Blackburn Rovers     0                                                                           

Leeds United            2 (James 27, Summerville 75))                               

9th December, 2023, EFL Championship.

20,963.

That’s as clinical a performance as we have seen from the Mighty Whites – not always the better team but for once, when the chances came, we put them away. At other times Leeds had that bit of quality when it counted.

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Blackburn huffed and puffed and looked every bit a top half side but they lacked the quality we possess with the likes of Piroe, Rutter, Summerville and Dan James in attack. When any of those have the ball in forward areas you just expect something to happen, something magical. From a meagre 8 goal attempts, we got half of them on target whereas the home side had 12 and only found the target twice. When they did get through, Illan Meslier was supreme, although I do wish he’d catch the ball more often rather than punch it away! Each time he punches the ball there is a sharp intake of breath from the Leeds fans!

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Roared on by 7,700 Leeds fans, the atmosphere in the Leeds end  was excellent and there felt an inevitability about Leeds scoring and a probability that Blackburn wouldn’t.

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The two goals were classic examples of how we have real quality in certain areas and certain players that Blackburn and most teams we’ve faced thus far just don’t have. The first goal showcased the three fabulous qualities that Georginio has  - strength, dancing feet, and an eye for a pass. He used all three as he tore through the inside left channel, holding off a challenge and then slid the ball perfectly into the path of Dan James. Dan is in the form of his life and with one touch jinked right and powered the ball into the far corner. Quality, quality, quality!

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The second was equally as good. This one showcased the skills of Archie Gray. He steamed forward, played a delightful little give and go and then expertly slid the ball through for Cree Summerville. Cree did the rest with a touch of his own quality as he dinked the ball over the keeper. Yes, quality moments won this game for Leeds.

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No one will say this was a perfect performance, we gave away possession too cheaply, too often for that and there was the usual array of missed chances – albeit none too bad. Georginio was unlucky to see a clever chip float wide and Joel Piroe was unlucky with a powerfully struck free-kick that deflected inches wide.

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At the other end the two opportunities that Blackburn had on target were ably dealt with Ilan Meslier- one in particular a superb stop from the Blackburn substitute Arnor Sigurdsson.

We are doing what we need to do folks – we are winning football matches regularly . We could do with more stumbles from the top two who both won again today but remember they play each other twice between now and the end of January. Just keep winning Leeds!

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Oh, one more thing! We don’t have to worry about third kit anymore! A win in it at last!

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