Leeds United vs Blackburn Rovers. Sky Bet Championship.
Elland RoadAttendance35,567.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash at Elland Road
Saturday 9 November 2019 17:57, UK
Leeds remain firmly in the hunt for automatic promotion after a hard-earned 2-1 win at home to Blackburn.
However, their fans were again made to sweat for the points, despite having led 2-0.
Patrick Bamford ended his long goal drought to open the scoring from the spot before teeing up Jack Harrison for the second shortly after.
Despite Derrick Williams scoring for Rovers, Leeds held on to remain third and stay just two points behind leaders West Brom.
Stuart Dallas registered the game's first effort although his attempt was well off target after being put in down the left flank.
Despite both sides stringing together some neat exchanges, both were also heavily guilty of giving away possession too cheaply.
Northern Ireland international Dallas then fashioned another chance on 23 minutes when he latched onto a ball and continued his central run before firing over the Blackburn crossbar.
The game sprang into life just before the half-hour when Leeds were awarded a penalty after Luke Ayling's sprint into the area was halted by Blackburn defender Tosin Adarabioyo.
Bamford stepped up to take the spot-kick and would have felt a sense of relief as he coolly slotted home to not only put the hosts in front, but also end a barren personal 10-game spell without a goal.
It got even better for the hosts when Bamford played his part in a superb second goal just a few moments later.
The forward latched the ball out of the air, controlled it and laid it into the path of Harrison, whose stroked effort went in off a post.
The feelgood factor around Elland Road evaporated slightly just before half-time when Stewart Downing's corner was met with a planted header from Williams, who halved the deficit.
Harrison produced the first chance of the second half when he was played in down the left-hand side of the Blackburn box but could only blaze his shot over.
Harrison was in the thick of the action and saw two shots blocked by a dogged away defence just after the hour mark as Leeds upped the ante in search of a third.
A Leeds corner on 74 minutes almost saw them squeeze in another but an almighty scramble allowed Blackburn to somehow clear their lines.
Blackburn were still in the game but goalscorer Williams fired off target after good work from Bradley Dack in a rare second-half effort from them.
Leeds could have sealed the win with a classy third from a quick counter-attack but again Harrison was off target.
Given Leeds' habit of failing to kill off teams at home, the majority of the crowd were understandably cautious at such a slender advantage but the hosts just managed to hold on for another precious win.
Leeds' Marcelo Bielsa: "This is a player with a big character and a big personality. He took the responsibility (for the penalty), which isn't easy for him.
"At that moment (2-0) it was difficult to think the opponent could score. But after they scored, everything changed. After we scored twice, we had 10 or 12 chances but in the first and the second half we had a lot of spaces to attack. We didn't take advantage of that as much as we should."
Blackburn's Tony Mowbray: "It's always intense when you come to Elland Road. But the referee gives a penalty, which I've seen back a few times on the laptop and it's soft to say the least. It spoiled a little bit of the game for me. Is the standard of refereeing in the Championship dropping, or is it just me?
"It felt like that game was a bit much for him. In the context of the game it was a very soft penalty. Leeds didn't have hundreds of shots and when we got back to 2-1 there was a nervousness about them. We wanted to pray on that nervousness but it never materialised."
