It was the proverbial game of two halves, as Leeds dominated the first half, but Everton woke up in the second. Our managers has acknowledged that we need to master the art of scoring when we’ve on top, so the opposition can’t come back.

Daniel Farke told Match of the Day "We were a bit unlucky that, out of our dominance and chances created in the first half, we did not score the second goal. In the second half, it was clear that at some point Everton would show up and have some chances”.

“We didn't allow too many. I'm a bit disappointed - we could have defended the goal situation sharper. We were dominant, we were brave out of possession, defensively well structured and brave on the ball. It was not to be to win it but we take a point and move on."

Farke made two changes to his starting line-up, one of which was enforced, as Gudmundsson had to sit the game out due to injury. Bornauw came in, while Justin moved over to wing-back. Our manager also brought Stach back in for Okafor, giving us a slightly more defensive 5-4-1 formation.

But although the line-up looked rather conservative, we came out and took the game to Everton for most of the first half, once we’d weathered some early pressure from the hosts. Struijk sent an early shot well over the bar, though Gruev was a lot closer with our next shot from distance. Pickford had to be quick to smother the danger on a couple of other occasions before we deservedly went in front on 28 minutes.

The move began when Rodon won a header on the right and nodded the ball on for Bogle, who in turn set up Stach for the cross. It came across the area in front of Aaronson, but he must have had a shout to leave it as Justin came in, and the wing-back fired past Pickford into the net. And we could have gone further in front a few minutes later.

Calvert-Lewin was obviously keen to score against his former club, and it very nearly came to him from a Bogle cross. But the ball took a slight deflection which meant that Calvert-Lewin had to reach out for the ball, and he could only send it onto the outside of the post. It came back out for Ampadu to have a wild swing, and our captain’s shot was well high and wide.

Calvert-Lewin was enjoying his tussle with his former team mate Tarkowski, as we continued to dominate, with the pair exchanging knowing glances after every challenge. We thoroughly deserved to be in front at half time, but the one goal lead proved to be insufficient, as David Moyes undoubtedly gave his team a rocket during the break, before making some changes for the second half.

Dewsbury-Hall and Branthwaite came on and made a lot of difference, Dewsbury-Hall especially causing us problems with the quality of his passing. Early in the half Justin conceded possession on the halfway line and Everton came downfield, but Bornauw put in an excellent block when Ajay cut inside to shoot.

Soon afterwards a quick one-two saw Barry cutting through into the area, but Darlow made a fine save from Barry’s curling shot with the outside of his right foot. And he was in the right place when the ball came back out to Gueye and the Everton man tried his luck from distance. And once again Farke is copping a bit of flack on social media for not making substitutions earlier to counter Everton’s resurgence.

Several of our players were starting to flag, but the only change he made while we were still leading was to replace Gruev with Tanaka. Gruev’s booking might have influenced his thinking, but this wasn’t the right choice if we wanted to shore things up and protect our lead, and Tanaka’s inability to get up to the speed of the game played a part in their equaliser on 76 minutes.

Dewsbury-Hall sent Gueye down the wing, and with Tanaka unable to keep pace Barry sent over a dangerous cross. And in the centre Barry had got goalside of Bornauw, and our centre half could only get the slightest of touches as the ball flew into the roof of the net. It wasn’t until the 85th minute that Farke changed the side significantly, with a triple substitution.

Aaronson had been covering a lot of ground as ever, but had begun to run straight into a crowd of opposition players every time, rather than looking for a pass, and I was relieved to see that he was one of those replaced. Stach and Bornauw also came off, with Okafor, Longstaff and Buonanotte taking their places, the last of these of course making his Leeds debut.

All of which gave us a more positive look as if Farke was still looking to win the game, but we came close to losing it in the closing stages. It was Everton’s turn to hit the woodwork and Gueye’s shot from outside the area rattled the crossbar. We did have one promising break, but that ended with Longstaff shooting well over from a good position, and we had to make do with just the one point.

It’s one of those games where I would have been happy with a draw before the start, only to be disappointed afterwards that we didn’t win, when a victory seemed highly likely at half time. But while a few of our fans have slipped back into worry mode after West Ham and Forest’s wins at the weekend, I don’t think this result should cause us too much concern, in a fairly difficult away fixture.

We’ve got enough games remaining when we should pick up points, and I’m starting to fancy that Palace will give us another option for staying up, as they are now dropping down the table like a stone. Our overall performance last night showed that we are perfectly capable of staying up.

Reuters