After getting picked up on time by my daughter and granddaughters, everything was going smoothly as we called for something to eat at the White Rose before heading to the ground. The sudden realisation that I’d left my parking permit behind made me want to kick myself and then to cap it all, the scooter wouldn’t work once we got it out of the car. To say I was stressing was an understatement because instead of being at Billy’s statue to meet family, it was a case of trying to find out what the issue was. A big thank you to Care and Co, Leeds where we purchased the scooter from as they were able to sort the problem very quickly. Although the kids went into the ground earlier, we got in just as the team were already on the pitch where we found we had a great view next to the corner flag near the tunnel.
Team: Meslier, Ayling (captain), Koch, Wöber, Firpo, Harrison, Bamford, Aaronson, Summerville, Adams and Roca.
Subs: Rodrigo for Bamford (66), Gnonto for Summerville (66), McKennie for Roca (66), Rutter for Aaronson (84), Sinisterra for Harrison (90).
Subs not used: Robles, Struijk, Kristensen, Greenwood.
Leeds drew the game 2-2 with Bamford (41) and Harrison (78) scoring for Leeds. Harrison was also credited with scoring an own goal for Brighton (61).
Attendance: 36,471 with approx 2,900 Brighton fans.
Referee: Paul Tierney.
Booked: Firpo.
Although Leeds started off on the attack, Brighton were the ones to take the game by the scruff of the neck putting the Leeds defence under pressure with their constant attacks. It wasn’t a surprise as they took the lead when they created some space in the penalty area to head the ball into the net. That seemed to knock the stuffing out of us as we seemed to hang back in the middle of the pitch, not challenging Brighton and letting them dictate the play for the next ten minutes. When boos started in the Kop, then chants of “what the f**k is going on” started, I was desperate for us to get behind the team at this time and become the twelfth man. As the chants died down, Harrison won the ball on the left hand side of the pitch, passed to Bamford, who gave an answer with a fantastic shot that hit the crossbar in front of the South Stand and went into the net. What a great goal and what a good time to get it just before the break. The half ended after both sides had further chances but we went in with the scores level.
Leeds came out strongly at the start of the second half where we had a lot of play. We attacked the Brighton goal with Aaronson having a shot saved then Harrison and Ayling having a shot blocked and the other going over the bar respectively. Brighton scored a second goal against the run of play as they had luck with deflections with the last one off Harrison to increase their lead. That was a blow as I didn’t think we deserved to be behind again at that point. Leeds made a triple substitution on 66 minutes with Rodrigo, McKennie and Gnonto coming on to replace Bamford, Roca and Summerville. Meslier made a good save to keep Brighton from increasing their lead and then Leeds equalised with another spectacular goal this time from Harrison. Even though I didn’t like the short corners we were taking all the time, it was Gnonto’s quick one to Harrison at the edge of the box that we scored from. It was important that Brighton didn’t get another goal and we had to battle to keep the scores level. At the end of the game although we didn’t get the win, we scored two cracking goals which will hopefully bring confidence to the side and one point is better than none. We have to remember that we don’t need to try and walk the ball into the net but when they have a chance on goal, we should shoot on sight.
I know we have slipped back into the bottom three today, but we can build on what we are doing under Gracia. I’ve been there supporting Leeds United for over 50 years through the ups and downs and I know how frustrating it can be when we aren’t playing well. If we can play our part during the games getting behind them 100% and being the twelfth man, we can survive in my opinion. That isn’t having a go at anyone for their opinions, but when we are all on the same page, we can make things work in our favour. See you at Wolves, LUFC – Marching on Together!
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