Leeds Utd 1 Fulham 1: Magical moment by Lewis Cook lifts tepid encounter

CAUTIOUS optimism may have been the prevailing feeling following Leeds United's draw with Fulham back in the autumn, but four months on and the enthusiasm following another point against these opponents is much harder to detect this morning.
Leeds United's Lewis Cook celebrates his equaliser against Fulham (Picture: Bruce Rollinson).Leeds United's Lewis Cook celebrates his equaliser against Fulham (Picture: Bruce Rollinson).
Leeds United's Lewis Cook celebrates his equaliser against Fulham (Picture: Bruce Rollinson).

It was at Craven Cottage on October 21 that Steve Evans, whose pride in managing Leeds is worn as a badge of honour, first took charge and was afforded an opening evening which he is entitled to remember warmly, a 1-1 draw with a fair bit of promise.

That now seems a long way off despite an identical result, although there was one truly memorable moment last night.

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The game will be recalled for a sublime first league goal from United’s crown jewel, Lewis Cook, a class apart from his team-mates on the night.

Leeds United's Lewis Cook celebrates his equaliser against Fulham (Picture: Bruce Rollinson).Leeds United's Lewis Cook celebrates his equaliser against Fulham (Picture: Bruce Rollinson).
Leeds United's Lewis Cook celebrates his equaliser against Fulham (Picture: Bruce Rollinson).

The 19-year-old’s wonder strike from 30 yards was worth the admission money alone. After a long wait for his maiden league strike, he conjured a special one.

Cook’s 38th-minute howitzer ended Leeds’s near six-hour wait for a goal in some style and for those home supporters among the crowd of 17,103 – United’s smallest in the Championship since April 2013 – it at least provided an ‘I was there’ moment.

Cook’s magic and a decent full league debut for Lewie Coyle aside, this was a thoroughly modest and patchy home display with Leeds having now triumphed just once in their last 10 league outings.

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They look very much what they are: a limited, lower mid-table side a long way off the business positions in the Championship.

Leeds United's Lewis Cook celebrates his equaliser against Fulham (Picture: Bruce Rollinson).Leeds United's Lewis Cook celebrates his equaliser against Fulham (Picture: Bruce Rollinson).
Leeds United's Lewis Cook celebrates his equaliser against Fulham (Picture: Bruce Rollinson).

Ahead of the game, Evans passionately stressed his desire to build a promotion side at Leeds next season, displaying innate confidence in his ability to do so if given the tools.

His comments are likely to have been interpreted as somewhat bold by sizeable sections of United’s fanbase – some might even venture outlandish given the realpolitik at Elland Road. God loves a trier, but whether Massimo Cellino does is a moot point.

Turning thoughts to summer plans when still in the final throes of winter under an owner like Cellino comes seriously laden with risk. Just ask Neil Redfearn.

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Evans will know deep down he has to attend to the here and now.

United’s competitive juices may have stopped flowing after Saturday’s FA Cup loss at Watford, with the club entrenched in the mid-table Championship hinterland, free of relegation fears but without play-off hope.

But there is always one ‘live’ issue, namely security of tenure in the dug-out.

Leeds went into this game on the back of an inauspicious run and Evans will not have needed reminding that their meagre tally of 12 goals on home soil in 16 league matches prior to last night was a risible statistic.

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The first period was a wholly bizarre affair with disjointed Leeds lacking method and wit until a picture-perfect strike from Cook drew them level and proved the catalyst to a storming finish.

The first 35 minutes had been a tactical success for Fulham, whose wing-backs – especially Ryan Fredericks – had a field day on the flanks.

It yielded a thoroughly merited opener on 17 minutes from ex-Leeds trainee Tom Cairney, who followed up his strike at Elland Road last season for Blackburn with a half-volley from 20 yards, which left Marco Silvestri motionless after a cross from another former Whites product, Luke Garbutt, was only half-cleared.

The goal had been coming with Sol Bamba’s head somehow diverting an earlier goalbound effort from Ross McCormack onto the crossbar, the ex-White striker being booed by the sparse crowd on his second return to Elland Road.

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Bamba’s wild shot off target was Leeds’s sole moment of danger in the first half-hour with Coyle then saving a certain goal by making a timely block to deny McCormack.

But Cook’s majestic strike applied considerable balm and Leeds swarmed all over the visitors’ flaky defence for the rest of the half, with Souleymane Doukara and Mirco Antenucci testing Andy Lonergan.

But, attacking the Kop on the restart, Leeds squandered that initiative. A timely Bamba challenge denied Moussa Dembele, but play descended into a scrappy affair.

Eighteen minutes from time, but substitute Ryan Tunnicliffe could not convert McCormack’s pull-back from close range.

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Leeds’s one major chance of the half was spurned in the final 10 minutes by replacement Stuart Dallas, before Fulham’s Fernando Amorebieta was dismissed in stoppage time for a second yellow card for handball.

Leeds United: Silvestri; Coyle, Bamba, Cooper, Taylor; Diagouraga, Adeyemi (Botaka 87), Cook, Mowatt (Dallas 78); Doukara; Antenucci (Erwin 69). Unused substitutes: Peacock-Farrell, Wootton, Berardi, Murphy.

Fulham: Lonergan; Madl, Burn, Amorebieta; Fredericks (Richards 84), Baird, Cairney, O’Hara (Tunnicliffe 53), Garbutt (Kacaniklic 53); McCormack, Dembele. Unused substitutes: Lewis, Stearman, Smith, Hyndman.

Referee: K Wright (Cambridgeshire).