Leeds United poetic point as press room ghost is laid to rest — Graham Smyth's Bournemouth Verdict — YEP 23/4/26

By Graham Smyth

The Verdict on Leeds United’s 2-2 draw at Bournemouth is in.

Leeds United's last-gasp point at Bournemouth might not have been the most deserved of the 40 they have accrued but it might be the most poetic and most important.

Earlier in the season the Whites were heading for a 2-1 victory over the Cherries at Elland Road and it would have been fully deserved.

Bournemouth had other ideas, however, snatching a scarcely-deserved leveller at the death from a set-piece.

The return at the Vitality Stadium went exactly the same way but this time it was Leeds with the snatch and grab.

Bournemouth could have been out of sight but found themselves defending a long throw in the 97th minute and when the ball dropped to Sean Longstaff he rammed a volley right down their throats to make Leeds all-but safe from relegation.

It would be a monumental ask for each of Nottingham Forest, West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur to claw their way to 41 points but it is nigh on unthinkable that Leeds will not take another single point from their remaining games. Not when those games include the now-relegated Burnley and trips to Spurs and West Ham.

For Spurs in particular, the idea of a team who has not won since December suddenly finding what would be Champions League form to take 10 points from the 15 on offer is far fetched to say the very least.

There was a faint whiff of sliding doors about this fixture. Or maybe it was the faint sound of a ghost of Leeds United's past, rattling about the Vitality Stadium.

The last time Leeds made the long trip to Bournemouth they were managed by Javi Gracia, having failed to convince Andoni Iraola to leave his post at Rayo Vallecano and replace Jesse Marsch.

Iraola preferred to complete his project and see out the season - and in any case would not have been given permission to leave by the Spanish outfit.

Leeds ended up with Gracia, 10 weeks later they crumbled at Bournemouth and he suffered the ignominy of being asked if he'd lost the dressing room. He was sacked, director of football Victor Orta went too and the season ended in relegation. Iraola joined Bournemouth that summer. Daniel Farke joined Leeds.

Ahead of this meeting of the club's, Farke's stock at Leeds could scarcely be higher after ending a four-decade wait for a league win at Old Trafford and guided them into their first FA Cup semi-final since the 1980s.

As for Iraola, it's a similar feeling from a different story. The exit door beckons this summer but he and the Cherries are finishing their journey together with a flourish, fighting for Europe.

Any points earned by the visitors would make them all-but safe from relegation, a win for Bournemouth would put them in the Europa League spot and a draw would move them above Chelsea into the Conference League place.

The early stages were even enough and entertaining up to a point as both teams looked to pass the ball forward. Inaccuracy stopped Leeds in their tracks a few times, while Pascal Struijk's aerial dominance kept Bournemouth out at the other end.

Most of the promising action for either side came on the same flank. Alex Jimenez went past Noah Okafor too easily a couple of times and ahead of him David Brooks threatened.

Conversely, Okafor's pace and power gave Jimenez one or two difficult moments and his left-side partner Gabriel Gudmundsson produced the first decent-looking cross of the game for the visitors.

As the half developed Bournemouth had the better of it, but found Struijk and Jaka Bijol difficult to beat in the box.

On a rare occasion when Marcos Senesi did win a header in the area, Karl Darlow was there. By that point Leeds were creaking a little on the other side, Jayden Bogle was coming under some pressure and Bournemouth were pouncing on any sign of sloppiness from their visitors.

Darlow had to be there again shortly before the break, flying across his goal and sticking out a boot to redirect a Ryan Christie shot that looked to be bound for the net.

But the Whites had their moments too, threatening through Gudmundsson on the counter and using Dominic Calvert-Lewin's physicality and tidiness to put together a move that deserved more than the free-kick Bournemouth ended up earning.

Bogle was withdrawn at the break allowing Joe Rodon to come into the game and meaning a switch to wing-back for James Justin.

It was not an immediate salve for Leeds' issues on that side because that's where a dangerous cross came from that allowed Brooks to threaten at the back stick. The hosts continued to make Leeds uncomfortable and Struijk was required to get out and deflect Christie's effort from the edge of the box. Gudmundsson had to clear an inviting cross from the back post.

But just past the hour mark came a breakthrough. Ao Tanaka lost the ball in the middle, Gudmundsson slid in but failed to bail out his team-mate and when a ball was played through the heart of the Leeds defence it put Junior Kroupi in on goal to beat Darlow. If the manner of the concession was disappointing, what happened next was agonising. A slip at the back was seized upon by Okafor, he went one-v-one with Dorde Petrovic, dinked him and found the post rather than the gaping net.

That was when Farke changed the game. He sent on Lukas Nmecha and Willy Gnonto, took off Bijol and Okafor and switched to a back four. Suddenly Aaronson was finding space and driving at Bournemouth and Nmecha was popping up to cause problems.

It was his shot that led to a long throw opportunity, from which Leeds levelled. The substitute played a big part in creating merry hell in the area and found his fellow replacement Gnonto whose strike cannoned off James Hill and found the net.

The game duly opened up and both teams looked dangerous, before Bournemouth adjusted to what Leeds were doing differently. Once they did, they were back on the attack and then back in front.

Again, Leeds were left to rue their part in the goal. Alex Scott was left alone in space on the right and had ample time to pick out Tyler Adams whose cross was put home by a poorly-marked Rayan. The goal came in the 85th minute and it was deserved. It had the feel of a winner.

And as Farke went for broke, throwing on another attacker in Joel Piroe, it was Bournemouth who were far more ominous.

They hit the bar from a corner through Senesi and had a goal chalked off by VAR by the most slender of offside calls. But Leeds clearly believed there would come another chance.

Even when Gnonto's beautiful cross found Nmecha in the box and he shot wide off the outside of the post, they continued to play like they believed.

The clock had just ticked over into the 97th minute as Ampadu lined up the last throw of the game. Rodon did enough to keep the ball from being cleanly cleared, it dropped to Longstaff and his thunderous volley zipped through a crowd and into the net.

Ex-Leeds man Tyler Adams, Iraola and everyone in red and black besieged the officials to rule the goal out for offside due to Piroe's positioning but the smile on Ampadu's face as he jogged past Adams said it all. Bournemouth suddenly knew exactly how Leeds felt at Elland Road back in September.

Reaching the 40-point mark with four games spare is a remarkable achievement but this point has a dual purpose.

On one hand it closes the door a little more on Spurs and on the other it allows Leeds to roll into a Wembley weekend and an FA Cup semi-final with their momentum not only intact but super-charged by the manner in which they finished at the Vitality.

Far from wondering what might have been with Iraola, Leeds are now dreaming of what might be come Sunday under Farke, for whom the dressing room are fighting tooth and nail. For whom they are writing not only poetry, but history.