As Mark Twain might have said, rumours of our demise have been greatly exaggerated. Only two days after the sacking of Jesse Marsch our temporary management team inspired a vastly improved performance, as we stopped Manchester United’s run of 16 consecutive home wins in all competitions.

Michael Skubala made a couple of changes for his first match in charge. As expected that Koch would return after his one match ban, while Liam Cooper and Roca were out due to injury. McKennie got his first start despite the slight tubbiness evident on Sunday, and Luke Ayling was captain for the night.

And right from the off we saw a determined Leeds United side, still playing with high energy but seemingly with a bit more organisation, showing more idea of how to get back into formation when we lost the ball. Whether it was due to a release of tension (supposedly not one of the players sent Marsch a farewell text after he’d gone) or because we always raise our game against this opposition, this was a very welcome improvement.

And Skubala couldn’t have dreamed of his side being a goal up inside the first minute of his tenure. Strujk snapped into a tackle on the halfway line and played the ball forward to Gnonto down the left. And after a one-two with Bamford four Man U defenders stood and watched as Willie accepted the invitation to shoot, and sent it into the corner of the net. What a start!

There was an anxious wait for a VAR check as the pass forward to Bamford might have found him offside, but thankfully the goal was allowed to stand. We could have gone further in front a few minutes later as Harrison’s cross was nodded on towards Struijk at the far post. It came to him at an awkward height and he couldn’t get any power into it, but still got it on target and forced De Gea into a save.

The first sub was needed inside ten minutes when Sinisterra went down, and I missed seeing what happened to him, as up in the prawn sandwich seats my view was blocked while a latecomer shuffled past me. On came Summerville in a like-for-like change. The next to go off was Struijk after collecting a fiercely driven shot full in the face, and this must have been a concussion substitution, because we were to make six changes in total.

Firpo came on and we all held our breath, but for the most part this was one of his better performances. At this stage the Leeds section of the crowd were making most of the atmosphere, taunting the tourists in the rest of the stands with the “football in a library” chant. But in the latter stages of the half the home side began to put us under a bit more pressure.

Garnacho seemed certain to score as he took the ball round Meslier as our keeper raced out of his area, but Ayling held him up for just long enough for Wöber to get back and head his shot off the line. Meslier was forced into decent saves from Varane and Sabitzer, and as I began to pray that we could at least hold out till have time an extra eight minutes were added because of the number of stoppages.

But we did hold out with our lead intact, with Adams, McKennie and Ayling all working feverishly to deny them space when they came forward, though I feared that Ten Hag would tear into his team at half time and they would be at us during the second period. What I didn’t expect was the exact opposite, with Leeds doubling the lead as soon as the half began. Oh me of little faith!

A shot from Harrison was blocked on the edge of the area, but before Man U could bring the ball downfield three Leeds players surrounded the man with the ball to recover possession. Koch played a superb pass through to set Gnonto free on the left. He slipped it to his mate Summerville, and when the young Dutchman tried to cross it for Bamford, Varane got in the way and only succeeded in diverting the ball past De Gea into the far corner.

A much-needed upset looked on the cards, but the game began to swing just after the hour mark. Adams and McKennie got booked in quick succession, one of them very unfortunate as he delayed a free kick Man U were trying to take five yards forward of the correct spot, but both had to be more circumspect from then on. Meanwhile Ten Hag brought Jadon Sancho on in place of Weghorst. I was amazed that Weghorst ended up at a top club after his awful spell at Burnley last season, and he’d carried little threat in this game.

But Sancho was a different matter despite his recent personal difficulties, and he would make a telling contribution before the night was out. Skubala did his best to react by giving us a bit more energy, sending on Aaronson for Harrison and Rutter for Bamford, but Man U were still able to pull one back a few minutes later.

Firpo was left with two players to deal with on their right and couldn’t prevent the cross coming in. And on the edge of the six yard box Rasford got in front of Koch and was able to guide the ball into the corner of the net, just where Meslier couldn’t get to it. And yet we so nearly restored our two goal lead when Aaronson drove a free kick through a gap that invitingly opened up in the middle of Man United’s wall, but the ball came back off the foot of the post.

But the hosts were able to draw level with 20 minutes still to play. Shaw went down the left and played a one-two with Sancho, and his cross came back off Ayling’s heel but fell invitingly into the path of Sancho. You could say Meslier should have done better with the shot, though he might have been unsighted. He got his arm to the ball, but without the power needed to stop it going past him into the net.

Then I really did fear the worst as the home side came forward in search of the winner, though Wöber’s performance meant that the centre of our defence wasn’t nearly as brittle as it was in the recent past. The Stretford end was getting very restless over the amount of time that Meslier was taking over every goal kick, but thankfully the referee resisted their pleas for him to wave a yellow card in our keeper’s direction.

And he also turned down the home fans’ demand for Firpo to be dismissed very late in the game when he committed foul, having already been booked for wrestling Rashford to the floor to stop a dangerous break-away. As the pressure mounted Meslier made an excellent save to tip a header over the bar, then had to be alert to keep out a Rashford shot at close range. Despite all this there were still plenty of home fans leaving as early as the 85th minute, to a chorus of “you’ve taken your pictures, now **** off home” from the Leeds end.

As we began to tire our final two substitutions saw Greenwood and Joseph coming on for McKennie and Gnonto. Five additional minutes were announced, and I thought that losing in ‘Fergie Time’ would be the ultimate Old Trafford experience. But we didn’t, with Meslier grabbing the ball to deal with a couple of dangerous crosses. And as he lay on the floor after claiming it one last time, the referee blew the final whistle and we had claimed an excellent draw.

We can even feel disappointed that we didn’t win after being two goals in front, but all of us would gladly have accepted a draw before the game started. It took us one place higher in the table to 16th, but with all our games in hand now used up. We surely won’t go down if we can play like this till the end of the season, and this level of performance will demonstrate the potential of our side to any top manager who we might try to entice to come to Elland Road.

Or have we already got the tactical and motivational genius we need in Michael Skubala?

Reuters

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