At half-time this game was well and truly in the balance, and Hull City had enjoyed some moments in the first half. But once Leeds had opened the scoring in the second they had no response, and it was comfortable for Leeds in the end.
After all the frenetic transfer activity during the week, only one of the new signings made the starting line-up, and that was enforced. James was out with a hamstring problem, so Solomon came in for his debut, though he would play on the left side as Gnonto moved over to the right. But Ramazani and Tanaka were included among the subs, with the latter getting a few ‘AO’ chants in his honour during and after the game.
Leeds were on the front foot from the start, though we struggled to convert our possession into clear-cut chances. Gruev tried a shot when the ball came back to him on the edge of the area came back to, but Pandur had little difficulty in getting down to make the save. Then Gnonto found Bogle racing into space at the side of the penalty area, but the full-back shot into the side netting when a cross would have been a better option.
We did manage to get the ball in the net on 20 minutes, from Gnonto after Struijk’s flick-on, but this was to be the first of four occasions when the Italian was flagged for offside. Meanwhile Leeds old boy Lewie Coyle was developing an unusual technique to cope with the threat of Solomon, simply grabbing hold of him every time the Israeli tried to go past.
Coyle got away with it the first time, to the fury of the crowd as Hull broke away, and after that I thought the referee was on his case, though he was lenient when the Hull full-back tried it inside the area in the second half. There was more controversy when the ref played on after an apparent foul on Rodon, leading to Hull’s best chance of the game.
Meslier tipped the shot over the bar, but that chance seemed to spark Hull into life, and they got back into the game as half time approached. A poor kick from Meslier conceded possession in a dangerous area, but thankfully the cross from the right was overhit while our defence was all over the place.
Then Miller cut inside to shoot right-footed and the ball just cleared the bar, although Meslier might well have had it covered. At the other end Gruev sent a free kick well over the bar, then a cross from Joseph gave the Hull keeper an anxious moment, causing him to tip the ball over the ball rather than risk trying to catch it so close to the line.
Leeds might have shaded the first half, but it was looking like it could be one of those games where Leeds fail to make the breakthough or the opposition nicks a goal and we end up with a poor result. But we stepped up a gear after the break and the first chance of the second period came when Gruev’s astute ball found Solomon in the area. But when his shot was blocked Aaronson didn’t get the power he needed as the rebound came back to him, and Pandur was able to get down for the save.
But the breakthrough finally came in the 63rd minute, and I could breathe a bit more easily. I was wondering if Solomon was starting to run out of puff at this stage of his comeback, but how wrong I was. The Israeli beat two defenders to get to the byline and whipped in a cross, and Joseph nipped in front of his marker at the near post to knock the ball home. A classic poacher’s goal.
Soon afterwards Solomon was indeed rested, with our other new winger Ramazani coming on. I thought Ramazani looked a bit short while he was warming up, but that was partly because he was next to our young central defender Debayo. He certainly put in a lively performance on his debut, making a few challenges and making a couple of good runs.
But the greater impact came from Piroe, who replaced Gnonto at the same time, as he would get the second in the 82nd minute. The move began when Joseph tracked back to help the defence, and got us moving downfield with a ball out to Firpo to start a quick break. Firpo spotted that Piroe had run though unchallenged on the far side, and picked him out with a superb cross-field ball.
The Dutchman steadied himself and then picked his spot to roll the ball into the far corner of the net. He was in so much space that I wondered if he was offside, but the replay showed that he certainly wasn’t. The goal killed off any lingering threat Hull might have offered, so it was time to give a few players a run out in the minutes that remained.
Bogle hobbled off the field after the effort of chasing the dangerous Miller all game, and Byram seemed to do a better job of keeping the Tigers’ best player in check. Then Rothwell and Tanaka came on, the latter getting a great response on his debut, with Jospeh and Gruev being withdrawn.
At the same Codeh Drameh came on for a rare first team appearance at Elland Road, and it’s a shame that the only way he was going to get one was to come back as a visiting player. But this wasn’t a straight swap for the hapless Coyle, as their other ex-Leeds player stayed on, but in a more central role.
Five minutes injury time were played, much of it due to the length of Joseph’s goal celebration, so pleased had he been to open his account at Elland Road. But the extra period made no difference to the outcome, and Daniel Farke could reflect on a job well done and praise his young striker when he spoke to the BBC. It's important to finish the game with a clean sheet and it's good for the mood, the table and the confidence”.
"Overall, I would say it was a perfect finish to August. With eight points out of four games and three clean sheets, we're on a good path. Mateo Jospeh scored a lot of goals at youth level but has to keep going on this path. If he does, then he has a chance of having a very good career. You either have it or you don’t and there’s still work to do, but Mateo definitely has it."
The win leaves us fourth in the table, which is a good place to be after a slightly rocky start, and an improvement on our position at the same stage last season. The next game is looking vital (against a Burnley side who also strengthened considerably during the last week of the transfer window) but I think we can start to be optimistic about the promotion campaign ahead.