Match Recap: Leeds score early and hold on for the 1-0 win at Bristol City

Leeds United came into the match against Bristol City knowing that they’d need a win to get back into the automatic promotion spots after Sheffield United had beat Rotherham United 2-0 earlier in the day. An early goal from Patrick “Am I Irish?” Bamford set the tone for the visitors to Ashton Gate, as Leeds bossed the match in the first half.

In the end, despite the remarkable amount of stoppage time, Leeds saw of the challenge and go back to second place in the table after collecting all three points.

Leeds opened up the scoring in the 8th minute as Gjanni Alioski picked out Luke Ayling in the Bristol City box, and Ayling’s cross to Patrick Bamford was bundled across the goal by the big striker. A brilliant pass by Alioski started the chance and although it sort of came against the run of play, it was still a brilliant effort from the Macedonian.

After the goal, both teams struggled to put an imprint on the match, with the ball pinging back and forth without a lot of real pressure from either team. Leeds had a couple chances in the next few minutes, but Jack Harrison missed the goal from on top of the box he was also flagged offside when trying a header from about three yards out that went far away.

Bamford appeared to hurt himself by smashing into the post after scoring the opening goal, and he laboured on, but appeared to still not quite be himself. As a result, Harrison and Tyler Roberts were often the ones looking to get their head on the ball in the box, with predictable results.

Kalvin Phillips, who had been having a brilliant game, went down injured in the first half, and both he and Bamford received treatment. Phillips appeared to run it off, but Bamford never really did look 100% afterwards.

Harrison had a number of chances to put Leeds further up, but his shots were just off target. If Harrison had been a tad more ruthless, Leeds would easily have been 3-0 up going into half-time, but as usual with this Leeds team, the chances created don’t always correspond with goals. Two shots on target, eight shots off target and 56% possession for Leeds at the half, as the visitors were in control in the first half.

Leeds started the second half in charge, more or less, with a few decent chances that went wasted by the visitors, while Bristol City struggled to put any pressure on the Leeds goal. Bamford came off the pitch for Stuart Dallas in the 57th minute, with Roberts the obvious choice to go up top.

Harrison did very good work to beat his man and cut the ball back for Roberts to get a chance on goal, but his shot was straight at the keeper and the danger was cut out.

Kiko Casilla did well to save a shot, and it sprung an attack that seemed to last for at least two minutes, but none of the shots were able to test the keeper, much less score, and another few Leeds chances were wasted yet again.

Casilla got a tad upset with how the Bristol City players were approaching him, and while it looked like he might have headbutted one of the hosts, the referee wasn’t interested and the Spanish keeper escaped punishment.

Barry Douglas came on for Harrison, pushing Gjanni Alioksi up on the wing as Bristol City started to turn up the pressure and try and draw level. In response to Bristol City starting to play with two striker, Matuesz Klich was taken off and Gaetano Berardi was brought on as Leeds went to play with three at the back.

Six minutes of stoppage time was added on to the end of the match, as the official must have added on all the time that the Bristol City players sat on the pitch holding their heads after falling down in the penalty box, but Leeds were able to hold on and get the 1-0 win and continue their 100% record after scoring first.