Leeds United’s remarkable seven?match unbeaten run finally met its match at St James’ Park last night, but there was nothing meek about their exit. Thrust into their fourth fixture in just ten days, Daniel Farke's side stood toe to toe with a Champions League bound Newcastle outfit that had only lost once at home (to Arsenal) in ten games. In a roller-coaster of an encounter, Leeds led three separate times, coming from behind to seize a 3-2 advantage well past the 90th minute. Those valiant strikes of character only made the eventual 4-3 defeat, sealed by two injury-time goals, including a controversial penalty all the more brutal to swallow.

From the opening whistle, the Whites refused to be overawed by the Toon army. Their high-octane pressing disrupted Eddie Howe’s fluid build-up on the flanks. In midfield, Ethan Ampadu, Anton Stach and Brenden Aaronson combined tenacity with poise, recycling possession quickly and launching incisive counters whenever opportunities arose. Yet Leeds also showed vulnerabilities at the back, something the Leeds Utd faithful have not seen since transitioning into a back three, perhaps indicating that lynchpin Joe Rodon was bought back to the fold too soon.

While the loss stings, it cannot erase the confidence Leeds have built since November. During his post match presser, Farke was quick to highlight the positives. "It's football, it was a great advertisement for the Premier League. A game full of class. Of course there were mistakes otherwise there wouldn't be goals. But more or less football how we want to see it - emotional, offensive, great from us here at Newcastle. It was always clear the not-losing streak would come to an end and I would prefer to do it like this, a top performance from the lads.

	Line Up		Nat	Match Events
	1	Perri, Lucas Goalkeeper			4.5
	24	Justin, James Defender			7.8
	3	Gudmundsson, Gabriel Defender			7.1
	6	Rodon, Joe Defender			6.8
	15	Bijol, Jaka Defender			7.1
	5	Struijk, Pascal Defender			6.5
	4	Ampadu, Ethan Midfielder			7.5
	44	Gruev, Ilia Midfielder			7.3
	18	Stach, Anton Midfielder			8.2
	11	Aaronson, Brenden Midfielder			★9.1
	9	Calvert-Lewin, Dominic Forward			8.4
	Subs		Nat	Match Events
	19	Okafor, Noah Midfielder			6.0
	14	Nmecha, Lukas Forward
	23	Bornauw, Sebastiaan Defender
	22	Tanaka, Ao Midfielder
	29	Gnonto, Wilfried Midfielder
	26	Darlow, Karl Goalkeeper		Unused Sub
	25	Byram, Sam Defender		Unused Sub
	20	Harrison, Jack Midfielder		Unused Sub
	10	Piroe, Joel Forward		Unused Sub