Leeds United v Bristol City 7th October 2023 at Elland Road please log in to view this image Yesterday, sadly, I was unable to be at the Eddie Gray mural unveiling organised by LUFC Trust alongside LUSCOS, Texas Whites and others, as I already had an important appointment to attend. This mural is opposite the old Fullerton Park supporters club and is another great tribute to one of our players from the greatest team I have ever seen. I was certainly glad that my elder daughter was taking the strain of driving to Elland Road today because I would have struggled to make it at the point, we were leaving home. After going via Wakefield to pick up my middle daughter, we passed a pub on the A650 which had police outside it with a big Bristol City flag on display. By the time we parked up at Elland Road, it wasn’t long until kick off, so I didn’t make it to the Peacock and went straight in. A young girl can thank her lucky stars that my daughters were there as they found her purse, make up and keys on the floor as we came through the turnstiles. Luckily, she was reunited with them very quickly as they were able to locate her nearby. Team: Meslier, Struijk, Byram, Gray, Rodon, James, Rutter, Ampadu, Kamara, Piroe, Summerville. Subs: Anthony for James (78), Bamford for Rutter (82), Ayling for Kamara (90), Cooper for Summerville (90), Gruev for Piroe (90). Subs not used: Darlow, Gelhardt, Cresswell, Poveda. Leeds won the game 2-1 with James (37) and Piroe (53) scoring the goals. Attendance: 36,386 with approximately 1,900 Bristol fans. Referee: Keith Stroud. Booked: Rodon. Bristol City put Leeds under a lot of pressure at the start with constant attacking but overall, we coped well. We had a different formation today with Kamara in the middle whilst Gray was at right back. Despite Gray’s young age, it’s a delight to see what a talented footballer he is taking after the footballing dynasty of the Gray family. Our first good chance came with a one two between Summerville and Byram which resulted in Summerville putting an excellent ball across the penalty area. When the ball reached Rutter at the far side of the goal, despite being in an excellent spot, saw the ball head high over the top of the goal. It looked like he wasn’t expecting the ball to reach him or expecting the flag to go up for offside. Ampadu then sent a powerful shot which the keeper palmed away for a corner. Leeds took the lead after Anthony put their player under pressure in their penalty area and once again Rutter despite falling, sent a great ball across the box. Summerville touched it before James put the ball into the net to the delight of the Leeds faithful. Bristol equalised right at the end of first half injury time from a corner. Their player ran through three Leeds players, rising higher than anyone else to head the ball into the net shortly before the whistle blew. Not a good time for the opposition to score. The second half saw Leeds stick with the same formation. Leeds took the lead for the second time in the game when Kamara sent the ball forward for Piroe. No sooner had the words “shoot” come from out of my mouth, did the ball hit the back of the net when he did exactly that. That’s what I want to see us do, taking a chance with a shot from outside the area rather than more often than not, trying to walk the ball into the net. I’m not sure what happened to Gray at that moment, but he looked in pain and there was some concern from some of the other players. Summerville had a great shot that their keeper palmed away as Leeds stepped up the pressure. Rutter with another great run down the middle passed it to James who went down. Rutter ran for the loose ball and with some great footwork, was past two of their players in a flash. Summerville at full stretch at the far post was unable to reach the ball to put it into the net. That was another great move by Leeds though. Leeds did see Rutter score a third goal which was disallowed for offside and could have proved costly for us as we didn’t have it all our own way. A few minutes after this we had Byram to thank as he headed the ball off the line to stop Bristol from getting a second goal. That third goal would have made the win more convincing but at the end of the day we got another win with another three points. It was a good entertaining game despite not being perfect, but we put on a good display of football which is all that matters to me. Seeing players want to play for us and the shirt, makes such a difference. Next week sees us have a week off for the International Break which works out well as Rutter had an ice pack on his knee at the end of the game which gives him some recovery time. I head over to Selby for a Becchio and Beckford meet up with the Selby Whites which I’m looking forward to and hopefully I make a family get together. The following week we head for Norwich with a slightly later departure from Leeds of 7.30am. Just keep doing your best Leeds, we can play some good, exciting football and once again I was impressed by the performances of Gray and Rutter. The good thing is that we are playing as a team! 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 please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
