We’ve handed out some Tonkings to a series of the lesser teams in this division, but this performance against a Bristol City side fifth in the table was something else, in a game Leeds totally dominated from start to finish.

With promotion already in the bag there was a party atmosphere at Elland Road, and we all had a nice yellow scarf to twirl around. But there was still the Championship title to win, and it would be nice to have a trophy to parade when he have the open top bus tour on Monday. While Bristol City hadn’t come to Leeds to make up the numbers on the guest list, as they had ambitions of their own regarding the play-offs.

Once again there was an unchanged starting Leeds eleven for this game, and right from the kick-off they were dominating the game. In the opening minutes Bogle somehow failed to get a touch of a ball across the face of goal from Firpo, but his blushes were spared by the linesman’s flag, as he would have been offside anyway.

Then Solomon got the ball in the net before the flag went up, as Piroe had come back from an offside position earlier in the move. Soon afterwards Solomon cut inside and curled a shot goalwards with his right foot, but O’Leary not only made the save, but pushed the ball far enough out of Gnonto’s reach to ensure the Italian couldn’t get to it.

The chances kept coming and at the end of another fine move Piroe played Aaronson in, only for O’Leary to save once again as Aaronson shot from a tight angle. But with all these chances we were bound to score one eventually, and the opening goal finally arrived in the 21st minute.

A long corner from Solomon was headed back by Tanaka at the far post, but Piroe couldn’t get his shot away with his shirt seemingly being pulled. It came back to Solomon, and with none of the defence marking Tanaka, he was able to side-foot the ball home once another deep cross had picked him out.

We should have been further in front, as a long ball downfield sent Solomon racing free into the area, but his shot was saved by O’Leary’s legs when a little ‘dink’ over the keeper might have served him better. And another deep corner from Solomon found Tanaka surprisingly left unmarked at the far post again, but this time the Japanese international headed wide when he really should have scored.

After all this dominance it might have been typical Leeds to concede an equaliser, but Rodon reacted swiftly to get a vital challenge in when Nahki Wells threatened to break through. The veteran former dog-botherer duly received his usual round of abuse from the kop in response.

The only other anxious moment of the first half came when Darlow came off his line but didn’t clear convincingly, leaving Ampadu to make a hurried clearance. If that had been Meslier his social media critics would have had a field day. If anything Leeds came out for the second half looking even more determined, and were close to extending the lead almost immediately in a goalmouth scramble.

Solomon and Aaronson combined before Firpo was played in, and when his shot was saved Gnonto didn’t connect properly with the rebound, but still nearly chipped the ball in. O’Leary saved that and then made a final save from Bogle with a bit of help from the post. But we only had to wait ten minutes after the interval before we did get the second goal.

Piroe turned into space inside his own half, and then played the pass of the season across half the pitch, inch-perfect so Gnonto didn’t have to break stride as he raced through. O’Leary came out and stopped as he realised he wasn’t going to get there, before Gnonto hammered the ball past him.

As our domination continued Firpo was close to adding to his collection of headed goals, before Daniel Farke decided to rest a few of his players for the final ten minutes. Piroe and Gnotno went off, while Bamford came on, but the sub who was to have the biggest impact was Ramazani. He’d only been on the field one minute when Firpo went down the left and sent the ball across the face of goal, where Ramazani got in front of the defender at the far post to knock the ball home.

With four minutes of normal time remaining Joseph and Guilavogui came on for Aaronson and Tanaka. I should mention that at about this time Brizzle finally had a shot on target, but although it was well struck, Darlow got right behind it. As we went into injury time Leeds seemed to have settled for just the three goals, but someone was determined to make the most of his brief appearance.

Gruev chipped a long ball forward from his own half, to find Ramazani racing beyond a tired defence. His first touch was exceptional as he brought the ball down, and his second hammered the ball past O’Leary into the far corner. You could see the tremendous spirit in the squad as the whole bench leapt up to celebrate, even the players who have hardly been involved in recent weeks.

Eventually the referee put Bristol City out of their misery with the final whistle. They are still certain to cement their play-off place if they beat Preston in their final game, but the damage we inflicted on their goal difference will be significant if they finish level on points with Coventry. Which would be very funny.

And so the party could begin, as everyone in the crowd heeded the request to stay off the pitch and the squad came out one by one to take the cheers of a packed Elland Road. Daniel Farke was soaked in champagne by Guilavogui, Harry Gray swung on the crossbar, and they all jigged around so violently I feared that the injured players might do themselves a mischief.

So all in all it was a great night, and after we hopefully win the final game in Plymouth we can do it all again during the parade on Monday. Happy days!

reuters

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