Leeds United 6 Stoke City 0: Composed Whites show why they are heading back to the Premier League — Yorkshire Post 21/4/25
By Stuart Rayner
Leeds United partied like it was 1990 on Easter Monday.
It took Burnley’s vicory against Sheffield United to confirm
promotion, but after a rampant 6-0 win over Stoke City, there was little
doubting their fans had got it right as early in the afternoon they began
singing "The Whites are going up."
Leeds have only once won promotion to the top division since
1990, and that was behind closed doors during the Covid-19 pandemic.
If Carlsberg did Easter Mondays, this is how they would do
them for a Leeds supporter.
Manager Daniel Farke had been relaxed enough not to even put
his best player, Daniel James, on the bench after the Hull-born winger
complained of a sore hamstring after making his return from injury at Oxford
United on Good Friday.
With just 20 minutes gone, Joel Piroe already had a
hat-trick as his team-mates pressed with the hunger of a team locked up without
food since Lent ended. By half-time he had four, and Leeds five.
Farke even brought 16-year-old Harry Gray – brother of
Archie, son of Andy, grandson of Frank and grand-nephew of Eddie – on for an
eight-minute debut, having taken James' place on the bench. It got one of the
biggest cheers of the day.
Club legend Eddie's emotion as he did was clear.
So was Gray Jnr's joy as he jigged in front of a Kop singing
I Predict a Riot at full-time.
If Prioe got the goals, Jayden Bogle was arguably even
better. The right-back has been outstanding since joining from Sheffield United
but this was probably his best performance yet.
Stoke turned Leeds around at the coin toss in their last act
of defiance on a rainy West Yorkshire day.
They trailed after six minutes, Leeds pouncing when they
overplayed, Willy Gnonto picking out Manor Solomon from the loose ball. The
pass was behind Prioe but he stabbed it into the net to start the party.
Two minutes later and the first bursts of "Leeds are
going up" started after Bogle won the ball off Bae Jun-ho and played it
for Piroe to control and finish.
Brenden Aaronson forced Viktor Johansson into a low save
after 11 minutes as Stoke gave the ball away again. A minute later Bogle took
the ball off Josh Wilson-Esbrand, but his cross from the byline was cut out.
It was only delaying the inevitable. Ao Tanaka was at the
heart of a move from back to front, threading a lovely ball to Gnonto. His shot
was saved, but Piroe pounced to complete a 14-minute hat-trick.
Junior Firpo shinned the fourth in after his fellow
full-back Bogle beat his man and delivered a deflected cross. Nothing was
stopping Leeds.
Johansson saved low from Gnonto before Piroe scored the
fifth in the 42nd minute.
Bogle's turn to beat Wilson-Ebrand was exquisite but from a
tight angle, he hit the upright. No matter, Piroe miskicked the ball in,
Aaronson trying but failing to nick the goal.
It was not surprise left-back Wilson-Ebrand was part of a
triple half-time substitution, or that Mark Robins brought on a third central
defender in the shape of Teessider Ben Gibson.
Bae had only Stoke's second shot of the game, carrying the
ball forward and shooting wide to the kind of ironic cheers that met Ali Al
Hamadi as he missed the target almost falling over himself at the other around
20 seconds after the restart.
As Elland Road partied, Leeds completed the formalities of a
second half.
Solomon forced a near-post save and Bogle blew the chance of
the goal he so deserved before being substituted, ballooning his shot.
But as the crowd sang Gnonto's name, Leeds' smallest player
got his name on the scoresheet with a 59th-minute header. It does not matter
how diminutive you are if the cross is as good as Solomon's was. The Italian
immediately acknowledged the assist.
Lynden Gooch stopped Isaac Schmidt joining the fun after
Johansson came out to Largie Ramazani and Lewis Baker hit a stoppage=time shot
which stopped Karl Darlow being charged for being a spectator.
For a club with a reputation for "falling apart, whose
bottle was being questioned even earlier this month, it was a masterclass in
composure and quality.