This week was my return to Yorkshire for the first time since I visited Huddersfield earlier in the season. This time my journeys with Brentford took me to the largest city in God’s county, Leeds, and I wish I hadn’t gone to this one.
It looked so promising going back to a city I had visited in my teens when I knew Uni students there. I would know my way round and have no problems getting to the ground or so I thought. Turns out the Headingly area of Leeds that my previous visits to the city had been based around is on completely the opposite side of the city from Elland Road. You have to head right out of the station instead of the left turn I had been used too.
Luckily I noticed this on Google Maps before getting the train to the city and having also noticed that it was down as a 45 minute walk from station to stadium I decided to get the 15 minute bus ride on the number 52 to Morley that showed up as dropping you outside the stadium. This was a gargantuan mistake. If you are ever in the position to visit Elland Road for a match get to Leeds early and walk. The bus didn’t arrive for 30 minutes, already giving away the time advantage, then it took a huge detour from it’s advertised route and went down the M621 instead. On the motorway it got stuck in traffic that moved like snails in treacle and a journey that was meant to take 15 minutes ending up taking 50. The bus driver finally made a good call as we got off the motorway as he opened the doors and let the football fans onboard get off and walk the rest of the way to the stadium.
This walk was 10 minutes in itself, but luckily I had given myself a lot of leeway in my timings so this ridiculously long journey didn’t make me late for the kick-off. However, I was running to get inside the ground to ensure I didn’t miss it which meant I wasn’t able to head to the club shop and pick up my traditional keyring. I was however able to pick up a programme as there was a seller right by the away turnstiles, just before you go through security. The walk from security to the actual turnstiles is a 5 minute straight walk under a covered concrete walkway, the most welcoming part of the away end.
As you get inside the away end you realise how badly conceived it was. There is only one food kiosk for all the away fans and 90% of the away fans have to go through one tiny stairway to make it out onto the stand itself. How this was signed off from a health and safety standpoint I do not know as there is no way for fans to safely pass each other if they are going opposite ways. The stewards and signs on the concourse did not help the situation as there is actually a second stairway to the seats on the other side of the food kiosk that only serves the lowest number tickets for each row, but it is marked as for the highest number tickets and the stewards confirmed what the signs said as true.
Well the stewards confirmed it in as far as they pointed me that way when I showed them my high numbered ticket and asked which way to go. Pointed is the literal explanation of how they directed me to the stairway as none of the stewards inside the concourse said a word to any of the fans asking them questions, or at least none that I heard anyway. The steward I asked to point me towards the loos before kick-off seemed confused by what I was asking. I tried asking for the toilets, the loos and the bogs but none of these were understood and I had to resort to saying ‘I need pee pee’ before the steward stopped pointing me towards the seats and pointed me to the loos instead. This is the worst experience I have ever had with stewards at a football stadium.
Having been pointed up the wrong stairs by the stewards I had to squish past other fans to get to my seats at the other end of the row, which was not comfortable for anyone involved. At least once I had found my seats and settled in the game promised to be competitive and enjoyable.
Leeds went into this one a point behind their visitors having drawn a lot of their games this season. The teams could hardly be separated on goals scored and conceded either, with Brentford 1 ahead on scored and Leeds 1 ahead on conceded, so this one promised to be a hard contested match. Leeds did have the slight edge on form though, with 2 wins and just 1 loss in their last 5 matches. Brentford had lost 3 of their last five and only managed the 1 win in that time, that one being against Everton in the last game I attended.
Given how close the teams were and how important this one was for both teams I was shocked to see that Ivan Toney was not only not in the Bees starting 11, but was not on the bench either. Had Thomas Frank really dropped his main striker?
It turns out Toney had not been dropped, he had instead fallen victim to same thing that has put the whole world on the back foot since March 2020. That’s right Toney has tested positive for Covid and was self-isolating for this one and will be doing the same as Brentford host Watford this Friday evening, a game that I will not be at. The Bees will hope that he is cleared to play again for the visit of Ragnick’s Manchester United on the 14th though as he will be a huge miss for them, both for his goal scoring exploits and for his general work ethic. For today’s game though Brentford were without Toney and in even worse news for the travelling fans Leeds were boosted by the return from injury of their talisman Patrick Bamford. He was only fit enough for the bench, but it was still a boost for Leeds to have him involved at all and he wouldn’t be on the bench for the full 90 either.
Despite the awful journey to the stadium and my unsatisfactory experience with the stewards there is no denying the passion of the Leeds fans and the incredible atmosphere it creates in the ground. The wall of noise that hit me as the teams walked out of the tunnel in front of me was incredible. Perhaps the noise is amplified by the cramped nature of Elland Road that won’t let any of the sound escape, but the only time I have been more impressed by the home fans passion was at Millwall in the dying days of 2019. These 2 sets of home fans have created the most intimidating atmospheres I have ever experienced as an away fan and I have nothing but respect for the home fans who achieved this effect.
