Leeds United    0 ​

Brentford           0

21st March 2026. English Premier League.

36,386.

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Another opportunity missed, or a good point won? It’s hard to know at this stage, but it’s another home game that was on our list of winnable fixtures, and we didn’t win it. It really is starting to look like we might still be in this dog fight when we take those trips to Spurs and then West Ham in our favourite capital city, by which time nails will be bitten to the quick and nerves will be shredded! We await the results of today’s other Premier League games before we can really conclude if any damage was done.

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On the one hand, a point against the Bees is a good point – they are handily placed in 7th spot in the table, pushing for a European place next season, and they sat top of the 6-game current away form table as they arrived at Elland Road. They are unbeaten away from home since mid-January when they lost at Chelsea. In that time, they’ve won at Newcastle, Aston Villa and Burnley – all places we failed to win at. So, yeah, on that basis, a very good point. It’s just that we were all yearning for three, which would have made life a bit less nervy for a couple of weeks.

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The downside is it’s another home game that’s gone by without a win. We can only hope that against the lesser sides still to come to ER – Wolves, Burnley and Brighton – we will be good enough to turn them over and grab those vital few points we still need. There was certainly no sign yesterday that Leeds had become any less competitive, and we certainly didn’t look like conceding, although a third consecutive home league game without a goal has to be a concern. Those three teams that have stopped us scoring recently are all solid away performers, though, and are all well schooled in the dark arts of time-wasting and game-disrupting. We still do not cope well with those very annoying and frustrating tactics, and, not for the first time, we struggled to break through a team playing a low block. If we achieve our survival target this season, then the prime addition we need in the Summer is that same creative midfielder we’ve needed since Pablo left! Harry Wilson, are you listening?

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Leeds just about edged the stats in this one, more possession, more than twice the attempts and more corners, but neither team created a single ‘big chance’ according to the ‘Fotmob’ stats people and neither keeper needed to make any wonder saves.. In that respect, this game was eminently forgettable despite the tension we all felt throughout.

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Our best players performed well – Ethan Ampadu was outstanding again, and I thought Anton Stach lasted the full game, which he’s not always done recently, while the three centre-backs dealt comfortably with the danger of Thiago, who was limited to a single attempt all night. It was not the greatest performance by Brenden Aaronson, though – he’s not been at his best for a few games and looked lightweight against the Bees, too often caught in possession and then dispossessed. Up front, Dom Calvert-Lewin was anonymous and played little part in the game, but neither did Lucas Nmecha. Whether they just had no service or whether we should have expected more from them, I’m not sure.

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What I am sure about is that we missed the driving, probing runs of Gabby Gudmundsson down the left – I can’t forgive Mr Bramall just yet for causing that. James Justin is good, but not that good, while Jayden Bogle was less effective than he sometimes is. Maybe Gabby would have provided the extra je ne sais pas we needed to sting the Bees.

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So, sit back and wait for those other results to come in later today, then enjoy a couple of weeks off before we travel down to the capital again for the big FA Cup quarter-final. The real work starts after that, though, and it’s a trip to Old Trafford. If ever there was a time to get a result there, this is it!

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