Leeds United 1 Norwich City 0: YEP video verdict

Yorkshire Evening Post

Leeds United writer Lee Sobot with his verdict from the Elland Road stands as Daniel Farke's Whites make it five wins on the spin and move two points off second.

Transcript

00:00 Hello there, Lee Sobot at the Yorkshire Evening Post here from Ellen Road. Another Leeds United

00:06 game and another victory, five on the spin to start 2024. Fantastic form, the Whites

00:11 are in at the moment and a victory that has put them two points off second place after

00:16 a 1-0 victory here this evening against visiting Norwich City. And a game which really was

00:22 I suppose a fairly nervy conclusion really in the end. Three minutes added time which

00:27 ended up being more like nine or ten, Norwich sending the goalkeeper up for various set

00:31 pieces. But in the end, 1-0 was enough and a Patrick Bamford header and a superb header

00:36 as he took his tally to four goals in his last five games and another assist from Dan

00:42 James. That was the only goal of the game in the 16th minute. Leeds made a bright start,

00:47 lovely cross from Dan James, real good play from Archie Gray, took a knock as he won the

00:52 ball firstly. Then Routier, ball play to Dan James, cross into the box and Bamford

00:57 with basically a header back across goal into the opposite corner. Just real precise, great

01:02 centre forward play and that proved the only goal of the game. Thereafter, Leeds had lots

01:08 of possession as they looked to double their tally. It has to be said Norwich missed an

01:11 absolute sitter on the stroke of half time, ball put wide from very, very close range.

01:17 Second half, Leeds came out and started well again but it was quite sort of tense around

01:20 here and the crowd were getting a little bit edgy as Norwich really started to knock it

01:23 about. They had a decent spell of possession but actually didn't really create that many

01:27 chances and you've got to say that Leeds did hold firm and obviously in the end, the clean

01:30 sheet proved absolutely crucial and everybody did their bit for that. But Joe Rodan, I thought

01:35 was absolutely outstanding at the back. He really is turning into a brilliant loan signing

01:39 and the sooner they can get him signed up on a permanent deal, the better. He looks

01:43 a real talent at the back there for them. In the end, as I say, 1-0 was enough. Leeds

01:47 had plenty of chances in the end. Once they got through that spell of pressure from Norwich,

01:52 they did have some more good chances and Bamford put one wide which was probably a harder chance

01:56 in his header after a decent move. There were other bits and bobs of chances and as I say,

02:01 it's quite often a common theme with Leeds not taking the chances enough but if they're

02:05 going to only put one in the net, then they've got to keep a clean sheet and that's what

02:08 they did and that's proved enough to get the three points this evening. As I say, it's

02:12 a brilliant start to the new year. Five wins in a row, four wins in a row in the Championship

02:17 and the fact of the matter is now, obviously it's the FA Cup this weekend at home to Plymouth

02:21 but when Leeds do return to action at Bristol City, victory in that game will put them second

02:26 and that definitely will put pressure on Switzerland and Southampton. Obviously, they'll have played

02:30 more games and then two more games but you hope that sooner or later they will start

02:34 to drop points. We've said Leeds probably need to be perfect if they're going to finish

02:38 second or near enough. They need to keep churning out the wins and fair play to them. That's

02:42 exactly what they've done this evening. We'll have to wait and see what the injury situation

02:45 is. Archie Gray went off and he looked a little bit upset as he came off putting another outstanding

02:48 shift on. James also came off and had to take a lock in the first half. There's those things

02:52 to watch. There'll probably be loads of changes this weekend for the FA Cup, you would think.

02:56 Onwards and upwards as we finish today. Leeds United 1-0 Norwich City.

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