Match Recap: Leeds United u23s 5-2 Burnley u23s

Leeds United under-23s capped-off their magnificent title-winning season with a topsy-turvy 5-2 victory over Burnley at Thorp Arch.

The Whites lined up with several senior players, as Kiko Casilla, Leif Davis, Gaetano Berardi and Rodrigo started. Olly Casey started in holding midfield as Berardi paired with Charlie Cresswell who returned from suspension.

Sam Greenwood started at number 10 while Liam McCarron, Niall Huggins and Jack Jenkins made up the rest of the midfield. Bobby Kamwa, Stuart McKinstry, Crysencio Summerville and Jamie Shackleton started on the bench.

Leeds dominated the opening 20 minutes and opened the scoring in style as Cody Drameh scored his first goal of the season. he was sent through the right-of-centre of the penalty area by Rodrigo before slotting the ball across the goal into the bottom-right corner.

The league champions continued to push on while Burnley also opened things up a couple of times, forcing Casilla into a few decent saves.

At half-time, Leif Davis, Rodrigo and Berardi were replaced by Summerville, McKinstry and Shackleton.

Leeds doubled their lead on 49 minutes as Summerville received the ball on the left channel, bringing the ball inside before a deflected cross bumbled through toward the back stick where Niall Huggins was on hand to smash the ball into the roof of the net.

They almost had a third just a few minutes later as a brilliantly floated corner-kick from the right met the head of Charlie Cresswell at the back post perfectly, with his header cannoning off the left post.

Burnley then snatched a goal back from absolutely nowhere as a deflected free-kick from 25-yards broke to the Burnley striker who had an easy finish from 12 yards.

Sam Greenwood started the game just one goal away from levelling with Joe Gelhardt for top-scorer for the Leeds u23s, and he came just inches away from scoring that goal, hitting the crossbar in the hour mark as he helped on a header back across goal from Cresswell.

Crysencio Summerville won a penalty on 65 minutes as Liam McCarron’s ball over the top asked a lot of the flying Dutchman, but his pace got him into the conversation and he was brought down by a recovering defender.

Sam Greenwood got his chance to equal Joe Gelhardt’s tally for the season and seized the moment, beating the keeper to the bottom-left corner as he hit 11 goals for the season.

But Burnley kept fighting, and once again pulled the deficit back to one on 70 minutes as a scrap in the six-yard box from a corner-kick which saw the ball fly into the top-right corner, giving Casilla no chance.

Crysencio Summerville was desperate to take the penalty he won earlier, but his excellent performance was given its just rewards as Jamie Shackleton’s through ball put him through on the left channel. He lifted the ball over the oncoming keeper exquisitely and slotted the ball into an empty net.

Sam Greenwood then won a penalty himself just two minutes later which gave him the chance to overtake Gelhardt and become the team’s top scorer with 12 goals, while he also levelled with Louie Barry and Josh Hawkes for PL2 Div 2 top scorer. He put it down the middle, beating the keeper and giving Leeds a 5-2 lead in a crazy 15 minutes of football.