Watford v Leeds United | 11th February 2025 | Vicarage Road
It took me a while to get going this morning then decided I would go to see Don Revie’s statue when I got to Elland Road. Whilst driving there, Top of the World by the Carpenters came on the radio which took me back to Hibernian in the 70s. As I was singing along to it, I remembered singing this at the top of my voice at half time at that game. Great memories which are what keep me going. I had no idea what to expect tonight and certainly didn’t expect a 4-0 win away from home to keep us at the top of the league with a great goal difference of +47. I don’t look at any other team apart from Leeds so had no idea where Watford were in the league or how they were playing which is a good way of coping for me. It means I go with an open mind and make by decisions by what I see happening on the pitch.
Both teams came out of the starting blocks quickly with Watford winning a corner and Leeds having a shot which deflected wide. There was plenty of attacking with end-to-end football and Leeds came the closest to taking the lead after a fast move involving Solomon and Aaronson which saw a Piroe shot saved by the keeper. Shortly afterwards we took the lead after James picked up a bad back pass and ran forward, composed himself and smashed the ball into the net. James increased our lead eight minutes later after a great counterattack. Aaronson sent a great pass to Piroe on the wing whose precision pass to James in the middle saw his speed once again cause issues for their defence and smashed a second goal into the net to put us two up. Well, I never saw that coming!!
Meslier then made an important save when the Watford player got through our defence with only him to beat. We took an even bigger lead when Solomon kept hold of the ball under pressure from a Watford player and shot from outside the area, only to see the ball deflected into the net for a third with their keeper rooted to the spot. Wow but I’ll take that, we hadn’t even got to half time and were three goals to the good already. James was so unlucky not to get a hattrick as Leeds came out from defence once again. He was well behind as the defender chested the ball down, but James’s speed took him past, and he hit a first time, long range shot with their keeper grasping fresh air, but the ball went wide. What a shame as he is my favourite player, is so lovely and it would have been so deserved.
Leeds attacked towards the Leeds fans in the second half and some fantastic play from Tanaka where he ran rings around Ince leaving him behind, got the ball to Solomon. He then found Piroe in the middle who beat the defender to get a clear shot of the goal to put the ball into the net to put us four up on the night. I was so happy at this minute celebrating with the rest of our fans only to look up at the sky, feel the tears coming and started sobbing for a good few minutes. These things will continue to happen for a long while no doubt and I will have to deal with these moments when they come out of the blue as they did then. The Leeds fans had been on form all evening and I enjoyed the singing with lots of old school songs.
James came close again but couldn’t add to his tally and although Watford had their best chance of the game, Meslier spread himself across the goal as they hit the crossbar. A very satisfying win, three points and another clean sheet.
Next Monday sees the visit of Sunderland to Elland Road. Many fans have complained about giving them nearly 3,000 tickets when they wouldn’t let us have more than 2,000 tickets at their ground. As it’s a key game, putting Leeds fans in the bottom with stewards in between would have been better!
See you there, LUFC – Marching on Together!
Leeds won the game 4-0 with a brace from James (20, 28), Solomon (35), Piroe (62)
Team: Meslier, Ampadu, Rodon, Firpo, Bogle, Aaronson, Piroe, James, Solomon, Tanaka, Gruev
Subs: Ramazani for Solomon (76), Gnonto for James (77), Joseph for Piroe (81), Rothwell for Tanaka (81), Struijk for Ampadu (86)
Subs not used: Darlow, Byram, Schmidt, Guilavogui
Attendance: 19,582 (2,084 Leeds Fans)
Referee: Oliver Langford
Bookings: None
