By: Madellene Kalunda
Patrick Bamford scored his 13th goal of the season in Leeds’ 3-1 win over Southampton in the Premier League on Tuesday.
Bamford squeezed a low, angled shot into the corner from the edge of the area in the 47th minute to put Leeds ahead.
This helped him move level with Harry Kane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin as the leading English scorers. Only Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah and Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes have scored more.
Southampton had enjoyed the better of the game but they lost many chances to score. They were initially awarded a penalty for Diego Llorente’s foul on Nathan Tella before it was overturned by VAR.
In the final minute of the half Che Adams was denied a goal from a free-kick which had been taken before Andre Marriner had blown his whistle.
But with Bamford’s goal behind them, Leeds secured their first win in three games with a fine second goal from Dallas 12 minutes from time.
Raphinha beat McCarthy direct from a free-kick at 84 minutes to move the hosts up to 10th, and exceed their entire points tally from the last season they were at this level.
The injury-plagued Spanish defender Diego Llorente was back for just his second start of the season since arriving from Real Sociedad. Talismanic midfielder Kalvin Phillips was missing again through injury.
“Throughout the game, it was difficult to establish differences between the two teams,” Bielsa said. “When the games are so close, the team that scores first gets the advantage. It is not definitive but has weight.”
“First half, good,” Hasenhuttl said, “second half, disaster. We gave up in the second half, and that is not what I like.”
Leeds now march into the top half and are now just five points off Europe with 13 games to go. After Leeds’ victory, Southampton’s winless streak extended to 8 games, including a 9-0 loss at Manchester United, which is the longest in the division.
