Match report
That was an intriguing derby fixture that perhaps never quite burst into life, but Sheffield United were the deserved winners. They showed more intensity and ambition than their tentative hosts, and substitute David Brooks provided the necessary touch of class when the game looked set to end all-square. There is, of course, a long way to go, but this team are firmly in the promotion race – after all, they’re top of the league. Thanks for joining me. Bye!
Full time! Leeds 1-2 Sheffield United
Saiz works his way back into the area but is stopped in his tracks, and after Hernandez gives the ball away, Duncan blows the whistle. Sheffield United are top!
94 mins: Saiz jinks his way in from the left, but his pass is aimless. Leeds build again, before Hernandez’s cross sails into Blackman’s arms. Time almost up.
92 mins: Saiz pings Hernandez’s pass back across goal, and the frankly enormous Grot gets above his marker, but can’t get any power on an awkward header.
90 mins: Good news for Leeds – there will be five minutes of added time. Bad news for Leeds – they have close to zero forward momentum.
88 mins: The away fans are going mad, and they’ve every right to go mad. Their side are going top of the Championship, as it stands.
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87 mins: Ronaldo Vieira goes in the book for a cynical, if necessary, lunge on Clarke to stop a counter-attack. Clarke meets Fleck’s free kick, but nods it over the bar.
85 mins: Duffy is replaced by John Lundstram, with Leeds fans taking exception to his gentle pace leaving the field. The referee is able to calm things down without producing any more cards – although Fleck is lucky not to get an immediate second booking for a shove on Samuel Saiz.
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84 mins: Two quick bookings for Sheffield United, with Leon Clarke and John Fleck going in Duncan’s little black book. Dutch striker Jay-Roy Grot is thrown on by Christiansen, replacing Vurnon Anita.
Brooks combined with Duffy and set off down the left, collected the return pass, and bustled into the area past Ayling. He still had plenty to do, but stroked his shot past Lonergan from a tight angle. What a finish!
GOAL! Leeds 1-2 Sheffield United (Brooks 81')
An unbelievably composed finish from David Brooks might just have won this game!
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80 mins: What a chance for Leon Clarke! Fleck carries the ball down the left and with Brooks’ dummy creating space, he has time to pick his spot – but fires straight at Lonergan.
79 mins: Saiz cuts across the penalty area with Baldock in hot pursuit, then tumbles over on the edge of the box. The referee isn’t interested; it would have been extremely harsh.
77 mins: Brooks makes an immediate impact, dancing past Vieira and winning a free kick. Duffy swings it in but Lasogga, who has spent most of the game strolling around in the opposite half, gets a vital touch to clear!
76 mins: Leeds beginning to push their opponents back, Saiz at the heart of another patient attacking move – but Sheffield United hold firm. Brooks is on for Billy Sharp, who scored one and could have easily had more.
74 mins: Baldock is booked for a clumsy challenge on Vieira. David Brooks, the talented 20-year old midfielder, will be on for Sheffield United shortly.
72 mins: Ayling swings a cross towards Lasogga, who finds himself sandwiched between two Sheffield United centre-backs, and can’t get near the ball.
71 mins: Phillips offers an apology to Baldock, while Leon Clarke keeps busy chasing Leeds’ central defenders. Twenty minutes left for someone to find a winner.
69 mins: Basham moves upfield – Wilder gives his outside centre-backs plenty of licence to roam – but he skews a hopeful shot high and wide. Alioski’s race is run – he’s replaced by Pablo Hernández, who impressed in the League Cup tie against Leicester.
67 mins: Saiz and Alioski, Leeds’ most likely attacking players, combine on a counter attack – but the winger’s header from Saiz’s cross is weak, and straight at Blackman.
65 mins: Sheffield United win a corner after Basham steps through Vieira’s tentative challenge. Phillips blocks, conceding another corner, then has the temerity to whine at the officials’ decision.
62 mins: Perhaps still upset about that miss, Phillips slides in on George Baldock with his studs up and connects with the right-back’s ankle! It’s a dreadful tackle, and he’s very lucky to escape with only a booking.
