba might make life distinctly uncomfortable for Jayden Bogle after putting him on his backside and looking a danger. But Leeds regrouped and had few genuine alarms in truth, although Bogle did make one important block to get in the way of a rasping drive from Ingelsson.

Suitably boosted by their commendable first-half efforts, Leeds went for the kill and got their prize soon after the restart.

A beautiful defence-splitting pass from Joseph sent James clear and his dink over the advancing James Beadle was divine to double the visitors’ advantage.

Leeds’ movement and crisp passing was causing Wednesday no end of issues, with the hosts having no option but to try and hang in and claw their way back into proceedings.

An angled shot from Jamal Lowe which flew wide provided some rare animation among Wednesdayites ahead of a genuine scare for Leeds when Iorfa powerfully headed just off target.

At the other end, Joseph blasted over before Beadle denied him as Leeds again feasted.