Full time: Leeds 1-0 Sheffield Wednesday
Peep peep! Leeds move up to fourth - and nine points clear of seventh-placed Fulham - with an important derby win. It was a hard-nosed struggle with just two shots on target in the whole match - Chris Wood’s goal and Jordan Rhodes’ penalty that was saved by Rob Green. Leeds’ defensive square were quite superb. Thanks for your company, don’t forget the clockwatch!
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90+2 min Wood is booked for timewasting. He was flagged offside but chipped Westwood anyway.
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90 min There will be four minutes of added Wednesday frustration.
89 min Leeds are probably under less pressure than at any stage since half-time.
87 min It’s been a frustrating match for Wednesday. They’ve have lots of the ball and lots of near chances, but few actual ones. Meanwhile, Bridcutt is booked for timewasting.
86 min Leeds make their final change: Pablo Hernandez is replaced by Stuart Dallas.
85 min A free-kick to Wednesday on the right wing. Wallace curls it in and Green punches away.
82 min Another leeds change: Ronaldo Vieira replaces the tiring Eunan O’Kane.
81 min The substitute Bannan tries his luck from 25 yards. It’s a decent effort that bounces just wide of the far post, though I think Green had it covered.
76 min McManaman’s cross from the left is headed towards the six-yard line by Forestieri, and the stretching Berardi makes a vital interception to deny Fletcher.
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74 min Wednesday have had so much of the ball in the second half but Leeds’ defending has been superb, certainly in open play. They have looked a bit more vulnerable from set pieces.
72 min Roofe shoves McManaman, who gives the ball away as a result to Hernandez. He tries to play a low ball across the box which deflects back towards him, and then both he and Roofe try to shoot at the same time. It hits a defender and goes behind for a corner.
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72 min “I played a 1996/97 Sensible World of Soccer version of this fixture this morning,” says Peter. “Mark Pembridge scores a 90th-minute equaliser to cancel out Tony Yeboah’s first-half strike. The game ends 1-1.”
Consider the front page held.
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71 min Leeds make their first change: Kemar Roofe replaces Hadi Sacko.
70 min O’Kane is booked for a weary foul on Reach.
69 min Bridcutt is robbed just outside his own area by Forestieri, whose pass to Fletcher is crucially intercepted by the last man Jansson.
68 min Wednesday make a double change, bringing on Bannan and Steven Fletcher for Jordan Rhodes and Almen Abdi.
67 min Wednesday have a really strong bench, and they’re not afraid to use it: Barry Bannan is about to come on.
65 min A rare Leeds attack. Hernandez plays an excellent pass inside McManaman for Ayling, whose dangerous low cross is cleared to O’Kane. His follow-up shot is well off target.
63 min Wallace is booked for a dive just outside the Leeds area. Good refereeing from Mike Jones. Bartley, the defender, thought he’d been penalised and has his hands over his head in apoplexy.
61 min This is Wednesday’s best spell of the match. Leeds are struggling to get out.
59 min There’s a break in play, so let’s have a look at Gordon Watson one more time.
58 min Another excellent inswinging corner from Wallace is headed over from eight yards by the unsighted Loovens. That was a chance.
57 min It’s starting to get a bit niggly. Wallace is fouled 25 yards from goal, to the right of centre. He takes the free-kick himself and it deflects off the wall for a corner.
56 min Replays show Doukara and Hutchinson were wrestling each other. Rhodes had another chance straight after the penalty, when he mistimed his jump from the ensuing corner and knocked the ball over the bar from eight yards.
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It wasn’t a great penalty from Rhodes - accurate, but a bit too soft and Green had time to plunge to his left and tip it onto the post. I’m not sure it was a penalty in the first place, although Doukara certainly took a risk by putting hands on Hutchinson. You can see why it was given.
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RHODES HITS THE POST!
Robert Green pushes the penalty onto the post!
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PENALTY TO SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY!
A corner is headed back across the box, and Doukara is penalised for pulling back Hutchinson. Hmm.
52 min On reflection, I’m not certain Hutchinson did get the ball. I’d like to see that again.
51 min Leeds appeal for a penalty when Hutchinson makes a risky tackle on O’Kane near the byline. Replays show he got the ball, and that’s the end of that.
51 min Leeds’ defensive square of Bartley, Jansson, Bridcutt and O’Kane are so tough to get through. Wednesday have had no joy at all in central areas.
50 min Bridcutt drills a long crossfield pass to Wood on the left. He runs at the backpedalling Sasso, cuts inside on the edge of the box and crunches a shot that swerves well wide of the far post.
49 min “Are we sure which city Dave Hill’s in?” asks Glenn Hoddle. “If San Diego, I suggest the Shakespeare Pub & Grill to see the game. Mind you, I remember having furniture thrown at me when I went there to see that England - Ireland friendly that was abandoned after twenty minutes many years ago.” 15 February 1995, yeah.
