Match Recap: Leeds United left frustrated in 0-0 draw with Nottingham Forest

Leeds United were left frustrated and ruing missed chances as despite a bulk of the shots and chances, Leeds were unable to score on Nottingham Forest in rainy conditions at Elland Road. While Leeds fans will be annoyed at the referring and the dropped two points, Leeds still played well and the luck that carried the team to a fairly undeserved win against Hull City was not on their side today.

Leeds looked a lot better than they did against Birmingham City at the start of the match. They seemed to remember how to pass the ball around and make runs, something seemed sorely lacking this past Saturday. Unsure if it was just being back at home or the return of Eunan O’Kane and Samu Saiz, but either way the team seemed a lot more composed than it did on Saturday.

Liam Cooper had the best defensive play early in the match, after a brilliant tackle on Ben Brereton to deny the Forest man a clear shot on goal. Forest had a short spell of decent attacking presence in the first couple minutes, only to be followed by a good amount of pressure from Leeds.

Leeds went close on a couple of occasions from a pair of corner kicks. Pontus Jansson directed a clean header in the box towards the Forest net, only to have the shot denied by Jordan Smith, the Forest keeper. While the shot could only be deflected, Roofe had a good chance to score, only to try a fancy overhead kick and sent the ball over the crossbar. Jansson had another good header from a corner, but although it appeared to take a deflection off of a Forest defender, it went behind for a goal kick.

Luke Ayling was forced to take a rest after getting a challenge from former Leeds captain Liam Bridcutt. And while the announcer seemed a little upset that Ayling’s streak of playing in even minute in the league was now broken, maybe this way Ayling will get some rest. Vurnon Anita subbed on in his place, coming in at left back as Gaetano Berardi shifted over to his preferred right back spot.

After the substitution, Leeds looked a bit more disjointed, with passes not quite connecting as Leeds seemed to rely on free kicks to provide most of their attacking intent.

Lasogga was introduced at half-time, in an attempt to liven up the attack for Leeds. It seemed to free up a little space for Saiz, at least, as his run down the left half side drew pretty much the entire Forest defence to him, and while Saiz was able to pick out Roofe on the right, Roofe’s shot somehow stayed out.

After Phillips had played Lasogga in, only for the big German to be just a tad too slow to run onto the ball, Forest enjoyed some possession and put some pressure on the Leeds goal. Wiedwald was equal to the task on a few corner kicks and made a fine save as Forest’s Ben Osborn shot looked as if it was dipping into the top corner.

Lasogga had a good opportunity to snatch a goal, but his shot was wide and high and never looked even close to scoring. Leeds continuted to control much of the match without any success. The match was going well, from a Forest perspective, as no matter how many times Leeds looked like they were going to score, the ball just refused to go in.

Hadi Sacko’s cross was met by Lasogga, but somehow the big German was unable to put any power behind the header and the ball stayed out of the back of the net.

Despite the chances, Leeds were unable to score. While it was a frustrating match, Leeds at least grab a point, and now have a couple weeks to rest up and hopefully get a few more players fit again to make the push for the playoffs.