Leeds United 1 Southampton FC 2 – Marching On Together. A mixed unconvincing performance see Leeds lose at home on the last match of the season. Fans sing Marching on Together as a rallying call for the team into the play-offs.
Early on we saw signs of Southampton FC looking dangerous going forward with a good penalty shout early on. Leeds may have the meanest defence in the the Championship but their concentration i a Southampton corner was appalling. A poor clearance allowed an unmarked Southampton player to lob over a group of Leeds defenders to three Southampton players – any one of them could have scored, and one of them did.
Byram was having a lively game getting the ball up to Gnonto and was pivotal in winning a ball high up and switching it to Gnonto whose ball into the box is intercepted but not cleared with Piroe hammering the ball into the net with a deflection. Leeds were winning corners with Amapadu and Rodon make a better impression in the penalty with headers but still Leeds have no plan with corners.
The craziness of the match was typified on the half hour when a Southampton corner was desperately cleared off the line, it was luck it did not cross the line.
The referee struggled to manage the game with deliberate fouling getting free kicks but a chest bump between Gnonto and Manning is bizarrely a yellow card for both. The crowd and Farke are incensed that the referee had not given clear yellow cards.
Leeds get undone with Walker-Peters allowed to pick up a long ball and passing it to a charging Smallbone that no one marked, who scored with ease – more dreadful defending. Leeds did try for an equaliser before half time but Southampton defended in numbers – Summerville was closed down by four players.
It is a wild first half with both teams nervous in defence and too many deliberate fouls being allowed. Southampton had a deserved lead as Leeds were too busy chasing shadows. Leeds had earned a few corners but it was Southampton who had the set pieces that led to a goal.
In the second half Farke allowed ten minutes for the team to show some mettle, and once a Southampton had had a goal was disallowed – showing more disarray at the back – he brought on Gray, Joseph and Anthony. It was a courageous switch with both Gnonto and Georginio taken off. It is an attacking substitution as Southampton sat on their lead.
The changes work as Leeds finally had periods of possession in front of the Southampton goal but Southampton’s defensive wall held firm. This was Leeds of most of the season – passing and getting first to the ball to find gaps round the back of the defence.
The referee never really got to grip with the match, with yellow cards for Leeds players protesting but no cards for persistent deliberate fouling by Southampton. At the end Summerville was body checked to the ground but no foul given yet Piroe was yellow carded for protesting about it.
As the whistle blew to another defeat it was a low key lap of honour by the players with a mixed reaction by fans. A final rendition of Marching on Together. Leeds now go on to the play-offs against Norwich City. Leeds end the regulation part of the season on a low as Leeds fall to a second defeat in a row a Elland Road and the Southampton goal simply not challenged enough.
Man of the match: Ampadu worked tirelessly in the middle of defence.