This spine-tingling atmosphere in the stands transferred to the players and led to the most physical end-to-end opening to a match that I have seen for ages. The tackles from both sides were tough but just on the right side of fair and the ref did a great service to the spectacle of the game by letting a lot go and fighting the urge to interrupt the game for every small infringement. Unfortunately though this did not lead to many goals, because whilst both teams build up play was exceptional it appeared neither team had the will to shoot. The amount of time each team got into great positions in the attacking third in the first 20 minutes without putting in a cross or taking a crack at goal was infuriating.
The only shot of note in this time was a strike by Mbuemo from just inside the box that went fizzing over the bar. Leeds barely threatened in the opening 20 minutes with any attacks being snuffed out by the Bees defence before they could threaten the goal. A prime example of this being a break from a Bees corner where it looked for all the world as though Dan James was in behind the visiting defence with a free run on goal, only for the insane sprinting prowess of Rico Henry allowing him to get back and beat James to the free ball 20 yards from goal.
Much more worthy of note than any of the play in those opening 20 was the unanimous standing ovation in memory of Birmingham City fan 6 year old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes. It was observed in the 6th minute of the match and to see that show of absolute unity from the football community was awesome, rivalries put aside to remember a young boy taken from the world too soon.
Back to the match and in the 12th minute the atmosphere went up a notch or 10 as Patrick Bamford took his first warm-up run down the touchline. Leeds fans had clearly missed him and he had missed being able to play as he would show later on. For now though the news was not all good for the home fans as their captain Liam Cooper was down getting treatment for a hamstring injury at the same time as this side-line show was going on. Cooper’s injury was deemed too serious for him to continue and so, in the minute one key player signals his return to fitness, Leeds lost another player to injury.
From the 17th minute onwards both teams began to look a little more threatening when they found themselves in good positions and it was clear that sooner or later there would be goals in this one. The first of these glorious goals came in the 27th minute and it went to the home side via a double cross. The first cross from the Leeds left was headed clear by Pontus Jansson and straight back to the original crosser, who spotted that the his clearance had left Jansson out of position and that Tyler Roberts was now free behind him just 9 yards out in the centre of the goal. The second cross found Roberts perfectly and it was an easy header into the back of the net to open the scoring. The incredible roar of the home fans would’ve taken the roof off, if Elland Road had a roof. Roberts may have been a little too fired up by this though as straight from the restart he went clattering into Mads Roerslev and picked up the first yellow card of the match.
Just 3 minutes later Leeds came close to doubling their lead. They broke from a saved Bees freekick and Roberts got into space on the edge of the box from where he unleashed a powerful shot that Fernandez had to be on his toes to palm over for a corner. This was the start of the pattern for the rest of the half, Leeds kept the ball and laid siege to the Brentford goal without finding another break through. The closest the hosts came to another goal was in the 41st minute when a cannon power cross across the 6 yard box from their left evaded everyone and flew out for a throw-in to the visitors on the opposite touchline.
Brentford were able to get the ball back quite easily from most of the Leeds attacks during this time, but without the out ball normally provided by Ivan Toney they were unable to prevent it coming straight back to them. They badly needed a plan B and will hope Toney is out of isolation as soon as possible so they can get back to playing the way they have been so far this season because what they were doing in this first half simply wasn’t working.
They did survive to the break with the score at only 1-0 to Leeds though which gave them something to fight for in the second half. What they didn’t get to half time with though was a clean disciplinary record as in the 3 added minutes at the end of the half Leeds were breaking down the right and Charlie Goode rushed across to cut out the attack before it could get any further. Goode cleared out the ball cleanly with a full throttle tackle, but he must’ve caught the Leeds attacker after the ball was gone as the ref gave both a freekick to Leeds and a yellow card to Goode for this turn of events. From where I was with the other away fans it looked like a perfectly clean tackle, but I’m sure the ref saw something in it to give the yellow and as the ref’s word is final the away fans had to accept it whether they agreed with it or not.
The lack of facilities in the away end came fully into focus at halftime as the food queue managed to move forward all of 6 inches in 10minutes before I decided to give up on it and return to my seat, so as not to miss the start of the second half. Elland Road is a very impressive stadium from the outside, but on the inside the facilities for the away fans are shocking.
When the game got underway again I was surprised to see that neither team had made any substitutions during the break, both teams badly needed someone to finish off the chances they were creating. The team talk from Thomas Frank seemed to have done the trick for the visitors though as, having survived a scare when Fernandez made an incredible one-handed save to stop a header from 8 yards in the 49th minute, they finally remembered how to shoot and equalised in the 54th minute.
The visitors equaliser came from a clearance that found Henry on the right, his cross landed to Shandon Baptiste in the box and he managed to turn it home and silence Elland Road. Except for the away fans of course. This equaliser took the wind out of Leeds sails and put it firmly behind the Bees who now took their turn to lay siege to the opposition’s goal.
