Jesse Marsch had some strong words to say to the media about rumours that a couple of players had turned against him, and the determined performance that swept Cardiff City aside was not the work of a discontented squad.

The evening started with one hello and one goodbye. Georginio Rutter was introduced to the crowd with that permanent smile on his face, and then we finally had the chance to say a proper goodbye to Mateusz Klich and his wonderful jacket. He’d flown the Atlantic to come back and see us one more time, after the complaints from those who missed his farewell after the West Ham game, as it hadn't been announced.

Marsch selected a strong line-up for this game after the scare we had down in Cardiff, perhaps because we needed the win to get some momentum into our season, and perhaps because his job could be on the line if we’d lost. But Cardiff again rested several key players as they had in the first game, feeling they had to prioritise their struggle against relegation over an unlikely win at a Premier League stadium.

It's quite possible that the Leeds squad sensed he might be on the way out and wanted to play for him, because we were tearing into our Championship opponents right from the start. It took only 30 seconds to get the opening goal to settle the nerves, as Cardiff’s right back Sang was caught out by a long diagonal ball and Gnonto eased past him. Willy jumped to take the shot early and despite the narrow angle he was able to power his shot past Alnwick into the net.

We kept up the pressure and could have had a couple more goals in the opening half hour. Gnonto was set up right in front of goal but the ball bounced awkwardly and he put it over the bar. Rodrigo was denied by a fine save from Alnwick, and Greenwood didn’t put enough power on a shot from close range, giving a defender the chance to clear off the line.

I was wondering if we’d regret missing these chances, as it would be just typical if Cardiff were to equalise after all our dominance. They did start to get a bit more of the ball down at the other end, but had nothing to show for it beyond a couple of shots straight at Meslier. And on 34 minutes Harrison picked out Rodrigo with a superb pass, allowing the Spaniard to round a defender and then Alnwick before scoring.

But the third goal was even better, beginning in our own penalty area as we broke down a Cardiff attack, continuing with a passing move downfield involving most of the team, and ending with Gnonto shooting past Alnwick once again. Now we could start to relax, but we were a bit too casual as half-time approached as we seemed to have let Cardiff back into the game with some sloppy marking at a corner.

But for once VAR intervened on our side, and the goal was disallowed as a forward had been partially impeding Meslier’s view while a couple of yards offiside, before our keeper made a hash of dealing with Nelson’s header. We might have benefited from the furore over the non-use of the ‘interfering with play’ rule in the Manchester derby, with the officials perhaps being keen to over-compensate and restore that law to it’s rightful place.

At half time Aaronson and Bamford came on for Adams and Rodrigo, but the changes made little difference to the pattern of play, with Leeds continuing to dominate our hapless opponents. Though there was a moment of concern when Wöber picked up an injury after a hospital pass from Greenwood. He tried to continue but had to be replaced by Ayling, though the indications are that it’s nothing serious.

It was a player returning from injury that put some extra gloss on the result, with two fine goals from Patrick Bamford, showing that he’s back with some very welcome form as well as fitness as we reach a crucial stage of the season. His first came when a fine ball from Ayling picked him out, and he showed great awareness of how much time he had, slowing down to make sure he could guide the ball past the keeper into the far corner.

Gnonto’s chance for a hat-trick came and went as he fired into the side netting, before he was taken off for some much deserved rest and a standing ovation. His replacement was Gelhardt, who gave his usual lively performance and set Bamford up for his second and Leeds’ fifth, with another left foot shot into the far corner.

There was more good news as we reached the last ten minutes, with Sinisterra demonstrating that he too has come back to fitness as he came on to replace Harrison. But it wouldn’t be Leeds if we didn’t give Cardiff a glimpse of our defensive frailties, gifting them a couple of consolation goals near the end.

First Ayling made a complete hash of dealing with a cross, and it looped up for Robinson to head the ball over Meslier into the net. And right at the end Roca waved his arm around and the ball hit it just inside the area, which VAR decided was enough for a penalty award. Robinson smashed the spot kick past Meslier for his second, before hilariously rushing to pick up the ball, as if Cardiff could score another three goals in the final minute.

Which of course they didn’t, and Leeds played out time to seal our first victory in this competition since a win over Cambridge in 2017. Our reward is an 11th successive away draw (the odds of that being 1 in 2048) and a trip to Accrington Stanley or Boreham Wood. But as the majority of the crowd were going home very happy, Jesse Marsch was sounding a little angry and defensive as he spoke to the media after the game.

“This report that comes out, the BS about some of the players are against me is just awful. It’s just awful. We are united. We are together. We are doing everything we can as a group, we are all harbouring the responsibility, especially me, and we believe in ourselves. I felt really strongly before the game that we were ready. 35 seconds in, you can’t ask for a better start.”

And he’s now looking ahead to build on the momentum from this victory in the league games ahead. “We know we’re going to get better and so we’re certainly not done and we have a big challenge on Sunday, but we’re going to keep going. Since the break, there have been moments where we’ve done really well in games. Now we’ve put together two complete performances, for me. We have to do it again (against Brentford).”

It was great to have a buoyant mood around Elland Road once again, even though this was ‘only Cardiff’. There’s a feeling now that with key players returning from injury and a couple of new signings we can start to pick up a bit of form, and might even have the depth of squad to have a bit of a cup run without detracting from our league form too much.

If we can just start to cut out those costly errors at the back we may yet pick up the results we need to take ourselves away from the relegation zone and help our head coach to feel a little bit more secure.

Reuters

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