They say the referee has had a good game when you don’t notice him, but we certainly noticed Keith Stroud during last night’s defeat by Bristol City.
Leeds went into the game with plenty of confidence after the recent upturn in results, but it does have to be said that our victories came against three poor sides. The Robins’ 4-0 win at Fulham at the weekend showed they were likely to provide more difficult opposition.
This was always a tight game, and Leeds would well have come home with a result if we’d been more clinical with the chances we’d created. Dallas and Wood were both guilty of misses when it was still 0-0, and Wood spurned a chance to save the game near the end. But the main talking points from the game all concerned the performance of referee Keith Stroud.
First came the incident just before half time, when Lee Tomlin seemed to push Stuart Dallas in the face before collapsing to the floor during the ensuing melee. Both players were booked, but Tomlin could well have been dismissed by today’s standards of what constitutes ‘violent conduct’. Garry Monk had a long discussion with the fourth official after this incident, and could well have been making that particular point.
So Tomlin remained on the pitch, and was able to play a part in the build-up to the goal Brizzle scored in the 59th minute. The move began when Pablo Hernandez conceded possession, but Leeds thought the Spaniard had been fouled. And finally Garry Monk was sent to the stands with three minutes remaining, after complaining about a harsh booking for Charlie Taylor.
Monk told the Yorkshire Post "The fourth official got involved but other than that I don’t know what happened. It’s no big problem. You stick up for your team when you think there has been an injustice. That’s part of the job. I felt there was a foul leading up to the goals. Free-kicks like that were given all night.”
And on the game itself he commented "I am far more upset by the result because we deserved something from that game. Our performance warranted at least a point. We had the best chances and they were clear cut. Our decision making was poor when it mattered and we need to be more clinical. We are growing with each game and did well against a very good side.”
To round off a disappointing evening, our new cult hero Pontus Jansson picked up a hamstring injury and had to be replaced by Liam Cooper for the second half. There is no word yet as to how long he’s going to be out for, but after the improvement to our defence since he arrived we’ll have to hope it’s not too long.
So the winning run has come to an end, but we can take heart from the overall performance, although it would help if Chris Wood could convert a few more chances when it really matters. As for the referee, they say that luck with decisions evens itself out over the course of a season, so after last night we due to have a few mistakes in our favour some time soon.