Bogle puts Leeds back on top with crucial winner over Preston — Guardian 12/4/25
Neil Squires at Elland Road
The ironic chants of “Leeds are falling apart again” rang
around a jubilant Elland Road after Jayden Bogle’s 13th-minute goal put Leeds
back to the summit of the Championship.
Maybe not this time. Burnley’s victory over Norwich on
Friday knocked Leeds off the top of the table, but the full-back’s sixth goal
of the season made sure that state of affairs was temporary.
While it was good to be back there for the Leeds supporters,
the euphoria that greeted the final whistle was fuelled just as much by the
news of Sheffield United losing at Plymouth. Leeds are now five points clear of
their promotion rivals with four games to go.
In the swirling eddies of a three-into-two automatic
promotion race, this could end up being a potentially decisive 24 hours. Leeds
made hard work of delivering their part of the bargain, wasting a stream of
chances to make for an unnecessarily stressful conclusion.
“If you want to win promotion, you have to have a special
mentality,” Daniel Farke said. “You don’t crack under pressure. You must play
with fire in your heart, but on the other hand you don’t lose your head and
stay calm and composed. This is what the lads did really, really well.
“We could have made our life a lot easier by using a few of
the chances. It must have been one of the highest expected goals games for us
all season. Normally, we should have scored six or seven. Nevertheless, it was
a priceless three points.
“I was aware it could be an important step for us today.
This stadium can develop an energy like nowhere else and we had a little taste
of how it would feel if we could celebrate with our supporters the really
special achievement of going back to the Premier League. It would be an
unbelievable feeling, but we’re not there yet. ”
Leeds need eight points from their last four games to make
sure of a return to the Premier League, although their goal difference is such
that seven points will surely do it. They have scored 82 goals, making this
their most potent campaign since the glory days of 1969-70 when 84 helped them
to runners-up spot in the old First Division.
Leeds should have had more, though, against a Preston side
whose season is tailing off badly. The main culprit was their leading-scorer
Joel Piroe, now without a goal in eight games. He had a series of opportunities
to end his drought, the prime one coming in the 55th minute when he struck the
bar from three yards – but he is in one of those phases as a striker when the
goal shrinks to the size of a shoebox.
Willy Gnonto, Brenden Aaronson and Joe Rodon also squandered
good chances, the latter somehow contriving to miss an open goal from a yard
out in the second half.
Leeds could have been made to pay when the Preston captain,
Ben Whiteman, was handed an inviting free-kick after Karl Darlow strayed
outside his area to punch away a hopeful ball in, but the strike was deflected
wide.
All the goals came in a frantic 13-minute start to the
contest. Manor Solomon gave Leeds a fourth-minute lead, curling a glorious
angled strike beyond the Preston goalkeeper, David Cornell, and into the far
corner. It was a lovely piece of vision and execution from the Israel
international.
Within two minutes, Preston were level through Kaine
Kesler-Hayden. The Aston Villa loanee drove at Junior Firpo, cut inside the
Leeds full-back and drilled a thumping left-foot strike past Darlow.
Bogle quickly restored the home side’s lead, arriving inside
the Preston six-yard box in between Jayden Meghoma and Andrew Hughes with
perfect timing to put away Solomon’s cross from the left.
Leeds’s profligacy built the tension towards the end, but
the visitors could not rustle up enough as an attacking entity to discomfort
Leeds unduly. After the Wembley playoff heartbreak last season, automatic
promotion is now theirs for the taking.