Leeds United put on another exhibition of front-running at Blackburn Rovers

The Whites’ 3-1 win over Blackburn Rovers showed why being on the front foot suits them and their head coach, a man who wants to control the ball and the fine details.

A draw with lowly Luton in midweek had laid foundations for a nervous and difficult afternoon in Lancashire, where the rain fell like a blanket on a heavy pitch.

Crucially, Leeds gave frustration and anxiety no time at all to settle or build, taking a seventh-minute lead.

The ball leaving Patrick Bamford’s boot and entering the net did the nerves of everyone of a Yorkshire persuasion inside Ewood Park and everyone who wished they could be there, the world of good.

That, in part, is because when Leeds score first they do not lose – that freak, nightmarish April 2019 defeat by Wigan Athletic being the exception.

Of the 48 Championship games in which they have got the first goal, Leeds have now won 43 and drawn one.

Scoring first in this one came from being on the front foot.

It was Mateusz Klich’s pressing that forced an error deep inside the Rovers half and led to Patrick Bamford’s clinical strike.

The second goal was a direct free-kick, a sublime one at that, ‘beautiful’ in Bielsa’s eyes, but you can trace its origins back to Ben White’s pressing.

The centre-half showed the awareness and penchant for nipping in to win the ball high up the pitch that has made him so vital to Leeds’ protagonistic ways. His good work gave Leeds possession from which they won a corner, and when Barry Douglas’ second cross was half cleared, Tyler Roberts was fouled 25 yards out and the rest is spectacular history that will be replayed long after Kalvin Phillips’ time with his boyhood club comes to an end.

Blackburn hit back with a wonderful free-kick of their own but Phillips, who in the lead up to this game had declared his post-restart performances as ‘all right,’ Klich and White all impressed by keeping control of the game. Leeds were well in control even before Klich slammed home the third goal to put the result beyond doubt and bring automatic promotion to within 10 points, with five games remaining.

If each one is as entertaining as this one it will make the run-in almost as memorable as the outcome.

Neverthless, Bielsa was an often agitated figure on the Ewood Park sidelines, eager to avoid a repeat of last season’s collapse when Leeds failed to win any of their final four matches to blow automatic promotion before losing in the play-offs.

“Yes,” Bielsa said when asked if he had felt anxious during the match.

“Every match in this period is very important, and every distraction can be very important.

“If we get distracted we will pay for that so we need to keep focused in every match.”

Bielsa had come out of a midweek draw with Luton frustrated by his side’s profligacy in front of goal, but there was no such problem here as Bamford dispatched their first chance of the game after Klich dispossessed Lewis Travis.

After Phillips’ superb free-kick, Klich starred again as he scored on the rebound when Jack Harrison’s 53rd-minute shot was blocked, extinguishing hopes of a Blackburn fightback sparked by Armstrong’s free-kick.

“He played a great match today,” said Bielsa of Klich. “He was the player who balanced the whole team.”

Though Leeds went in at the break 2-0 up it could easily have been very different as both sides hit a post, and Bielsa admitted Blackburn had given his side problems before a more comfortable second half.

“It was very difficult to imagine which kind of match we were going to have,” continued Bielsa.

“The opponent was playing with different shapes today, and they made some modifications we didn’t expect with (Sam Gallagher) on the right, (Joe Rothwell) on the left and (Armstrong) as the centre forward. That was new today.”

Blackburn Rovers:Walton, Nyambe, Lenihan, Adarabioyo, Bennett (Downing 22), Travis (Davenport 69), Johnson, Rothwell (Buckley 69), Gallagher (Graham 60) Holtby (Samuel 60), Armstrong. Unused substitutes: Chapman, Leutwiler, Mulgrew, Carter.

Leeds United: Meslier, Ayling, Douglas, Cooper, White, Phillips, Harrison, Alioski, Klich (Shackleton 89), Roberts (Hernandez 61), Bamford. Unused substitutes: Poveda, Berardi, Miazek, Struijk, Gotts, Davis, Stevens.

Referee: R Jones .

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