Leeds United v Stoke City 5th March 2024 at Elland Road please log in to view this image After taking some strong pain killers during the night, for once they had a bad effect on me. I was just glad that it was a home game, and we didn’t need to leave home until 5.00pm. Having stayed in bed most of the day, although not 100%, I was glad to have my daughter with me to drive us to the game. Something else to take away feeling sorry for myself was going to meet up with friends before the game, including some Stoke fans. It was great seeing everyone plus there was some good banter between us all making it an enjoyable meet up. Team: Meslier, Ampadu, Rodon, Kamara, Summerville, James, Roberts, Byram, Rutter, Bamford, Gruev. Subs: Piroe for Bamford (71), Joseph for Rutter (71), Gnonto for Summerville (79), Gray for Kamara (87), Firpo for Byram (87). Subs not used: Darlow, Cooper, Cresswell, Gelhardt. Leeds won the game 1-0 with James the scorer (33). Attendance: 36,118 with approximately 1,600 Stoke fans. Referee: Oliver Langford. Booked: Gruev. Stoke turned us around to attack the Kop in the first half where in the opening minutes of the game, it looked like James was going to cause issues for Stoke with his speed. His first run after a great pass from Rutter saw the keeper save his shot with his backside as he fell. James kept swapping sides and his next shot after Kamara passed to him in the penalty area, saw the keeper make a save again. James got his just rewards as he brought the ball forward on the left-hand side as the Leeds pressure paid off. He cut inside, then turned the other way sending a great shot into the net to give us the lead. We didn’t have it all our own way as Meslier made a great save after a long range shot from Stoke almost caught us out. That is something we should do to be honest, as many times we are taking one step too many when we could shoot first time. That said, we went into the break still in the lead. The second half saw Stoke come out with renewed vigour, with Meslier making a couple of good saves. As they were getting on top, it was a relief to see us changing things by bringing on our first subs. Surprisingly Rutter threw his jacket on the floor and sat outside the dugout when he was taken off. Joseph had an immediate impact and was unlucky not to score as he rounded the keeper, only to see the ball kicked off the line. For the second game running, the opposition had a player sent off for a second bookable offence. With Meslier making saves to stop them equalising and the Stoke keeper making another save, the game ended with us getting another three precious points. My man of the match for both us and Stoke, would be the keepers. It was a hard game for us today, but it was important to get the win. Friday sees us head to Hillsborough for another Yorkshire derby against Sheffield Wednesday. See you there – LUFC – Marching on Together! please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
