Leeds United 3 Sheffield Wednesday 0: Whites find a little extra to decide tight derby
If you want to know how well Sheffield Wednesday played at Elland Road, ignore Sunday’s 3-0 scoreline; if you want to know why Leeds United are top of the Championship, pay great heed to it.
For 85 minutes of football it was how a Yorkshire derby should be – tight, tense and capable of going either way.
That the hosts won it so emphatically was down to the little ingredients Danny Rohl is so keen to sprinkle onto his Owls squad in the transfer window. Without parachute payments or Premier League leftovers, he has no chance of assembling a squad of Leeds’ quality, but as this game showed, even just a little can make a lot of difference.
The Owls have the look of nearly men, pushing their limits but lacking the quality to make it into the play-off places.
Leeds look too good for the Championship – ruthless either side of 85 minutes when they were rock solid. They have enough depth that even without the injured Pascal Struijk they kept a clean sheet, enough quality from the bench to finally wrest the game away from the visitors.
The opening goal might have owed something to an unwitting assist from James Beadle, but the fire was started by Joe Rothwell’s pass. And it was a Leeds substitute, Large Ramazani, who secured the points as both managers shuffled the pack to secure/save a result.An audacious backheel by Ao Tanaka, who started the season as one of the Whites' back-up midfielders, highlighted the resources manager Daniel Farke has at his disposal, and Rohl does not.
The gap between two clubs with proud histories explains why the away fans held up yellow cards urging their chairman to sell their club. The nature of football fandom explains why it was met with an unsympathetic rendition of "There's only one Chansiri" by the rest of the stadium.
Despite having all the tools to go back to the Premier League, the Whites are often forced into a game of patience at Elland Road. Even their quickest goal of Farke’s tenure could not change that, it just dialled down the urgency.
We had not reached the third minute when Rothwell brilliantly released Brenden Aaronson. Beadle rushed out to the American's feet but could only serve the ball up for Manor Solomon to score.
Very good at playing when 1-0 down, rescuing 16 points from losing positions since the start of October, the Owls were unruffled.
Rohl switched Svante Ingelsson from the left wing of a 4-2-3-1 to the middle of a 4-5-1 as the visitors played away-team football.
Crucially, that included a counter-attacking threat. Lone centre-forward Josh Windass had a shot blocked from a second consecutive corner in the ninth minute.
Anthony Musaba curled a harmless shot at Illan Meslier and Ethan Ampadu produced an excellent tackle when Shea Charles' equally good pass released Windass.
Rothwell was not the only Leeds player capable of playing those passes too and Joel Piroe released Sam Byram for a cross Michael ihiekwe did well to cut out for a corner Joe Rodon headed wide.
As Wednesday grew in confidence the game became more end-to-end.
In what looks like being the final away game of his loan from Southampton, Charles was at it again as the half-hour approached, on his toes to intercept and pick out Musaba, who found Yan Valery to ripple the net from the wrong side.
Daniel James' curling effort forced a low, stretching save from Beadle, who also kept out a cross-shot flashed over by the Wales winger.
Inbetween time a promising Wednesday break started when Djieidi Gassma cleverly shielded the ball for Inglesson, who hit his pass over Musaba's head. Nearly men.
Leeds came out of the second-half blocks the stronger without making it count, Piroe’s shot blocked, Rothwell wide from distance, Beadle flying off his line to stop Piroe getting on the end of James' ball in when the resulting corner was played short.
There was never a sense of panic for Wednesday as Rohl used his bench and shifted shapes to find an answer. Gassama forced a Meslier save on the counter-attack.
Farke's first changes almost had an immediate effect, Ilia Gruev putting a free-kick won for a foul on fellow substitute Mateo Joseph over.
But Leeds were still squirming when Callum Paterson came off the bench to make things a bit more agricutural. When his long throw-in became a corner, Valery flicked it right in front of Ike Ugbo, little more than a flinch away from scoring.
Within seconds Leeds did, through Ramazani from the edge of the area. He somersaulted his relief.
When he had another go in the sixth added minute, Tanaka backheeled the shot past Beadle.
Leeds just had that little bit extra.
Leeds United: Meslier; Bogle, Rodon, Ampadu, Byram; Tanaka, Rothwell (Gruev 69); James (Gnonto 83), Aaronson (Guilavogui 89), Solomon (Ramazani 83); Piroe (Joseph 69).
Unused substitutes: Firpo, Darlow, Schmidt, Wober.
Sheffield Wednesday: Beadle; Valery, Ihiekwe (Valentín 69), Bernard, M Lowe; S Charles, Bannan; Musaba (Paterson 79), Gassama, Ingelsson (Johnson 54); Windass (Ugbo 79).
Unused substitutes: Palmer, J Lowe, Kobacki, Otegbayo, P Charles.
Referee: D Webb (County Durham).