Heidi's Blog - Armistice Day Emotions as Leeds Beat Plymouth

Leeds United v Plymouth Argyle | 11th November 2023 | Elland Road


After getting to Elland Road late for the last two home games, it was decided that we would set off early as soon as my daughter Dani arrived to pick us up. She got stuck in traffic on the way over to me and then we crawled all the way to Leeds. I’m glad I wasn’t a Plymouth fan though because someone posted up on social media that it was a 12-hour trip! Whether that was a round trip I’m not sure, as I’d have allowed six hours to get here from past experiences. It meant no trip to the Peacock again but had to go straight into the ground although the hold ups carried on there. For some reason the tunnel entrance saw long queues but at least I got in 20 minutes before kick-off. I had moved my seat to the front of the stand so that I could sit down instead of standing up all game. That said, as the game kicked off, I ended up with cramp in my feet so had to stand up for a little while.

With today being Armistice Day, we had representatives from the Armed Forces there as well as our own veterans who meet at Elland Road every week. I’ve been quite emotional since my recent operation; I cried after buying a poppy this week as well as after the two-minute silence at 11am today. Having been brought up to respect this country and those who fought in the wars, my heart goes out to them.

Leeds started off the better of the two sides but in the first minutes of the half we had a penalty shout turned down when Rutter was brought down in the area. When the same thing happened again, I was expecting to hear the referee’s whistle to go, only for James to pick up the Plymouth clearance on the edge of the box and send a great shot into the top corner to put us into the lead. When Summerville put the ball into the net it was disallowed for offside. It didn’t take us long though to get our second goal, after an exchange between Summerville and Piroe saw the latter slot the ball home. Rutter had a great shot that their keeper palmed away to stop us getting a third goal. There were a couple of chances for Plymouth in the first half, but Leeds had been on top for most of the half as we went in at the break.


In the second half Summerville was involved in a couple of moves with first Piroe seeing his shot saved by the keeper and Rutter seeing his chance go over the bar. Byram was injured in a challenge and was subbed by Firpo for his first game since a long-time injury. The game quietened down but later after more subs, Anthony saw his shot put out for a corner by their keeper. As we headed into injury time, Plymouth pulled a goal back as they got the better of us on the wing and they had a player waiting in the middle to tap the ball into the net. Having the extra cushion of that disallowed goal in the first half would have meant a not so nervy finish but thankfully, Leeds were able to see the game out and get another valuable three points as we head into the international break.

I felt that Rutter had lots of challenges on him today with little protection from the referee and was limping when he was subbed plus there were another couple of challenges on James that were let go too. Although four Plymouth players were booked, the one who brought Rutter down when he was the last man, should have walked. With some fouls the referee plays on then gives a freekick against you with a soft challenge so there are still some improvements to be made to the game. Gruev was booked for kicking the ball away. That said, the good thing is that games are played at a faster pace which isn’t a bad thing.

See you at Rotherham, LUFC – Marching on Together!

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Leeds won the game 2-1 with goals from James (20) and Piroe (27)

Team: Meslier, Cooper (Captain), Ampadu, James, Gray, Rodon, Summerville, Rutter, Byram, Piroe, Kamara

Subs: Firpo for Byram (injured 53), Anthony for Summerville (78), Gnonto for James (78), Gruev for Rutter (91), Bamford for Piroe (91)

Unused Subs: Darlow, Cresswell, Ayling, Poveda

Attendance: 36,718 (2,800 Plymouth Fans)
Referee: Josh Smith
Booked: Gruev