Leeds 1 Everton 1: Sinisterra scores on full Prem debut for hosts to cancel out Gordon strike in bad-tempered clash
ANTHONY GORDON might not be worth £60million but at least he is showing up.
During a summer of strikes, failing to report for duty amid transfer interest has been all the rage.
The likes of Willy Bolly and Wesley Fofana couldn’t be bothered to turn up for work as they tried to force their moves.
Yet with Chelsea refusing to give up on landing Everton hot shot Gordon, the local lad has knuckled down, done his job, and done it very well.
While he mustered just four goals in his first 52 Prem games, it’s now two in two after an expertly taken goal through Illan Meslier’s legs.
And even if this all to show Chelsea he really is worth the extortionate fee, at least his boyhood club have fair grounds to milk Chelsea for a few more quid yet.
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If he does stay on Merseyside beyond the transfer window, everything is there for him to be a Goodison hero – with the travelling fans chanting his name at the end.
Hot-headed, he charged around all night like his life depended on it – even if, on a booking, it looked like he may overstep the mark and see red.
Frank Lampard’s side are still winless after three draws from five thanks to Colombian winger Luis Sinisterra’s equaliser on his first Prem start.
But they survived a late Leeds onslaught and should have won it when Gordon played in the onrushing Nathan Patterson, only for the youngster to fire straight at Meslier.
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Lampard’s night got off to a terrible start when new striker Neal Maupay was forced to miss out on a technicality.
Registered at 4pm on Friday, he was ineligible for Saturday’s draw at Brentford but supporters desperate for more firepower were told he would be unleashed at Elland Road.
But the Premier League insisted he had to be registered by noon on the last working day, which because of the bank holiday, was Friday – despite a bumper weekend of Prem ‘work’.
Lamps, who will never get anything less than a verbal onslaught from the locals in these parts, was predictably booed from all four corners as he took his place in the dugout.
The Chelsea legend knew they were in for a rough ride so demanded his side match the Whites’ “energy and aggression”.
Yet the Toffees were clinging on from the off, struggling to cope with Leeds’ ferocious tempo.
They couldn’t create anything but Everton barely had a touch in the hosts’ half in the opening 15 minutes.
With winger Demarai Gray leading the line, it looked like being a long, painful night in west Yorkshire.
And then came the Gordon sucker-punch.
Luis Sinisterra inadvertently started the move, sticking a foot in to dispossess Gordon on the left but seeing it head straight to Alexander Iwobi.
Nobody then tracked the Chelsea target and hapless Diego Llorente failed to cut out Iwobi’s through ball.
Through on goal, ice-cold Gordon megged Meslier before shushing the moody Leeds fans in the Don Revie stand for good measure.
Six minutes later and Jesse Marsch’s boys finally created something, but Rodrigo’s crafty near-post run was backed up with an airshot trying to flick home Jack Harrison’s cross.
Rodrigo, Leeds’ top scorer with four goals, was then clutching his shoulder and writhing in agony after an innocuous clash with Jordan Pickford before receiving oxygen and being replaced by Joe Gelhardt.
United had all the ball but were sloppy with it, increasingly frustrating the home crowd.
American livewire forced Pickford into a smart stop to his left just after the break – and Everton were back on the ropes.
Harrison was next, firing a great chance from 12 yards straight at the England stopper.
Yet Pickford was stranded 56 minutes in when Sinisterra sent Elland Road potty.
Aaronson drove at the visitors’ defence from halfway before playing right to the Colombian, whose low 20-yard strike around James Tarkwoski wrong-footed the keeper and nestled in the bottom corner.
Gelhardt’s run pulling defenders away was huge too, with the youngster proving once again he is the real deal.
It was all Leeds now but Gordon suddenly struck on the break and slipped in Demarai Gray, who finished past Meslier only for it to be ruled out for the tightest of offsides.
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A proper ding-dong in a frenzied atmosphere, Gelhardt missed two huge opportunities to become the hero late on – before the sub was bizarrely replaced by Marsch with 14 minutes remaining.
Leeds lost their momentum but are up to fifth after amassing an impressive eight points from their opening five.