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47 min “Would be interested to hear Leeds fans thoughts on how Roofe has played this year?” says Max Edwards. “He was on another level for us last year.”
46 min Peep peep! Sheffield Wednesday begin the second half, kicking from right to left.
Sheffield Wednesday are making a half-time substitution: Callum McManaman for Morgan Fox.
Half-time reading
Half time: Leeds 1-0 Sheffield Wednesday
Peep peep! Leeds are ahead in an unyielding match thanks to Chris Wood’s calm finish. See you in 10 minutes for the second half.
45 min Rhodes appeals for a penalty after some off-the-ball physical banter with Bartley. Mike Jones says not out. Then Green drops a vicious low cross from Reach and is happy to see it fall to a Leeds defender.
44 min “Hey Rob,” says JR in Illinois. “Yeah, as Dave Hill said this game is not on TV here in the U.S. Instead the channel that shows Championship games is showing a PiYo infomercial so I am watching Wolves v Birmingham from yesterday. Perhaps Dave needs a new TV because Leeds has been on TV (for league games) several times this season. I’ve seen them get spanked by QPR and Brighton and seen them smoke Rotherham.”
Smoke Rotherham has to be a band name, somewhere.
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43 min It’s all a bit scruffy at the moment, which suits Leeds given the scoreline.
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41 min Jansson is booked for a foul on Forestieri about two minutes after the event. The referee played the advantage and then went back to book him, though I’m not entirely certain it was a foul.
35 min A great defensive header from Sasso denies Wood a clear chance from six yards and sparks a Sheffield Wednesday break. Eventually a cross is half-cleared to Forestieri, who sidefoots a half-volley high and wide from 15 yards
34 min Wednesday are really dominating possession now, although they haven’t had a shot on target yet. If anything Leeds look more dangerous on the counter.
33 min Wednesday win the first corner of the match. Wallace’s inswinger is cleared to Wood, who breaks forward and finds Sacko. He has a great chance to return the favour and put Wood clear on goal. Instead he decides to set off on a surging run straight out of play. That was dreadful decision-making from Sacko.
32 min “Has Dave Hill not gone to bed or got up at 4.30am especially to watch Leeds?” says Ian Copestake. “Am sure The Cock ‘n’ Bull on Lincoln and Pier would serve his needs. Is run by a different sleepless Evertonian.”
31 min Sasso is booked for a foul on Wood.
30 min Wednesday have been the better team either side of the goal and there’s a burgeoning nervousness around Elland Road.
28 min Abdi plays a forensic through pass to Forestieri, who controls it on the run and is about to shoot when Jansson comes across to make an excellent challenge.
27 min “As my train winds its way from Newcastle to Carlisle, I’m sat here wondering how the Leicester board will one-up the most unlikely league title of all time, and the unceremonius dumping of Uncle Ranieri,” says Matt Loten. “Mandatory sacking for any manager that loses a game? Joe Kinnear’s triumphant return to football as new manager of Leicester City? The relocation of the entire King Power Stadium to Bangkok in an attempt to ‘grow the brand’ in ‘key international markets’? I wait with bated breath.”
Unless Danny Dyer is involved, sacking Ranieri is indefensible.
25 min That wasn’t great defending from Wednesday. The centre-halves let Wood go and he was played onside by the right-back Hunt.
Doukara tapped the ball down the left to Berardi, who was fractionally offside but not given. He curled a right-footed cross into Wood, who looked offside on the six-yard line but wasn’t, and he controlled the ball before relaxing his right foot to cushion a low volley past Westwood.
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GOAL! Leeds 1-0 Sheffield Wednesday (Wood 24)
Chris Wood scores lots of goals, but few as easy as this.
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23 min Wednesday are having more of the game now. Hunt’s fierce cross from the right is well controlled by Rhodes but he can’t get over his subsequent snapshot on the turn and it whistles high over the bar.
21 min A near miss for Sheffield Wednesday. Wallace’s dangerous inswinging free-kick right hits the head of Wood at the near post and drifts a few yards wide of the far post. It should have been a corner but the referee gave a goal kick.
17 min Lovely play on the right by Sacko, who nutmegs Fox and crosses low towards the near post, where the diving Westwood palms the ball away.
16 min The first decent move of the match. Sheffield Wednesday take a quick free-kick inside their own half and break from right to left, where Reach’s excellent low cross drifts across the face of goal.
12 min “I guess it’s a good thing that I can’t get the game on TV here in California,” says Dave Hill. “The only time I’ve been able to watch Leeds in the past couple of years have been FA Cup ties. The less said, the better.”
11 min A stirring blast of “We all hate Leeds scum” is interrupted by contemptuous whistling when Fox stabs a pass straight out of play.
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9 min Both teams are really harassing each other in midfield, which is the main reason the game still hasn’t settled down. My enormous book of football cliches tells me it’s a typical derby game so far.
7 min It was Kuala Lumpur.
6 min Leeds have been the better side so far, though the match hasn’t really settled down.
