Leeds United 2 Derby County 0 – boring but important. After a slow start Leeds easily saw off a meek Derby County in the first half. The second half was boring and fans left at the end with little to get excited about. But the result is important. Leeds United are back on top of the Championship.
It was a familiar script for Farke’s Leeds. Play a patient dominating possession and get the first goal in the first half. Score another from a Thirlwell corner. That’s it. The second half is wasteland of substitutions at 70 minutes and a loss of rhythm as the match turns a bit championshipy. Which is how it went with Derby County. The gulf between the two teams meant Leeds never really reached their peak.
Derby County were predictably following a common blueprint that bottom half Championship team use to achieve a result against Leeds, typically by one goal: defend in numbers and then counter attack. Derby have not won in four games and showed it.
The match was played in extreme windy conditions with the goal kicks going anywhere. The first half was slow and fans became impatient as Leeds dominated possession could not break down the Derby defence. The biggest cheer in first half hour was when Ampadu started to warm up – a welcome return from injury (although he was not used).
Derby as expected stayed in their own half and crowded midfield to limit Leeds’ possession advantage. Neither side could muster a shot but Rodon and Struijk ensured Derby were neutered in counter attacking and blatant in their time wasting. Tanaka, Solomon and Andersson were all busy without any final product.
The only action in the first half hour was the loss of Firpo. Wober came on to a few boos. Finally, after half an hour James was given the ball and channelled into that corridor of uncertainty. With Rothwell on corner duty Leeds caused havoc and scored two goals from the least likely of scorers – Rodon and Wober.
With the first goal we could finally relax and a few from the crowd went off for a beer and a pie. But Leeds upped the pressure with Wober running unmarked into the penalty area to cancel out the boos. The old man in front of me was incensed at the boos Wober got when he came on and apoplectic after he scored.
Derby predictably came out fighting in the second half with a couple of tame shots but it was Leeds that tested the Derby keeper and were unlucky not to bag that elusive third.
Man of the match: When Dan James was given the ball he worked it into the penalty box to create lots of chances.
