For the second time in four days Leeds faced a side who came into the game in good form, but again we controlled the game, But this time we wasted a number of good chances and the win over Coventry City was far less comfortable than it should have been.

The home side were starting to dream of the play-offs as they came into the game on a run of four straight wins, and were unbeaten at home since fat Frank had taken over. Though he is much derided for his unsuccessful spells at Chelsea and Everton, it’s often forgotten that he did at least make a decent start in both those jobs.

His opposite number might have been expecting a difficult night as a result , as evidenced by Daniel Farke’s one change to the starting line-up. It was Gruev’s turn to play as he continued to alternate with Rothwell, so perhaps the Bulgarian will be playing only the away games from now on, when the back four is more in need of protection.

Despite this trepidation Leeds were to have a lot more of the ball than we might have expected, though it was the Sky Blues who had the first chance of the evening, Ampadu’s clearing header only went as far as Simms, but after he found Rudoni’s the shot was straight at Meslier. After that Leeds began to dominate, and deservedly took the lead in the 17th minute.

A careless pass backwards by Simms went straight to Solomon, and with the Coventry defence completely out of shape he played a through ball to Piroe. The Dutchman was in plenty of space as he moved into the area, and rolled the ball into the far corner of the net to put Leeds one up. And nine minutes later Coventry’s defending was even worse, as they gifted Leeds the second.

Bogle went past four defenders as he moved down the right, with none of them offering anything even resembling a challenge. He lost the ball as he made his way towards the six yard box, only for Dovin to spill it right in front of him, leading Bogle with the simple task of placing the ball past the two defenders on the line. And as the chances kept coming, we really should have put the game to be before half time.

Ampadu picked out James with his long diagonal ball, and the Welshman had sped away from the defence he found himself one on one with the keeper. Nobody has been left that exposed in Coventry since Lady Godiva rode through the streets, and James tried to lob the advancing Dovin.

It was the right idea, and it worked for the Welshman him when he scored a superb goal against Luton before Christmas, but this time he got the finish all wrong, and sent a tame shot straight into the keeper’s arms. It wasn’t going to be James’ night, and on the next break Solomon would have had a tap-in if James had been able to find him, but the cross was blocked by was last-ditch intervention by a defender.

Then a four man move saw Leeds bring the ball from the edge of our own box, to set Solomon away on the left. He came inside, and with the defence distracted by Firpo’s run on the outside he played the ball through to Piroe. Unfortunately the ball had run a little too far before the Dutchman was in a position to shoot, and he failed to convert from the narrow angle.

So we had to settle with just the two goal advantage at the break, and when the home side started to have more of the game in the second period it seemed possible that we might regret failing to take some of those chances. We needed a third to kill the game off, but James sent a shot over the bar, and his luck was no better with the next opportunity.

Solomon slipped a ball across to James, but it took clipped a defender’s heel, which meant that James lost a bit of momentum as he collected the pass, and ended up putting his shot into the side netting. Then came the moment when Coventry could have got back into the game, only for our keeper to confound his critics with the first of two crucial saves

A deep cross was met by Bidwell , and Simms header seemed destined for the far corner of the net, until Meslier got down to make a splendid one-handed stop. Then as Leeds broke downfield his opposite number was also called into action. Solomon weaved through the Coventry defence once again, but Dovin stood big at the near post to keep out his shot.

Then Solomon picked up the ball after Thomas was unable to control it, and he rolled the ball across the face of goal, where Prioe was arriving at speed. There is no one in the current squad you would rather have in that position, but to everyone’s surprise our top scorer casually flicked at the ball, and a grateful Dovin was able to collect.

Farke made his first change on 78 minutes with Ramazan coming on to give Solomon a break, possibly later than he would have have liked, as we hadn’t yet put the game to bed. But still the third goal wouldn’t come. Bogle played an excellent through ball to set Ramazani free, but once again the shot was too close to the Coventry keeper.

As time began to run out there were more like-for-like changes as Gnonto and Joseph replaced James and Piroe. My anxiety levels were starting to reduce as it looked like we were going to see the game out, but then Coventry came close to pulling a goal back. Thomas climbed above the Leeds defence, but Meslier was able to get the touch he needed to turn the ball onto the bar, and it bounced down without crossing the line.

That prompted Farke to use his final two changes to shore up the defence, as Guilavogui and Struijk came on for Aaronson and Tanaka, meaning we finished with three defensive midfielders on the pitch. And finally we had the most bizarre incident of the night, after Firpo’s shot was bundled over the line by Gnonto.

Despite the appeals of the Coventry players it looked for about 45 seconds like the goal was going to stand, until the flag was raised after a discussion between the officials. As far as I can see the original shot was going in so the goal would have stood if Gnonto hadn’t touched it, but having done my own bit of VAR (watching the replay several times) I could see that he wasn’t offside anyway. Gnonto just ran through quickly as Firpo was shooting.

But thankfully it didn’t matter anyway, as we managed to see out the remaining time with no further alarms, and it finished 2-0. Frustrating as it was not to win by the scoreline our dominance deserved, we would have gladly have settled for a 2-0 win before kick-off

With Sheffield United not playing the result took us five points clear of Sheffield United, and also restored that margin over Burnley. It looks like everything is now coming together, if we can pretty much breeze through difficult fixtures like this, with Solomon in particular running into some excellent form.

If we can avoid the sort of late collapse that blighted us last season, we’re surely going to do it this time.

reuters

Leeds United Polls