5 min There’s a lovely, quaint aggression to this match: slide tackles, chanting, the lot.
3 min After a mistake from Sasso, Wood’s optimistic shot from the right side of the box dribbles tamely across goal.
3 min Hutchinson sets his agenda with a couple of lively, fair tackles in midfield. Up with this sort of thing!
2 min “As a lifelong Leeds fan I will be following the game from here in KL with fingers crossed,” says Karen Young. “I think the pressure of holding on to a play-off place may well prove a step too far for my beloved Whites. How us LUFC fans long for the days of the Premiership - my daughter and I (both Mancunians) had season tickets and revelled in those Champions League nights. I can keep dreaming Rob, but until then - Good Luck LUFC. Enjoy the game, it will be lively and loud!!”
KL? Kuala Lumpur? Kirkland Lake? Kings Langley?
1 min Peep peep! Leeds, in white, kick off from right to left. Sheffield Wednesday are in black.
Is it me or... is Keith Andrews an extremely good pundit? Never seen him before but he’s talking all kinds of insightful, opinionated sense, and in a lovely brogue too.
“Thank goodness for some footer!” says Ian Copestake. “And a time machine of a match at that. I lived in Leeds during their Leicester-like rise and fall but now only associate them with a solid foreign chairman of good standing who seems to have demonstrated the sense of sacking people every twelve minutes. It will never catch on though.”
Ian, your status as the best MBM emailer of all time is without question. But we are duty-bound to put the MBM’s long-term interests above all sense of personal sentiment, no matter how strong that might be. Therefore, you’re blocked.
Our first email!
“Come on Rob,give us your prediction on this one,” says Michael Senior. “As an Owl, I’d probably take a draw right now, but heart says 2-1 to Wednesday.”
Didn’t you get the memo? It’s now illegal to listen to the heart in professional sport. Gotta use the head! Gotta use cold, hard business logic! Gotta be a hardass!
As for the prediction, I suspect Leeds will win 2-1. But I don’t care who wins so long as it’s an uplifting game of association football.
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Team news
Leeds (4-2-3-1) Green; Ayling, Bartley, Jansson, Berardi; Bridcutt, O’Kane; Sacko, Hernandez, Doukara; Wood.
Substitutes: Silvestri, Cooper, Vieira, Pedraza, Barrow, Dallas, Roofe.
Sheffield Wednesday (4-4-2) Westwood; Hunt, Loovens, Sasso, Fox; Wallace, Hutchinson, Abdi, Reach; Rhodes, Forestieri.
Substitutes: Wildsmith, Fletcher, McManaman, Winnall, Palmer, Semedo, Bannan.
Preamble
Hello. Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday belong together, forever and ever – but not in the Championship. They are Premier League teams in all but name, a situation both hope to rectify in May. At the moment they are both in the play-off places and have a puncher’s chance of being promoted back to the top division for the first time since 2004 and 2000 respectively. That’s something for each side to worry about tomorrow. Today they just want to beat that lot.
It’s 25 years since they finished first and third in the final season of the old first division. The most devastating performance of Leeds’ title win came against Wednesday, a majestic 6-1 win at Hillsborough live on ITV. It’s a game best remembered for ... actually it’s best remembered for Gordon Watson’s hilarious dive, but let’s not dwell on that. Let’s reflect instead on another high-scoring game between the sides: Sheffield Wednesday 6-2 Leeds in 1995-96, a game best remembered for ... oh I give up.
Kick off is at 12.30pm.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Newcastle | 32 | 37 | 69 |
| 2 | Brighton | 32 | 28 | 68 |
| 3 | Huddersfield | 32 | 8 | 64 |
| 4 | Reading | 33 | 5 | 60 |
| 5 | Leeds | 33 | 11 | 58 |
| 6 | Sheff Wed | 33 | 10 | 58 |
| 7 | Fulham | 32 | 17 | 52 |
| 8 | Norwich | 33 | 11 | 51 |
| 9 | Barnsley | 33 | 4 | 49 |
| 10 | Preston North End | 33 | 4 | 49 |
| 11 | Derby | 32 | 7 | 48 |
| 12 | Cardiff | 33 | -2 | 45 |
| 13 | Ipswich | 33 | -7 | 41 |
| 14 | Brentford | 32 | 0 | 40 |
| 15 | QPR | 33 | -10 | 40 |
| 16 | Birmingham | 33 | -14 | 40 |
| 17 | Aston Villa | 32 | -8 | 36 |
| 18 | Nottm Forest | 33 | -12 | 36 |
| 19 | Wolverhampton | 31 | -4 | 35 |
| 20 | Burton Albion | 33 | -13 | 35 |
| 21 | Bristol City | 32 | -6 | 32 |
| 22 | Wigan | 33 | -10 | 30 |
| 23 | Blackburn | 31 | -13 | 29 |
| 24 | Rotherham | 33 | -43 | 17 |
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