This was yet another game when Leeds played well for a time, but West Ham United took advantage as we faded badly in the second half. We now need to win our final game a week from today and pray that other results go our way.

The results on Saturday weren’t very kind to us, and we could certainly have done without Everton’s 99th minute equaliser. Had the Toffees lost then a draw in this game would have taken us above them, but now we had to win both of our final two games to keep our fate in our own hands. And maybe the extra pressure played a part in the very nervy and error-strewn performance we saw today.

Big Sam made two changes to the starting line-up, one being enforced due to Firpo’s suspension. Struijk came in and when I saw the eleven I hoped that he would be in the centre with Wöber ay left-back, but Allardyce decided that Struijk would be the one to try to take care of Bowen. The other change saw Forshaw coming back to give the midfield a bit of extra bite instead of Greenwood.

David Moyes made six changes, and we could hope that West Ham would be distracted by the European final, despite the poxyness of the conference thing, after the emotion of getting through on Thursday night and the bother at the end of that game. And the way the game started it looked like that might be the case, while Leeds began in determined fashion, creating the best of the early opportunities.

Harrison started a move with a neat turn and then tried a first-time volley when he got the ball back from by Ayling. He struck the shot well enough, but sent it too close to Fabianski, and the keeper made a fairly comfortable save. But we took the lead in the 17th minute, to disprove my theory that we’d never score from a Weston McKennie long throw.

Up till now I thought they floated into the area and were easy to the defence to deal with, but this one was lower and faster, and when it came through to Rodrigo our leading scorer volleyed the ball into the net. For a while I dared to dream that we were going to respond to Everton’s late draw by grabbing a win, en route to snatching 17th place right at the death.

But from then on it was the home side who were to take control of the game, either because the goal had woken them up or because we decided to sit back and protect our lead. Or possibly both. Perhaps we need to score our goal in the 87th minute rather than the 17th. Rice curled a shot narrowly wide and our defence needed to put their bodies on the line with a couple of blocks as the pressure mounted.

The Hammers’ next good chance came when a deep corner was headed back across the goal and Ings prodded the ball forward to Soucek. The Czech made a neat turn for a big man, but Robles got down to smother the danger. And when they finally managed to burst our bubble with the equaliser in the 32nd minute the goal had been coming.

Fornals chipped the ball forwards to pick out Bowen on the right of the penalty area, and his ball to the far post found Declan Rice in plenty of space. Rice hammered the ball past Rodrigo into the ground, and it bounced up into the roof of the net. And as we tried to pick ourselves up to get back in front, Bamford hobbled off with his latest injury, to be replaced by Willy Gnonto.

The Hammers continued to put us under pressure, when Bowen swung a corner into the area and Soucek rose to meet it, but luckily Robles was alert enough to tip the ball over the bar. And our noble keeper made another fine save when Paquetá was put through on their left, coming out to smother the danger.

We did manage one promising break just before half time, with the ball being pulled back to two players you would most fancy in front of goal in Harrison and Gnonto, but both of them mis-kicked quite horribly. And there was more of that to come in the second half, with a lot of Leeds moves breaking down due to some shocking passing.

West Ham’s attacks were still looking more incisive, and Robles had to dive to make yet another save from Paquetá. Just after the hour Sam decided that Forshaw was running out of puff so it was time for Aaronson as a slightly more attacking option, while Summerville replaced Harrison.but the changes did little to change the pattern of the game, and West Ham were to take the lead on 72 minutes.

Ings played the ball through to Bowen, who squeezed the ball under Robles, and although our keeper got a slight touch, it wasn’t firm enough to send the ball beyond the far post. I thought Bowen had been offside so I was optimistic about the VAR check, but that ruled that one of the hairs on Wöber’s leg had been playing him on, so the goal stood.

From then on it went from bad to worse for Leeds. Paquetá had been beating the players all afternoon with his clever turns, but when McKennie tried to imitate him he lost possession when he very nearly fell over. That was about his final contribution, though I wasn’t convinced that Roca would be a better alternative. Greenwood was the final change, coming on for Struijk.

We kept trying to get forward at every opportunity in the desperate search for a result. Summerville was put through but Fabianski came out to make the save, and then Aaronson completely miskicked when the ball came back to him. And as the frustration grew, Rodrigo went into the book for one of his trademark reckless fouls, and I began to dread he might get sent off and miss the final game.

Seven minutes of injury time were announced, but it was West Ham who would get the final goal of the game. Three Leeds players surrounded Paquetá as he took the ball to the corner, but the Spaniard broke out by swerving past all of them, and when he evaded another challenge as he made his way into the area, we were always going to be outnumbered in the middle.

He pulled the ball back for Lanzini to score from close range, and that was the cue for hundreds of Leeds fans to start leaving from the away end. This time I was surprised there was a VAR check for a possible offside, and it went on for a while but concluded that the goal should stand. Even then we kept trying to go forward, as goal difference could yet matter, but time ran out and we had gone down to a very damaging defeat.

After the final whistle the players seemed to be copping a bit of abuse from the fans who had rushed down to the front of the away section, while Big Sam was left to bemoan the lack of quality in the squad he inherited in his interview with Sky Sports. "The second half was a bit of a battle, a bit of a struggle and then whatever we tried in terms of changes didn't improve the situation for us.”

"The first XI really show up, but when we need that squad, but the impact from the subs wasn't there. Whether it's the pressure or a lack of confidence, I'm not sure. The bigger failure in the second half was the quality of the final ball. As a manager, your subs are your impact on your team to get better and sadly that's something that didn't work today."

And he also hinted that Rodrigo might have an injury problem for next week as well as Bamford, which will be all we need. If Everton win next week we are down, and if they draw we will need to win by at least three goals, though if Everton lose any win for us will take us above them, Oh, and we also need Leicester to lose at Newcastle tomorrow night to keep them below us.

All of which really means that we’re now staring the Championship in the face. Desperate times.

Reuters

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