Match Recap: Leeds United escape with a 3-2 victory over Ipswich Town

Leeds United looked to stay on top of the Championship as they took on Ipswich Town at Elland Road today in front of a crowd of over 34,000, while Ipswich wanted to keep up their good run of form in the early part of the season and stay in the play-off places.

Leeds wasted an early free kick as Lasogga kicked into the wall in the 4th minute after Ipswich’s Jordan Spence got a yellow card for a bad tackle on Samu Saiz.

Leeds showed their attacking intent in the first 10’ minutes, earning a pair of corners and a couple free kicks as the visitors were on the back foot trying to deal with the pressure from Leeds.

Ipswich dealt with more pressure in the 12th minute as Leeds continued to lay the pressure down on Ipswich and the team was justly rewarded in the 13th minute as Lasogga got the ball in the box and made no mistake, slotting the ball behind a helpless Bartosz Bialkowski. The goal was made by a beautiful pass from Conor Shaughnessy that Lasogga latched onto and put home.

The first real attacking intent from Ipswich came in the 18th minute as the visitors earned a corner, but Luke Ayling was fouled in the box defending and Leeds dealt with the danger easily. The visitors earned another corner in the 20th minute but once again the chance was wasted.

The next 10 minutes or so featured a number of chances for Ipswich, with a number of corners conceded and a sliding tackle from Ayling clearing the ball for a corner. Leeds was penalized for sloppy play after Ipswich won a free kick that was headed into the net by David McGoldrick.

Almost directly after the goal, Leeds went back on the attack. Samu Saiz played Kalvin Phillips into the box, and Phillips did well to play the ball past the Ipswich keeper and then slotted the ball home from a tight angle.

Leeds had more attacking intent after giving up the goal, as the match opened up a little bit, with a couple of Leeds free kicks going wanting and Samu Saiz had a wonderful chance that was blocked up close by an Ipswich defender. Garner did very well to control a long ball into the Leeds box, but Shaughnessy was able to block the ball behind for a corner. Ipswich once again looked dangerous on set pieces, as Leeds could only put the ball into touch for another corner and Vurnon Anita cleared the ball off the line. Leeds dealt with the danger good enough and went into halftime up 2-1.

The second half started much as the first half stopped, with the teams trading half-chances and possession. Leeds made a decent attack, followed by Ipswich pressing the back four and creating turnovers, literally turning the Leeds game-plan against itself. An example of the pressure creating problems was a poor goal kick by Wiedwald that an Ipswich player got to, drove the ball into the Leeds half, and the sequence ended with a shot that Wiedwald had to jump high to get his mitts to and ended up on his back coming down.

Leeds gave up a free kick in the 57th minute after Ipswich was able to clear a corner kick at the opposing end. The free kick was cleared, but once again the Ipswich attack was able to get back onto the ball and although Vurnon Anita fouled his player yet again, the referee played advantage and Dominic Iofra shot wide.

Anita came off after Ayling did well to block yet another shot that seemed bound for the back of the net. It was not surprising to see Anita come off, as he had been burned on a number of occasions by the Ipswich attackers.

Leeds had a couple of chances that were very close. Saiz had a shot blocked at the last moment and Alioski went on a marauding run in the Ipswich box, only to shoot instead of looking for a target as Lasogga was free in front of net.

Pablo Hernandez took a corner kick and shot the ball right into the net and the Ipswich keeper drops the ball behind the line for a goal scored directly off the corner.

Iofra put a good shot/cross into the Leeds box that was not collected by Wiedwald and his “clearance” went straight to a man in a blue shirt and Garner just had to tap the ball home. and just like that Ipswich return the favor of a quick response from a goal in the second half.

Stuart Dallas came on in the 76th minute as Leeds looked to close out the match and collect the three points. A few attacking chances resulted in a few poor shots, and Leeds seemed to just sort of drop back and looked to stop the Ipswich attack.

Lasogga tripped as he advanced on goal with a good chance and was substituted off for Jay-Roy Grot to make a cameo for the team with less than five minutes left in normal time. The match got pretty scrappy near the end, with Leeds looking to kill the game off while Ipswich pressed forward attempting to get an equalizer.

Ipswich had a number of chances from a corner kick that Leeds did just enough to clear upfield. After a Saiz shot that just went over the bar, Ipswich attacked again, but the referee’s whistle sounded before the Tractor Boys could find the back of the net again.

So all’s well that ends well as Leeds collect another three points and stay top of the table. The biggest take away from the match has to be that the team often looked lost at set pieces without Pontus Jansson to sort the team out, and Felix Wiedwald looked off for much of the match, but the attacking efforts of the team, plus some dodgy keeping from Ipswich, resulted in all three points for Leeds.

Big matches away against Cardiff City and Sheffield Wednesday loom next week, but for now all is good in Yorkshire.