Bristol City     0    (Bamford 9)

Leeds United 1        

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Another difficult looking game on paper, and another convincing performance from Leeds. They may have put us through a nervy final ten minutes or so but this game ought to have been put to bed a long time before that. Going ahead as early as the 9th minute with a lovely worked goal that saw Alioski’s long diagonal cross headed into the path Patrick Bamford by Luke Ayling, the nerves seemed settled knowing that record of 16 previous games this season where, having taken the lead we went on to win the game.

Sadly, despite out-shooting the home side by 16 to just 4 attempts we once again couldn’t turn that superiority into goals thanks to a mixture of poor finishing and a lack of some luck at the crucial moments. At the other end Bristol didn’t offer very much although at least two vital saves from Kiko Casilla also played a part in the victory.

Once again we made a team that is said to be one of the most accomplished in the division look very ordinary and the sight of the home fans disappearing for their half time cuppas with ten minutes of the half to go suggested the Robins’ faithful were disappointed too with the first 45 minutes. The second 45 followed a similar patern.

Leeds have now turned a disappointing run of 5 defeats in 7 at the start of the year into a nice little run of four wins from five since then. The fact that the latest two victories have come against West Brom and Bristol will also give the players and the fans confidence as we travel down to Reading on Tuesday.

Once again this was a win built on an overall team performance rather than on any individual brilliance from any specific Leeds player. There were strong displays from all of the back four while Alioski and Harrison worked as hard as ever down the wings and Roberts, Klich and Patrick Bamford were workmanlike up front. Kalvin Phillips was, well, “Our Yorkshire Pirlo” and Kiko Casilla made vital saves when called upon. There will be several players’ names in the various post-match reports as the Man of the Match.

Ten more to go (assuming we claim one of those priceless top two spots!) and I’m sure there will be twists and turns to come  but we could do no more today than we did… other than maybe score a few more! We will go down to the Madejski with confidence high of coming away with a rare decent result from that place!