Leeds United 3 Sheffield Wednesday 0: Whites find a little extra to decide tight derby — Yorkshire Post 19/1/25

By Stuart Rayner

For 85 minutes of football at Elland Road it was how a Yorkshire derby should be – tight, tense and capable of going either way.

The problem for Sheffield Wednesday was in the minutes either side of it, Leeds United showed the flashes of quality which put them back top of the Championship with a 3-0 win.

Their opening goal might have owed something to an unwitting assist from James Beadle, but the fire was started by a lovely pass from Joe Rothwell. And it was a Leeds substitute, Large Ramazani, who secured the points as both managers shuffled the pack to secure or save a result.

An audacious backheel by Ao Tanaka, who started the season as one of the Whites' back-up midfielders, just highlighted the resources manager Daniel Farke has at his disposal, and Danny Rohl does not.

The Owls have been very good at playing when 1-0 down, rescuing 16 points from losing positions since the start of October, and they were unruffled by Manor Solomon's early strike, but ultimately not quite able to do anything about it.

For all their heritage, Leeds are a long way ahead of their Yorkshire rivals off the field and it made the difference in a game when the sides were so close on it.

It is why the away fans held up yellow cards urging their chairman to sell their club. The home fans naturally sang, "There's only one Chansiri", fully aware of the backstory of an owner who having had his fingers burnt in the past, seems reluctant to push the boat out and try to chase those ahead of them.

Right now Wednesday are a nearly squad, not quite good enough for the top six.

Leeds have all the tools to go back to the Premier League, but they are often forced into a game of patience at Elland Road. Even their quickest goal under Daniel Farke did not change that, it just dialled down the urgency.

We had not reached the third minute when Rothwell's excellent pass released Brenden Aaronson through on goal. Beadle rushed out to the American's feet but could only serve the ball up to Solomon, much to the annoyance of Barry Bannan when the winger found the net.

Rohl switched Svante Ingelsson from the left wing of a 4-2-3-1 to the hole and increasingly a 4-5-1 as the visitors played away-team football and Leeds had the bulk of the ball.

But there was a counter-attacking threat to it, and Josh Windass - playing as a lone centre-forward under the watchful eye of his dad Dean - had a shot blocked from a second consecutive corner in the ninth minute. A Tanaka clearance bounced off Ingelsson and wide.

Anthony Musaba curled a harmless shot at Illan Meslier and Ethan Ampadu, in central defence in the absence of the injured Pascal Struijk, produced an excellent tackle when Shea Charles' equally good threaded pass released Windass.

But Rothwell was not the only Leeds player capable of playing those passes too and Joel Piroe released Sam Byram for a cross Michael Ihiekwe did well to cut out for a corner Joe Rodon headed wide.

Leeds' set-piece threat was always there, Rodon getting underneath a later header and Tanaka way off target when Byram flicked a Rothwell free-kick to him at a tight angle.

In what looks like being the final away game of his loan from Southampton, Charles was at it again as the half-hour approached, on his toes to intercept the ball and pick out Musaba, who found Yan Valery to ripple the net from the wrong side.

James' curling effort forced a good, low, stretching save from Beadle, who kept out a cross-shot flashed over by the Wales winger.

In between time a promising Wednesday break started when Djieidi Gassama cleverly shielded the ball for Ingelsson, who hit his pass over Musaba's head. It was a chance missed, but another indication that this was an open, entertaining first half with things for both sides to build on after the interval.

Leeds came out of the blocks the stronger without making it count, Piroe having a shot block, Rothwell wide from distance, Beadle flying off his line to stop Piroe getting on the end of James' ball in when the resulting corner was played short.

There was never a sense of panic for Wednesday as Rohl used his bench and shifted shapes to find an answer. Gassama forced a Meslier save on the counter-attack.

Farke's first changes almost had an immediate effect, Ilia Gruev putting a free-kick won for a foul on fellow substitute Mateo Joseph over.

But Leeds were still squirming when Callum Paterson came off the bench to make things a bit more agricultural and when his long throw-in became a corner, Yan Valery flicked it right in front of Ike Ugbo who just needed to flinch onto it to score.

Within seconds Leeds did, Ramazani finding the net from the edge of the area and somersaulting his relief.

When he had another go in the sixth added minute, Tanaka backheeled the ball past Beadle.

Leeds just had that little bit extra.