Heidi's blog Leeds United v Watford 23/9/23
Sorry for the delay in posting my blog.
Having spent the past two days in Stirling working with a group of people on a memorial for Billy Bremner in his birthplace of Raploch, we have made some good progress. Meetings were held with local Councillors plus representatives from the University of Stirling and the Scottish Football Supporters Association and they are all backing our project. Keep watching this space as the plans develop over time as I will keep fans updated with how things are developing.
Team: Meslier, Cooper, Struijk, Shackleton, Byram, Ampadu, Summerville, Kamara (making his first home start), James, Rutter, Piroe.
Subs: Anthony for Summerville (80), Gray for Piroe (84), Poveda for James (84), Ayling for Shackleton (90), Gruev for Kamara (90).
Subs not used: Darlow, Cresswell, Joseph, Gelhardt.
Leeds won the game 3-0 with goals from Piroe (67), Byram (70), Anthony (89).
Attendance: 36,236 with approx. 1,800 Watford fans.
Referee: Jeremy Simpson.
Booked: Rutter.
My granddaughter and I had picked my daughter up for her first game since her major surgery, and although still in a lot of pain, she was glad to make it to Elland Road. There seemed to be a subdued atmosphere around Elland Road during the first half. I wasn’t sure if feeling very fatigued had affected my hearing, but my friend said the same thing at half time. Leeds nearly got off to a great start after Rutter sent a low ball across the box which was picked up by Piroe at the far side. Piroe passed the ball to Ampadu on the edge of the box who hit a great strike that was saved by their keeper. Rutter did get the ball in the net, but the linesman had already put his flag up which was a shame for him as he had been working hard. Rutter and Summerville both had shots saved by their keeper as the teams went in level at the break. Personally, I was glad to have the whistle blown for half time as I still hadn’t come round by then. I was sure the second half would be different to the first though, which did happen, plus the atmosphere improved.
Watford made a mass substitution at the start of the second half which I honestly thought worked in our favour as we started to create more space around the pitch. A lovely run by James down the left-hand side as he approached the Kop, saw him put a great ball over for Piroe to pick up at the far post and put the ball into the net to give us a lead just after the hour mark. That was a welcome goal. Three minutes late, Byram made space, rose the highest in the penalty area and headed home a great goal from a James corner to put us 2-0 up on the day. A fantastic run and footwork from Rutter saw him put an inch perfect low pass to Anthony in front of him who proceeded to run towards goal and as two players closed in on him, send a low shot wide of the keeper and into the net putting us three goals up. It’s surprising what an impact scoring goals does to you!
The only time Watford really got into the game was in the final minutes as Meslier made a great save to keep them out. This preserved our clean sheet games for the fourth time in a row and also giving us our first home win of the season. Farke had the crowd singing sign him up when he controlled the ball expertly on the side lines to enormous cheers from the Leeds fans. Hopefully when I go to Thorp Arch on Tuesday, we get to meet the team too. Now I must practise my German!
Nest Saturday sees an even earlier start than to Millwall as we head to the south coast for our game at Southampton. I must remember to get an early night for that one even though I can sleep all the way down on the coach too. See you there, LUFC – Marching on Together!