60 mins: Saiz, so much more effective through the middle, wins a free kick in a central position, more than 25 yards out. Kalvin Phillips lines one up, but slips during his run-up and balloons the ball into the air. “He did a Beckham,” opines Andy Hinchcliffe, and he didn’t mean it in a good way.
58 mins: In the interests of balance, here’s Sheffield United getting one over on their rivals in the 2002 League Cup. Features a sweet, sweet hit from one Phil Jagielka:
56 mins: Saiz hits the post! Leeds’ top scorer has been stationed more centrally and from the No10 position, he pings a left-footed shot from 20 yards past Blackman and off the far upright. Unlucky.
55 mins: A quiet, scrappy spell, with neither team able to get anything going. Jansson is coming on, replacing Cooper, who seems to have tweaked a hamstring.
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52 mins: Leeds captain Liam Cooper looks to be struggling with an injury, and Christiansen summons Pontus Jansson from the bench.
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50 mins: Leeds look happy to try and hit their opponents on the break, and Saiz motors beyond Coutts, who is forced to pull the Spaniard down. He’s booked, but from the free kick, another attacking move peters out.
48 mins: Clarke’s cut back from the right is cleared with Sharp and Fleck buzzing around menacingly.
47 mins: More panic from the Leeds defence, with Cooper hacking clear for a corner, and O’Kane forced into doing the same after Lonergan stays on his line.
Here we go again
The second half is under way...
These two teams haven’t met in the top flight since 1994. Just two years prior to that, Leeds sealed the title after a wild encounter at Bramall Lane. Can either team get back to the Premier League for next season?
Half time: Leeds 1-1 Sheffield United
The visitors have been the better side, with Billy Sharp scoring after two minutes and forcing two saves out of Andy Lonergan, but Kalvin Phillips’ volley means it’s all square. More soon.
45 mins: A first booking of the match, with Enda Stevens cautioned for another foul on Alioski. One minute of added time and Leeds have a free kick, which Alioski belts dismally into the stand.
44 mins: ...it’s taken quickly by Duffy, who picks out Sharp with the Leeds defence sound asleep! He brings it down but Andy Lonergan is paying attention, and charges out to make the save. What were Leeds doing there?!
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43 mins: After a spell where neither team appeared keen on keeping the ball, Pennington brings down Clarke to hand Sheffield United a free kick...
41 mins: Sharp is flagged offside as he tries to get beyond Leeds’ back line, who still look a little jittery.
39 mins: ...presenting Alioski with the chance to heave a free kick into the box – but it’s all out of goose, and drifts out for a goal kick.
38 mins: Ayling finds Samuel Saiz, who skips beyond Coutts and flings himself over once contact is made...
36 mins: Elland Road is rocking now as the visitors try to regroup. Phillips’ strike was Leeds’ first touch in the Sheffield United area, but he only needed one.
Phillips had struggled so far in the No10 role, but he delivered here, meeting Carter-Vickers’ headed clearance on the edge of the area and volleying it into the bottom corner!
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GOAL! Leeds 1-1 Sheffield United (Phillips 33')
They don’t really deserve it, but no matter – Leeds are level through a fine strike from Kalvin Phillips!
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31 mins: Duffy pings a pass out wide to Baldock, who is a fraction offside. The 32-year-old, who started his career in non-league and has never been higher in the football pyramid, has been the standout player so far.
29 mins: Woof! Duffy prises the Leeds defence open with a scooped pass to Baldock, barrelling in from the right. His cross is sliced away by Ayling, but Sheffield United are getting back on top.
27 mins: Lasogga topples over under a challenge from Basham, but the referee isn’t buying. On the touchline, Thomas Christansen is looking increasingly concerned.
25 mins: Lonergan denies Sharp a second! Pennington gets the ball caught under his feet and Clarke picks it up and crosses to the near post, where Sharp’s toe poke is turned over the bar!
24 mins: Duffy, seemingly two yards from the ball at all times, keeps Leeds pinned in their own half with some top-notch harrying.
22 mins: Back down the other end, with the game starting to stretch, Carter-Vickers concedes a free-kick which is angled in towards Lasogga, but collected by Blackman.
