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Reuters
Reuters
Sport
Simon Evans

Soccer-Bamford earns Leeds a point after battle with Burnley

Soccer Football - Premier League - Burnley v Leeds United - Turf Moor, Burnley, Britain - August 29, 2021 Leeds United's Patrick Bamford celebrates scoring their first goal REUTERS/Peter Powell

Patrick Bamford celebrated his England call-up with an 86th-minute equaliser on Sunday as Leeds United came back for a 1-1 draw at Burnley in the Premier League.

Burnley striker Chris Wood had opened the scoring in the 61st minute, against his former club, turning in a low drive from Matt Lowton from close range after a goalmouth scramble followed a James Tarkowski header against the bar.

Soccer Football - Premier League - Burnley v Leeds United - Turf Moor, Burnley, Britain - August 29, 2021 Leeds United's Patrick Bamford scores their first goal REUTERS/Peter Powell

But Leeds took a share of the points after Raphinha's low drive was blocked, Jamie Shackleton drilled the ball into the box and his effort was poked in by Bamford.

Bamford, who spent an unhappy loan spell with the Clarets five years ago, had been on the end of some mocking from Burnley supporters but he had the last laugh.

It completed a good week for the striker who, having missed out on England's Euro 2020 campaign, was called up by Gareth Southgate for next month's World Cup qualifiers against Hungary, Andorra and Poland.

Soccer Football - Premier League - Burnley v Leeds United - Turf Moor, Burnley, Britain - August 29, 2021 Burnley's Chris Wood celebrates scoring their first goal Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff

“It is always tough coming here,” said Bamford, "You don’t want to be disrespectful but you know what you’re going to get when you play against Burnley.

“They do make it difficult and it’s a bit of a fight, and it was a fight all game. I think we definitely deserved a point, we created a lot of chances but I think we’ll be happy with a point to be fair," he said.

Burnley will feel hard done by, however, after fighting well throughout a physical contest and being just four minutes away from their first win of the campaign.

Soccer Football - Premier League - Burnley v Leeds United - Turf Moor, Burnley, Britain - August 29, 2021 Leeds United's Patrick Bamford celebrates scoring their first goal REUTERS/Peter Powell

Ben Mee had a first-half effort for Burnley disallowed after the referee spotted Ashley Barnes had handled the ball, while Raphinha wasted a good chance for Leeds in the first half.

Leeds have two points from their opening three games while Sean Dyche's Burnley had lost their opening two games.

"You have to make decent performances (into) wins, obviously, but I don't think we were a million miles away, against tricky opposition," said Dyche.

Soccer Football - Premier League - Burnley v Leeds United - Turf Moor, Burnley, Britain - August 29, 2021 Burnley's Matej Vydra and Josh Brownhill looks dejected after Leeds United's Patrick Bamford scores their first goal Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff

"We managed the game well, our tactical shape was good, we just lost our way a little around when they scored, without them opening us up. And it was a bit of a stuffy goal," he said.

Earlier on Sunday, Burnley announced they had signed Ivory Coast international Maxwel Cornet from Olympique Lyonnais on a five-year deal for a reported fee close to the club record of 15 million pounds ($20.65 million).

(Reporting by Simon Evans; editing by Clare Fallon)

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