Leeds United v Watford 22nd October 2024 at Elland Road 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 Due to traffic issues, we were late getting parked up, so it meant we didn’t get to visit the usual places before the game. I’ll blame it on not realising it was a 7.45pm kick off too, but by the time we got in the stand the teams were all ready to start the game so had missed the mascots coming out. With my head still being all over the place I’d not given any thought to the game facing us. Team: Meslier, Struijk, Rodon, Firpo, Bogle, Tanaka, Aaronson, Piroe, Gnonto, Ramazani, Rothwell. Subs: Solomon for Ramazani (injured 14), James for Gnonto (72), Joseph for Piroe (72), Byram for Solomon (90+6). Subs not used: Darlow, Bamford, Crew, Debayo, Schmidt. Leeds won the game 2-1 with Ramazani (4) and Aaronson (7) scoring the early goals. Attendance: 34,968, approx. 900 Watford fans. Referee: Anthony Backhouse. Booked: Firpo, Tanaka. No sooner had I got to my seat before Leeds scored our first goal. The ball looked to have been caught by their keeper as he scooped it back out, but the ball was deemed to have been over the line. Gnonto saw his shot go past the wrong side of the post but before we knew it, we were two goals up with our second goal scored three minutes later. A run by Gnonto on the wing saw a great cross pushed out from their keeper which Aaronson followed up and put into the net. Their keeper made another save from Gnonto but then we took our feet off the pedal when maybe we should have gone for the jugular. Watford saw Meslier make a great save with one of their first attacks not long before the break to deny them a goal. It was great to see Paul Reaney on the pitch at half time getting a great reception from the fans. He was 80 years old today and part of the legends from the greatest team I have ever seen under Don Revie. It made me realise how many years have passed since then when it doesn’t seem that long ago. The second half saw Watford get straight back into the game when they scored more or less straight from the kick off. Their man got the better of Struijk and Firpo but there were still plenty of our players in the area as he got the ball into the net to pull one back. Even on watching the replays I still couldn’t make out how the ball hit the back of the net. We really need to change the ball from white as it’s so much harder to follow the ball for me. My granddaughter’s team played with a fluorescent orange ball at the weekend which was so much better. Watford then went on the attack as we seemed at sixes and sevens with our heads still in the dressing room as their shot went narrowly over the bar. It took quite a while I feel to get back onto the attack, but I still wasn’t too worried. We started getting back into the game and Bogle saw his shot canon back off the post and Piroe hit the rebound, but the keeper caught the ball at the second attempt. James put a great cross into the box which saw Joseph in space head the ball only to see it go straight to their keeper. James then saw his shot saved by the keeper. We had decided there would be nine minutes of injury time due to Watford players throwing themselves to the floor and time wasting so many times. Although eight minutes was put up on the board, we played nearly 10 minutes more but at least we got the win and another welcome three points despite making it harder for ourselves than it needed to be. We head to Bristol on Saturday which will be an early start for us as we leave at 5.30am from Leeds. It’s a good job people are just telling me what time to be there etc as I didn’t even realise it’s an early kick off either. It’s not surprising really as sorting everything out in the background takes over. We are still overwhelmed as a family by all the support with cards and flowers received as well as all the hugs and condolences coming our way. These are all gratefully received so when I saw someone before the game who lost his dad just before we lost Phillip, I made sure he got a hug too. Leeds fans will always look after each other and that is why they are special. We are having a celebration of Phillip’s life the day before we head to Swansea and we know with the amount of people who have already said they will be coming, that he will get a great send off. See you on Saturday, 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 please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