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21 mins: Mark Duffy nicks the ball in the Leeds half, and tees up Baldock. The winger’s speculator from the edge of the box is straight at Andy Lonergan.
20 mins: The winger takes it, Blackman punches it away without conviction, but Sheffield United clear their lines.
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19 mins: Alioski cuts past Enda Stevens and wins a cheap free kick, giving Leeds a chance to hoik a set piece into the box...
18 mins: There’s no real cohesion for Leeds going forward, with attacks breaking down and Lasogga still without even one touch of the ball.
16 mins: Baldock pushes forward, tight to the touchline, and whips a cross towards Clarke that Pennington does well to head clear.
15 mins: The jet-heeled Alioski chases a loose long pass and tucks it back to Ayling, but his cross drifts into the arms of Jamal Blackman. Leeds do have a striker playing, and a good one in Pierre-Michel Lasogga, but I’m not sure where he’s hiding.
13 mins: Alioski is picked out down the right but is reeled in by a pack of red-and-white shirts on the edge of the box.
11 mins: Both sets of fans are at full volume despite the uneven start, although there are a few murmurs of disapproval when Ayling’s forward pass finds no one in particular.
9 mins: Another chance for Sheffield United, as Sharp moves out to the left and finds Duffy, whose dinked cross is missed by Pennington. Clarke is behind him, but can’t steer his header inside the far post.
7 mins: Leeds need to wake up, and Lonergan almost hands the visitors a second, with his pass out from the back finding Leon Clarke. He is closed down, and when he picks out a pass, Sharp is offside.
5 mins: Shortly after the goal there was a hefty collision between Luke Ayling and Cameron Carter-Vickers, but referee Scott Duncan decided not to take further action.
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An extraordinary start, as Leon Clarke tees up Mark Duffy, whose cross is weighted perfectly for Sharp to get ahead of Pennington and finish. A goal against his former club, but one he’s more than happy to celebrate.
GOAL! Leeds 0-1 Sheffield United (Sharp 2')
The visitors break down the other end and Billy Sharp gets free at the far post, and powers his header beyond Lonergan!
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Peep!
We’re off, with Luke Ayling almost getting in behind the away defence early...
The teams are out, with Leeds captain Liam Cooper carrying Toby Nye, a four-year-old battling neuroblastoma. Both sides have joined in a campaign to raise money for Toby’s treatment – you can read more here.
Here’s Chris Wilder, who’s in bullish mood ahead of this one:
“I’d be a bit embarrassed if my players weren’t up for any game, but this – live on Sky, sold out with 32,000 fans in here, it’s different. In this league, any team can beat any other. Tonight, if we go top, it’s because we’ve done better than anyone else. People say we’re only 14 games in, but we’d rather be in this position than down at the bottom.”
Thomas Christiansen speaks!
“I hope that our performance will be the same as against Bristol City [where Leeds won 3-0]. We know about our opponents, how they play, and will try to combat them in our way. We need a big performance, and a high intensity.”
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The teams
Leeds United (4-2-3-1): Lonergan; Ayling, Pennington, Cooper (c), Anita; Vieira, O’Kane; Saiz, Phillips, Alioski; Lasogga.
Subs: Wiedwald, Shaughnessy, Jansson, Roofe, Dallas, Hernández, Grot.
Sheffield United (3-5-2): Blackman; O’Connell, Carter-Vickers, Basham; Stevens, Coutts, Duffy, Fleck, Baldock; Clarke, Sharp (c).
Subs: Moore, Lundstram, Wright, Lafferty, Brooks, Donaldson, Carruthers.
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Preamble
Good evening. This may officially be a second-tier fixture, but by any measure this is a big game. It features two storied Yorkshire sides separated by just 40 miles, with 12 major trophies between them.
It’s not just geography and history that make this match significant, but current affairs too. Leeds are fourth in the table, four points behind Sheffield United in third, and events at Elland Road could have a big impact on the promotion race.
Leeds produced an early six-game league run of clean sheets to muscle into the top two, before three straight defeats set the wheels wobbling. Chris Wilder’s promoted Blades have surpassed pre-season expectations, and can go top with a win tonight.
It’s finely poised for a feisty encounter under the lights. Kick-off is at 7.45pm BST.
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