Leeds United 1 Blackburn Rovers 1 – Leeds undone by a set piece. Despite being at home, despite the value of rotating the squad and having the depth of talent. Leeds United could still not break down a solid Blackburn Rovers defence. It was not two minutes before full time did the game open – two goals and a flurry of yellow cards as Leeds sought the winner and Blackburn wasted time
After swirling wind, and then pea soup fog we had another day when the weather was intent on intervening in the match’ this time with the North covered in rain. The pitch was slippy with the wind and the rain, and Pears in goal for Blackburn was lucky not to concede as he slipped more than once.
The successful rotation policy had so far paid off for Farke and continued into this match with in form Solomon back in the starting line and misfiring Gnonto back on the bench. Farke even felt he could afford to bench his captain Ampadu.
John Eustace has a good win record against Leeds including our defeat to Blackburn in November 2024. He seems to know how to Farke ticks. His team is well organised defensively and patiently waits to score that vital goal. In this match Leeds had to wait for reinforcements before they scored from a penalty but Blackburn still managed to score straight away to maintain their defensive record against Leeds.
Despite poor recent form Blackburn still managed to eek out a point from a dominant Leeds who controlled possession, were more likely score, and for most of the match, prevented their attack from getting close to Meslier.
The slow start to the season, with Leeds picking up points in a rather dull fashion, picked up in December with an emphatic victory over Oxford City and bruising win over Preston North End. The data did not lie – six matches without a defeat. So this should have been a routine win. Eustace had other ideas, using the playbook from other teams, and their own home win against Leeds, of crowding the penalty box to stop Leeds from shooting, slowing the game down, frequent fouling to disrupt Leeds’ flow, and counter attacking as Leeds press high.
Leeds were flat and slow, probably with the flurry of games and frequent rotation over the Christmas period. Rothwell was the shining light with his darting runs, Rodon and then Ampadu tried long balls for James and Solomon to get behind the Blackburn defence. But a combination of a failure to break the tight Blackburn defence and wayward final balls let Leeds down – James was a chief culprit. And it showed with only one tame effort from Leeds in the first half.
By the second half it was getting scrappy with players subbed for injuries from fouls for both sides. It was not until the 88th minute when Joeph leapt into a tackle – he may not have reached the ball – that Struijk scored the coolest of penalties. But a set piece corner from Blackburn, with Leeds left watching the ball, embarrassed Leeds who only had to see out the last few minutes of the match.
A final ten minutes of extra time saw Blackburn at their worst – Pears given a yellow for time wasting, players going down with so called injuries, and more fouls and yellow cards.
On the plus side, other results went in Leeds’ favour and we remain three points clear at the top of the Championship. It has been a tough Christmas period with only Burnley FC looking threatening.
Man of the match: Struijk who was ever present for corners and stepped up to score the penalty.
