Leeds hit back to earn vital victory and keep dream alive
If Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds cracked under the pressure of trying to win promotion last season, they rallied under it last night to stage a remarkable recovery.
When Leeds were 2-0 down, they were at risk of dropping out of the top two at the weekend and of squandering an 11-point advantage on the chasing pack in the space of a few weeks. Instead, they fought back to beat Millwall, the team with the most points in the Championship since Gary Rowett’s appointment, with a stunning second half that cost the Londoners a spot in the top six and took themselves back to the top of the table.
If they can summon this spirit and quality regularly in the next four months, their 16-year exile from the Premier League will end.
If Patrick Bamford, who ended a personal drought with a brace, can continue to score, Leeds should convert more of the many chances they create.
Despite Bielsa’s famous attention to detail, it is a recurring theme that his side score too few goals from corners and concede too many. Millwall’s set-piece specialists were quick to take advantage as Jed Wallace’s far-post corner was headed in by Shaun Hutchinson.
With Luke Ayling losing Hutchinson and goalkeeper Kiko Casilla rooted to his line, it was embarrassingly easy.
Millwall doubled their lead from another dead-ball situation. Jon Dadi Bodvarsson muscled his way into the box and was brought down by Ezgjan Alioski. Wallace drilled the penalty under Casilla to join the select band of Championship wingers in double figures for the season, but Leeds were aggrieved, believing Millwall midfielder Ryan Woods had run the ball out of play before finding Bodvarsson.
It was not the first flashpoint between historic rivals. Temperatures were raised when Bartosz Bialkowski made a fine save to tip Stuart Dallas’s excellent effort away, but referee Darren England gave a goal-kick.
Dallas was deputising for the suspended Kalvin Phillips as the holding midfielder, but he got forward to draw a second save from Bialkowski as Leeds mounted a spirited response to going behind.
They converted a Hernandez corner, albeit in scruffy fashion. Jack Harrison met the low centre but while Bialkowski parried his close-range shot, Bamford was on hand to bundle the ball over the line. It was not merely his first goal of 2020, but the first for any Leeds player. Their only previous strike was an own goal from West Bromwich Albion’s Semi Ajayi.
Hernandez struck with a halfvolley from the edge of the box. Then Bamford plunged forward to head in Ayling’s cross.