Leeds United 2-1 Preston North End: Play all the way — Square Ball 15/4/25

Pump it up

Words by: Chris McMenamy

Elland Road serenaded Daniel Farke and his Leeds United players after beating Preston. Chris Wilder was fighting with Darko Gyabi in the Home Park tunnel. This is the Championship in April. Wilder’s brave boys had just lost their third match in a row and the Sheffield United manager chose to vent his frustration by shouting at the Plymouth fans before turning his attention to Leeds loanee Gyabi who dared to celebrate in front of the Sheffield United fans.

Wilder’s total head loss cued the end credits to one of the most thrilling days Leeds have seen in years, one that started with a bang when Manor Solomon cut in from the left wing and curled a shot into the far corner in the fourth minute.

It seemed like Leeds were sticking to their tried and tested approach of getting one of their wingers to score in the opening minutes. What wouldn’t have been in Leeds’ playbook was Preston’s Kaine Kesler-Hayden scoring 45 seconds after the restart. The winger found himself in acres of space down Leeds’ left flank and turned Junior Firpo far too easily before firing a shot past Karl Darlow and into the far corner. Firpo probably wasn’t helped by his midfielders allowing Mads Frøkjær-Jensen time and space to get the ball wide, but it was the type of soft goal that you absolutely do not want to concede; certainly not as the Championship reaches a dramatic crescendo.

The match was level and the battle was on. Given the stumbles in recent weeks, you might have expected a sense of trepidation in the Leeds players, but the match settled back into the regular pattern. Leeds passed the ball about, Preston harried them. Leeds created a chance, Preston held on for dear life.

Jayden Bogle scored Leeds’ second goal in the thirteenth minute and it was one that might define this team, beginning with a Preston throw-in deep inside their own half which Leeds won. They then patiently moved the ball across the perimeter of Preston’s penalty area, looking for the perfect opportunity and one came from another moment of individual brilliance from Solomon. Whereas he’d cut in onto his right foot to score the opener, this time he turned the opposite way and drove for the byline before fizzing a cross right into the heart of the six-yard box. Presumably there was something in his subconscious that would have told him he’d find Bogle there, who could do nothing but tap the ball in and put Leeds back in front.

There was to be no lapse in concentration now, no time for nerves or second guessing. We really should be talking about a Leeds United victory on the scale of the 7-0 against Cardiff in February, given the number of chances the Peacocks created. Twenty shots, nine big chances and an expected goals of 3.53, the unsuccessful peppering of Andrew Cornell’s net became the big theme of the remaining 77 minutes. For Leeds fans, it was a war between two sides of the brain; one telling you that this is great and we’ll eventually see Preston off, the other screaming at you that we’ve seen this movie before, and the ending isn’t very nice.

Thankfully there was a distraction in the form of Sheffield United’s match at Plymouth. Though the Blades had taken a predictable lead, there was still hope that Plymouth’s search for Championship salvation might mean they had something in them. And so they did. Ryan Hardie equalised for Plymouth in the 81st minute and news filtered through to Elland Road thanks to the lucky few with phone signal.

There were audible cheers as the news spread to the masses, prompting the atmosphere to be cranked up to eleven. By the time Muhamed Tijani – my new hero – scored Plymouth’s winner seven minutes later, Elland Road was a soup bowl of emotion. Anxiety, because Leeds hadn’t killed the match off. Elation, for the news from Home Park. The reassuring sight of Patrick Bamford emerging from the bench to hold the ball up and do the Bamford-y things pacified some concerns which, in hindsight, we needn’t have bothered ourselves with. Preston didn’t create anything tantamount to a ‘big chance’. They couldn’t even produce a wee one, but Elland Road has never been conducive to stoicism or rational thinking when so much is on the line.

Leeds held tightly to their narrow lead and Darlow did the with a cross he caught in the dying moments, just as he had done at Middlesbrough four days earlier. Leeds had done it, again. Sheffield United hadn’t. Tijani’s goal proved to be a massive kick in the proverbial and one that we all hope brings about a terminal decline.

A week is a long time in the Championship, especially during the run-in. Leeds were third in the league at 2.30pm after drawing at Luton, only seven days before the Preston win. A week later, Leeds are top of the league and five points ahead of the third-placed Blades. The sight of Wilder losing any lingering sense of emotional control made for great viewing and the Leeds fans inside Elland Road might have enjoyed that being beamed back through the big screen, but they were too busy belting out a fantastic rendition of Play all the Way for Leeds United, Les Reed’s 1972 classic.

There will hopefully be reason to serenade the boys in white at Elland Road in the coming weeks. Seven points from the final four matches will see Leeds promoted and a win at Oxford United on Good Friday would be the ideal start to the long weekend, one that could end with promotion being secured at Elland Road. Could. I said ‘could’.