Leeds United 2 Derby County 0: A game of firsts as Joe Rodon and Max Wober fire Whites to Championship summit — Yorkshire Post 7/12/24

By Tom Coates

Leeds United returned to the Championship summit with a comfortable 2-0 win over a lacklustre Derby County.

Wild weather conditions made for a messy affair at times but the Whites handled the conditions considerably better than the Rams.

It was an afternoon of firsts, as Joe Rodon and Max Wober registered their first Leeds goals to fire the hosts to victory.

The very early stages yielded little in the way of quality, as the elements regressed both sides into mere chasers of loose balls.

Derby’s set-up added to Leeds frustrations, as their rigid defensive structure proved hard to penetrate. Crosses were fired into a sea of yellow bodies, while Rams clearances threaten to wreak havoc due to the wind.

Leeds soon found themselves dominating possession and even showed off some intricate passing, but it appeared breaking the deadlock would not be a straightforward task.

As the Whites further got to grips with the conditions, they continued to threaten without giving Derby stopper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom much to do.

Brenden Aaronson saw a close-range shot cannon off a defender, while Rodon powered a header wide from a Joe Rothwell corner delivery.

Leeds did have chances to open the scoring, yet two crunching Rothwell tackles in quick succession arguably provoked the biggest early roar from the Elland Road faithful.

As the wind settled, Leeds’ grip on the game tightened. Junior Firpo had to be replaced by Wober due to injury, but the change did not stem the flow of Leeds attacks.

Joel Piroe tried his luck from distance with Derby’s stopper wandering from his line, but his dipping shot dipped far too late and flew comfortably over.

Widell Zetterstrom was, however, called into action to beat away a fizzing effort from Brenden Aaronson on the swivel.

The shot was pushed behind for a corner, which was taken by Rothwell and met by the head of Rodon. He climbed above his marker and directed his header downwards, rendering Derby’s stopper helpless and firing the Whites ahead.

The goal was Rodon’s first in Leeds colours and the home advantage was soon doubled by another unlikely source. Jerry Yates inadvertently diverted an Aaronson pass into the path of Wober, who blasted into the back of the net to open his own Leeds account.

Leeds did not hit the brakes following the restart, instead going out to hunt for a third. Manor Solomon danced past two defenders after barely two minutes of play but saw his shot blocked.

A defensive mix-up then led to an opportunity for James, who also saw an effort ricochet off a Derby body.

Leeds continued to ramp up the pressure on the Rams, who looked powerless to prevent the onslaught. A curling effort from Solomon evaded the Derby crowd but found the wrong side of the post.

It was then the turn of James to work Widell Zetterstrom, stinging the goalkeeper’s palms with a thunderous half-volley.

Tanaka was up next, sending the stopper scrambling across his goal to push a low drive wide. Widell Zetterstrom pulled off an even better save a mere 30 seconds later, tipping a Joel Piroe shot round the post.

Derby remained firmly under the cosh, as Leeds refused to ease up and coast their way to the full-time whistle.

Wilfried Gnonto and Mateo Joseph were among those introduced to freshen up the Leeds attack, evidencing the gulf in quality between the two sides.

Derby did manage the occasional venture forward but never really looked capable of forcing their way back into the reckoning.

A stray pass from Bogle handed a half-chance to Liam Thompson, but Meslier easily held on to the midfielder’s shot.