Bournemouth 2 (Kroupi 60, Rayan 85) ​

Leeds United  2 (Hill og 68, Longstaff 90+7)

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22nd April 2026. English Premier League.

11,226.

 

Wow! If anyone had told me a few weeks ago that we’d win at Old Trafford, beat Wolves to go 9 points above the bottom three, get a 2-2 draw at Bournemouth and then have a trip to Wembley at the weekend for an FA Cup semi-final… I’d want to know what they were smoking!

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These are truly magical times to be a Leeds fan, and long may they continue.

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Bournemouth are a very good side, unbeaten in 13 league games now and fresh from wins at Arsenal and Newcastle. Had they beaten Leeds tonight, they’d have nicked 6th spot in the table from South Coast neighbours Brighton – these are strange times in the Premier League, aren’t they?

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Anyway, we gave a terrific account of ourselves against a form side – not that we aren’t a form side ourselves, with still just 4 defeats in 25 games!

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The first half was a cagey affair with a chance or two at either end, but the home side probably edged it with six attempts to just one for Leeds. The Cherries were quick, used their wings to great effect and won five corners; yeah, they were the better side, but Leeds had their moments, and we dealt well with most that the Cherries could throw at us.

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We got to the hour mark before our luck ran out when Ao Tanaka was bushwhacked in midfield, and Bournemouth broke away quickly again. The ball was threaded through to Kroupi, and his strike took a deflection off Joe Rodon, and it was enough to beat the otherwise unbeatable Karl Darlow, who had another terrific game. We don’t throw the towel in, though, do we, and back we came just eight minutes later to find an equaliser. It was a scrappy affair with the Cherries having umpteen opportunities to clear from their own box, but Leeds kept going after that ball, and eventually we got that little bit of luck for ourselves when Willy Gnonto just took a pot shot, and the ball deflected off Hill into the net! Amazing.

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It looked for the next twenty minutes or so as if we had done enough, but the home side continued to exploit their wing play, and in the 85th minute, hey presto, they grabbed what looked for all the world like a winner in the night. Tyler Adams, who’d been taking all sorts of stick from the Leeds fans since he came on, had the last laugh as he fizzed the ball into the box and Rayan finished brilliantly to clip the ball inside the back post. Ah well, not to worry, we sang about Wembley and assumed that was it for the night. We thought that even more so, a few minutes later, as Evanilson went through to finish superbly. 3-1 and again, ah well, whatever, we’d fought well, but who really cared as we were soon off to Wembley. The players lined up …. But ah, hang on! We’d forgotten about good old VAR!  Goal disallowed for offside! Ha, it was still only 2-1…

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No one expected Leeds to equalise, but there were seven minutes added on to do so, and Leeds got their second wind. The ball was hooked out of play by a Bournemouth side now looking a bit frayed at the edges, and Ethan Ampadu launched in a long throw. The ball was headed away but not very far, and … who was that about to have a whack? Sean Longstaff took a gamble and wow! He smashed it into the net! 2 -2 … once we’d waited for VAR to just give it the third degree. The Leeds moments this season just keep on coming! This was another good one!

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Leeds had battled all night and would come away with another valuable point from one of the most difficult places in the division to get anything. We have reached the somewhat mythical 40 points, and surely that will be enough, won’t it? Maybe we still have to beat Burnley to reach 43, by which time, hopefully, it’s all done and dusted. Just 11,226 fans inside this tiny ground-no wonder it’s hard to win here, it’s like nothing else we come across! (They do a good pie, though, and the Birra Moretti was decent too!).

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I certainly didn’t think we’d get anything down there, but then again, I didn’t think we’d get anything at Old Trafford either; we are constantly doing things we didn’t think we could!

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Now, I wonder if we can do it one more time, on Sunday?

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