Blackburn Rovers 0 Leeds United 2

The incessant rain made it a difficult trip to Blackburn for the Leeds United team and over 7,500 of its supporters, who braved the stormy weather to watch their heroes. Leeds were again unchanged (no surprises there) and had to endure early pressure from the home side looking hungry and  determined to make up for a shocking 3-1 midweek defeat at the hands of bottom of the league, Sheffield Wednesday. The Leeds defence withstood the early onslaught and responded with pressure of their own as the first half developed into a ding-dong battle, providing great entertainment in a typical Championship encounter. 

It was a first half in which either side could have taken the lead with Leeds coming closest to scoring on a couple of occasions, Rutter again not finding it easy to finish off really good opportunities. Thankfully with almost half an hour gone it was Leeds who were the first to score when Dan James hit the onion bag for the seventh time already this season with a smart finish from about 15 yards out, Rutter making amends for his earlier miss with some great work in providing the assist. Blackburn came back strongly from this setback in a really thrilling first half but it was Rutter who had the chance to make it 2-0 but failed to get on to the end of a cross from James with the ball agonisingly drifting wide of the post. 

It was end-to-end stuff and Leeds had to withstand a barrage of corners with Mes not looking at his best but thankfully they held on to their lead until half-time. The home side came out all guns blazing at the start of the second half but the Leeds defence held firm with Rodon again putting in a tremendous performance. Leeds seemed to have wrestled back control and were making some good openings but were unable to get that badly needed second goal to put the game to bed. Blackburn were always a threat and Leeds had to endure some hairy moments before Farke turned to the bench and brought on Gnonto for James and DJ Ed Spence to take over from the injured Sam Byram with 20 minutes left. 

Gnonto almost immediately had a great effort brilliantly saved with the ball clipping the top of the bar as it went over. Blackburn were still in the game and there were some uncomfortable moments that made me very pessimistic …I was sure the equaliser was coming. With 15 minutes left on the clock I thought Piroe was going to make sure of the win but his shot from close range, after good work from Summerville, was blocked but then two minutes later Little Jimmy came to the rescue and finished beautifully after a perfect through ball from Archie Gray. When Mes pulled off a magnificent save to tip the ball over the bar in the 82nd minute it looked as if Blackburn’s chance of getting back into the game had gone and Leeds confidently and safely game-managed the final minutes in style. 

This was a hard fought win in difficult conditions, and though Leeds were not at concert pitch they were good enough to see off another decent Championship side. It was a struggle at times but Leeds scored when it really mattered and thoroughly deserved the victory. Unfortunately Leicester and Ipswich keep on winning their games and Leeds just can’t seem to get any nearer to them and another difficult away match on Tuesday night at Sunderland is the next hurdle to jump. 

We are unable to put any pressure on the top two as they are cruising with an 8 point gap to Leicester and 7 point gap to Ipswich. It looks as if the games we play against the top two might be our only chance of getting closer to them  and it could be that we have to settle for 3rd place and endure the trauma of the playoffs. Leeds are still in a great position and after 20 games there is still a long way to go and a victory at last in the away kit is a positive.

By David Dean