Battling Barnsley turn Leeds United's serene evening into gut-wrenching tension

It is coming, slowly but surely, but Barnsley made Leeds United work exceptionally hard to take another step towards their destiny.

When the season finally restarted, it always looked like the Whites and the Reds would be leaving the Championship in different directions. Leeds's nerve-shredding 1-0 win leaves them a point away from promotion, while the Reds realistically need to win both their remaining games to stay up after an intriuging match at Elland Road whose quality suffered for its nervousness.

To see sporting director Victor Orta going berserk at full-time as chief executive Angus Kinnear punched the air said it all.

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By the end of the first half, it looked like Leeds might have cracked it, taking the lead. But they rarely make life that straight-forward for their long-suffering fans and despite their lowly position, Gerahrd Struber's men do not give up easily.

TINKERING: Marcelo Bielsa was screaming instructions throughout the last 10 minutes of the first halfTINKERING: Marcelo Bielsa was screaming instructions throughout the last 10 minutes of the first half
TINKERING: Marcelo Bielsa was screaming instructions throughout the last 10 minutes of the first half

The pride belonged to the Austrian's youthful side but the points, the only thing that matter at this time of the season, went to Leeds.

With no fans in Elland Road, it was an eerily serene start to a Yorkshire derby but a noisily tense finish. Never mind not for the faint-hearted, it was torture for those in perfect health.

As the players stood silently on a pleasant Thursday evening, the cardboard cut-outs fluttered in the gentle breeze.

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The opening minutes were mainly about the players trying to get their heads around the fluid and unorthodox formations – not just the opposition's but their own.

Leeds started in a back four but had quickly switched to what was broadly a 3-3-3-1, Luke Ayling at centre-back, Ben White holding in midfield and Helder Costa wide on the right, but often closer to centre-forward Patrick Bamford than the central midfielders.

Barnsley had four at the back and a midfield three which saw Aapo Halme often slightly in front of his central colleagues and a triangular forward line.

Barnsley started the better, Cauley Woodrow's excellent through-ball releasing Jacob Brown but the angle was too tight for a shot, and no one had kept up to be crossed to.

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Woodrow sliced a shot off his boot from optimistic range after Callum Styles won the ball.

Slowly, almost impercetibly, Leeds turned up the heat.

Bamford had a shot smothered, Mateusz Klich flashed a ball across without a touch and Jack Harrison's free-kick pinballed around before finding Jack Walton's gloves.

An excellent sliding interception from Gaetano Berardi and a fantastic tackle on Costa by Alex Mowatt suggested the game might get a bit more derby-like, but it never really did.

Leeds, though, started to take control without threatening Walton. Klich's excellent reverse pass deserved better than the weak shot Costa gave it.

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Mads Andersen was wide with a diving header shortly after the drinks break but unlike his side's early chances, it was against the run of play.

In the 29th-minute Klich produced a gorgeous through-ball for Bamford and although Andersen did well to push him wide, he could not stopping him putting in a cross Michael Sollbauer put through his own net. Had he not, Costa would have.

The last 10 minutes of the half were a whirlwind of instructions barked out by Bielsa as he constantly changed his formation. Leeds's players looked confused.

"Ayling! You wide!"

Then to White: "Same as the beginning! You! Yes! Centre-back! Now!"

To Berardi: “There! Always!”

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Hernandez came on for Tyler Roberts at half-time and just four minutes later, Costa had to be stretchered off, replaced by Ezgjan Alioski, prompting more tinkering.

Whether it was their clearer heads, Barnsley restarted the better, their half-time substitute Luke Thomas forcing Illan Meslier to save, but lacking the power to make it difficult. Connor Chaplin and Styles both shot narrowly wide when they ought not to have.

Eventually the head-spinning tinkering came to an end but the Barnsley pressure never did.

The serenity had long since gone, replaced by increasingly desperate screams of support from the director's seats. Orta's anxious cries replaced Bielsa's as the soundtrack of the game. There was a primal scream when Alioski was given offside late on.

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Sollbauer saw a firm header saved at one end and Leeds broke down the other, Walton turning Bamford's shot from Alioski's curling cross around the post.

Liam Cooper made a brilliant tackle on Woodrow, who had a shot tipped over, then stretched to a curling Brown cross, which deflected behind for a corner, all in a matter of minutes.

Leeds are normally so assured whatever the scoreline but in the tense atmosphere it was impossible. They counter-attacked when they could, but it was not often.

Bamford was unfortunate not to win a 90th-minute penalty from Sollbauer, and Walton saved well with his legs from Stuart Dallas. Worrying for them, for the second game of the restart, Hernandez came on at half-time but was substituted in stoppage time.

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Huddersfield Town taking points off West Bromwich Albion would seal Leeds's 16-year wait to return to the Premier League but it is hard to imagine it being that straight-forward.

Leeds United: Meslier; Ayling, White, Cooper, Berardi; Klich; Costa (Alioski 49), Dallas, Roberts (Hernandez 46 (Shackleton 90)), Harrison (Struijk 60); Bamford.

Not used: Douglas, Poveda, Casilla, Stevens, Casey.

Barnsley: Walton; Ludewig, Sollbauer, Andersen, Williams (Oduor 84); Styles, Halme (Thomas 46), Mowatt; Brown (Schmidt78); Woodrow, Chaplin.

Not used: Williams, Bahre, Ritzmaier, Wolfe, Marsh, Collins.

Referee: J Gillett (Australia).

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