This siege almost bore fruit right on the hour mark as another cross from the right, this time via Roerslev, found Sergi Canos with a free header mere yards out that he inexplicably managed to direct over the bar. He made up for it a minute later though as he got himself into a great position on the left-hand side of the box and when the ball found him he stroked in home to give the visitors the lead and complete a 7 minute brace for the boys from Hounslow to bring them from 1-0 down to a 2-1 lead.
The loss of their lead woke up a sleepy second half Leeds performance as they once again go on the attack and set their second siege of the visitors goal. Once again though this siege was characterised by lots of great build-up play and getting into lots of promising positions without any end product. The clearest example of this came in the 68th minute when a promising cross from the Leeds right looked to be reaching Roberts only for Fernandez in the Bees goal to punch the ball clean off the top of Roberts’ head.
This failed chance was the final straw for Bielsa, who decided that now was the time for Leeds to truly go for it if they were to get anything out of this match. To this end Bielsa removed Junior Flipo from the fray and sent on Patrick Bamford to make his triumphant return to action. The Leeds fans were suitably impressed by the return of their talisman and the ear-splitting roar they sent up was quite amazing to experience, if I thought the atmosphere was spine-tingling before this was now on a level that is quite indescribable.
In response to this move by Bielsa, Frank made 2 changes of his own. He replaced the 2 goal scorers with Onyeka and Wissa in an attempt to inject some much needed fresh legs in midfield. These changes from the visitors however did nothing to dent the momentum that Leeds look from the return of Bamford.
Leeds played like a team possessed now that their talisman was back on the pitch. They were determined that the return of the prodigal would not be a loss. The first of their chances of the possessed came in the 75th minute when a shot from 20 yards out looked like it was going to nestle in the top corner only for Fernandez to scramble across and make the save. This changed Leeds tactics as they went from chances and shot to tackles and physicality.
In the 78th minute Mateusz Klich’s frustration got the better of him as he comes flying in on Mbuemo near the halfway line and takes all of the man and none of the ball. Then a minute later there was a fair bit of barging and shoulder to shoulder contact in the same area of the pitch in which the visitors Henry knocks down one of the Leeds players. The ref gave both Klich and Henry yellow cards for their indiscretions as the game became increasingly physical as it entered the final 10 minutes.
There were still chances though. As the game entered the final 5 of the regulation 90 Brentford broke at speed with Mbuemo, Onyeka and Wissa involved for the visitors up against three covering Leeds players. It looked like Brentford were about to put the seal on their victory only for both Wissa and then Onyeka to be cleared out by the defenders. The ref gave Brentford a freekick for the first challenge on Wissa, but this was fine by Leeds as they’d stopped the threat in its tracks. The epitome of a tactical foul and a great example of when it’s the right call to take one for the team. Brentford wasted the freekick.
In the penultimate minute of the 90 Raphina went for the spectacular from 30 yards out and put so much into it that he lost his footing and ended up on his back. In fact he may have been better dialling the power back just a bit as his effort sailed over the bar. This was not the end for the host though as the fourth official signalled that there were to be 5 added minutes at the end of the game and Leeds would absolutely make the most of them.
In the first of these added minutes it looked like the hosts had wasted their final chance of the match when a teasing cross across the 6 yard box evaded everyone. This though was only the precursor to the ultimate punch in the gut for the visiting fans.
In the dying seconds of the game Leeds put in a cross from their left that looked like it would be easily collected by Fernandez and if he collects it he can simply launch it downfield and the ref will likely then blow for half-time and a 2-1 win to the Bees. Fernandez does not collect the ball and instead, under pressure from Leeds players, he spills it and it goes out for a corner. That corner was swung in from the right and onto the waiting head of the returning hero Bamford who headed it in off the bar from 8 yards out to equalise for the hosts. The home fans celebrated this last second equaliser by their hero as though they’d just won the league and there certainly was no better end to Bamford’s homecoming than this, but it was a real sucker punch for Brentford. They had come back from 1-0 down to lead only to drop 2 points in the final seconds, as a Bees fans it was a true punch in the gut and my worst moment at a football game in a long time.
It was a truly incredible end to a match that had been short on quality for the most part though and I’ll remember this match for a long time to come, not as long as the Leeds fans will though I’d wager. Their hero returns to action and scores a last minute equaliser to save a point in a match where it looked like they’d thrown away an early lead and would be leaving with nothing. Doesn’t get much more memorable than that.
I wish Leeds all the best for the rest of the season and when they visit Brentford in May I hope it’s just as memorable. I do feel for the Bees fans who had to return to London after that match though as that is a long way to travel after that ending to the match. For me though it was a case of following the crowds back into town to the station and catching the direct 90 minute train home. My whole journey home took 2 hours, but it was the most miserable I have been on a journey in a long time.
This is the last of my blogs from the North of England for 2021 as I head back to London for the holidays this weekend and will be going to games in that region for the rest of the year. I will be back up North in the 2022, but for now I will be following Brentford’s exploits over the busy month of December. The next of these blogs will be examining how Manchester United are adapting to life under their new manager Ralf Rangnick when they visit the Bus Stop in Hounslow on Tuesday 14th December.
The Football tourist 