Leeds United 2 Queens Park Rangers 0 – perseverance pays off. Despite the far too interfering Referee Leeds comfortably see off a blunt QPR It took an extra time second goal to settle the nerves of fans.
Leeds went into this match with two demons to kill off and one surprise problem. And they were all neatly tackled. A miserable midweek defeat to an upcoming Millwall had seen Leeds drop to third place behind Sheffield United. Revenge against the 4-0 thrashing by QPR late last season still lingered. The announcement in the morning of a the three match suspension of Firpo following a post match altercation at Millwall was a late disappointment.
This was a match for Leeds to win. QPR were 10 games without a win and had six first team players out injured for the game.
QPR were worthy opponents. Organised in defence and skilful with the ball they were always looking for that one goal. Alas their lack of fire power was evident in only one woeful shot on target all match. They managed so few shots their fans celebrated the first one on twenty minutes.
The referee was the difference between Leeds scoring at least four goals and the two they did manage. An early booking for Byram showed the referee was going to make himself the centre of attention. Every time a QPR player went down he whistled a free kick – the whole flow of the game was lost. The repeated off sides called on Leeds – including the disallowed goal – became totally unconvincing to Leeds fans.
Leeds managed to break through a frail QPR defence with a messy affair in front of goal – the ball chaotically landing at Bogle’s feet to score. Leeds were nothing if not dominant with Aaronson hitting the post and Byram heading wide.
Late on QPR had their first corner and a couple of hopeful shots but never looked like scoring. Apart from misplaced Leeds defensive pass QPR were never really in the game. But Leeds kept knocking on the door walking the ball right up to the keeper but somehow allowed QPR to kick it out.
In extra time the game descended into championship end to end football but it was the subbing on of Piroe that made the difference with his presence in front of goal to pick up the cross that had been coming in all match and finish off QPR. Perseverance paid off as Leeds persued that second goal.
Rodon and Stuijk had a relatively quiet game passing the ball sideways on the half way line. Gnonto and Aaronson were busy but could not find a way through a tight QPR defence. Tanaka and Solomon were kept quiet by the neat QPR passing, compensated by powerful running with the ball by Rothwell.
Man of the match: Rothwell who kept running at the QPR defence.
