Just when it looked as though Leeds were going to take all three points for the second game in a row, we conceded a last minute goal allowed AFC Bournemouth to take a point. It was an eventful game that was a bit unlucky to be last on Match of the Day.

The first bit of excitement of the day was to find out what this important announcement was that the club wanted us to get to our seats by 2.45 to be able to hear. One bit of on-line speculation was that it was something to do with the stadium, but in fact it was to give Johnny Giles a lifetime achievement award for awesomeness.

Sadly the great man is looking a little frail these days, as befits his 84 years on this planet. Daniel Farke named an unchanged starting line-up, and the other news was that we had gone up one place in the table before we’d even kicked off, thanks to Man United continuing their comedy show down at Brentford.

And things could have got even better in the first minute of the game, as Longstaff’s ball found the gap between two defenders to set Calvert-Lewin racing through. But the striker didn’t quite manage to put his shot beyond Petrovic’s reach, and the keeper was able to get down to make a good save.

But after that I thought that Bournemouth looked like taking control for the next 20 minutes or so, as they put us under pressure with a series of intricate moves, which showed why they were third in the league before the start of play. There was one lucky moment as Semenyo slipped in the act of shooting, as the extensive pre-match watering of the pitch paid dividends.

But for all their neat play Bournemouth weren’t creating any outstanding chances, and at the other end they twice had to thank their keeper for keeping the scores level. After Gudmonsson’s persistence on the left had won the ball, a poor headed clearance came to Longstaff outside the area and Calvert-Lewin got to the rebound from his shot, only to send it too close to Petrovic once again.

Bogle’s cross from the right hit Aaronson on the chest, before he employed an overhead kick to send the ball on to Calvert-Lewin. The way the ball dropped it was difficult for our centre forward to get any power on his header, but had he managed to place the ball in the corner Petrovic would never have got to it.

Meanwhile Tyler Adams was getting plenty of abuse thanks the circumstances of his departure from Elland Road, though I thought the “too **** to play for Leeds was a bit harsh”. If he hadn’t got injured in the March of our relegation season we might not have gone down. I don’t know if it got to him, but he did get involved in one spat later in the game.

Then Bournemouth took the lead on 26 minutes, after Stach had conceded a free kick just outside the box by barging his opponent before the ball had arrived. I was watching from behind that goal and was left scratching my head as to how Semenyo’s shot had gone straight through the wall. But it turns out from watching the replay that the ball had gone past ‘draught excluder’ Aaronson while everyone else jumped, and still found it’s way into the corner of the net.

Credit Semenyo for spotting that Aaronson wasn’t placed correctly behind the wall. But perhaps the better option would have been to have a conventional wall that didn’t jump, trusting that from that distance Semenyo wouldn’t have had space to get the ball over them and back down again into the net.

But Leeds responded to going behind, and got back on level terms ten minutes later. Longstaff’s corner was met by a towering header from Rodon, and although I thought for a second that Petrovic had saved it, but although the keeper got a touch it still got past him into the net. Rodon had been left with plenty of space, but the advantage of having so many tall players is that the opposition can’t mark them all.

At half time there was another presentation, as the Chief was unveiled as an official Leeds United ambassador. Does this involve handing out the Ferrero Rochers at future games to make sure that he’s really spoiling us? After the break Leeds began to take control, and it seemed that for all their fancy play, Bournemouth were less adept at handling the physical side of the game.

Longstaff in particular was excellent in driving us forward, and on 54 minutes he added to his assist for the first goal by scoring the second. This came after Gudmonsson again showed his persistence in refusing to surrender the ball in his tussle with Christie, and got it back to Okafor. He in turn found Aaronson, and when the American’s attempted sidefoot came back to Lonstaff, his shot hit the inside of the post before going in.

The goal had to survive a VAR check whether Struijk had been interfering with play as the ball whistled past his ear, but they decided he hadn’t been blocking the keeper’s view, so it stood. Bournemouth made a triple substitution on the hour, but it made little difference to the way the game was going. Our first change was enforced, with Okafor hobbling off to be replaced by Harrison.

Soon after Aaronson’s ball forward was blocked, but Stach showed our determination once again by winning the ball back, before Harrison tried a fierce shot from distance that produced another fine save from Pertovic. But I thought after that Harrison was getting a bit carried away, shooting a few more times when a pass would have been a better option.

Farke made two more changes as the clock ticked down, first with Tanaka coming on for Aaronson, and this has been much criticised after the game as we discuss the match with the benefit of hindsight. Tanaka didn’t look comfortable in the wide right role, and if Farke didn’t want to use Dan James, another option to shore things up would have been to use James Justing and put Bogle further forward.

Five minutes injury time were announced, and after three of them Tanaka lost the ball just inside our half, and conceded a free kick in his efforts to win it back. Farke then made his final change, sending Nmecha for Calvert-Lewin, which could be said to have unsettled the defence at the wrong time, as Calvert-Lewin had been back to help out at all their set pieces.

The free kick was sent high into the box, where Senesi jumped above our defence to win it. His flick found Kroupi, who scored with a superb volley. All very disappointing after it looked like we looked like picking up what could be a vital win, and I only hope those two points don’t cost us at the end of the season.

Spurs are up next, for another difficult home game against a team in the top half of the table, but if we can continue to play in this physically imposing manner while learning how to close games out, we should be all right.

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