Sky Bet Championship
Leeds United 3 (Gnonto 16’, Bogle 49’, Piroe 79’)
Coventry City 0
Leeds: Meslier (GK), Bogle, Firpo (Byram 82’), Ampadu (C) (Tanaka 41’), Struijk, Rodon, Aaronson, Ramazani (Piroe 70’) Joseph (Rothwell 82’), Gnonto (Schmidt 82’), Gruev. Subs not used: Darlow (GK), Bamford, Byram, Gelhardt, Debayo.
Coventry: Wilson (GK), van Ewijk, Latibeaudiere, Thomas, Kitching, Dasilva, Sheaf (C) (Wright 61’), Eccles, Rudoni (Torp 83’), Mason-Clark (Sakamoto 61’), Simms (Thomas-Asante 61’). Subs not used: Dovin (GK), Binks, Bidwell, Andrews, Bassette.
Venue: Elland Road
Attendance: 36.625
Referee: Gavin Ward
Booked: Rodon (Leeds) Latibeaudiere (Coventry)
Leeds United returned to home turf on Saturday afternoon, taking on Coventry City at Elland Road, and claimed an impressive three points in the Sky Bet Championship.
Goals from Willy Gnonto, Jayden Bogle and Joel Piroe secured the victory in a comfortable afternoon for Daniel Farke’s side, in a game the home side had controlled from start to finish.
An excellent atmosphere under the West Yorkshire sunshine saw the majority of the 36,625 supporters in the ground witness a fast start from their side, with early chances. The hosts had two early penalty appeals waved away in the opening minutes of the game.
The early pressure did pay off after a quarter of the half had been played, with a fantastic team goal ending with an even better finish to put Farke’s side ahead.
Quick build-up play from the back saw Brenden Aaronson pick up the ball centrally, he found Junior Firpo in space on the wing who then picked out Gnonto. The Italian opened up his body and fired into the roof of the net with a first-time effort on his right-foot.
Moments later, the lead was nearly doubled. Largie Ramazani raced onto another Aaronson through-ball, he put goalkeeper Ben Wilson under pressure and he spilled it to Mateo Joseph.
The striker was crowded out and the ball was hacked away, but that allowed Ilia Gruev to strike from range, which Wilson managed to save at full-stretch to deny the midfielder.
Next to test Wilson was Ramazani, who showed superb chest control to take down Gruev’s long pass, before turning and curling towards the top-corner. His effort was on target but a diving save from the Coventry stopper turned the ball over the bar.
In what had been an exciting and attacking opening 30 minutes for the Whites, Wilson had been the busiest player on the pitch. Going on a solo run, beating the entire Sky Blues defence and then shooting, Joseph was the next to force an excellent save.
Approaching half-time, Leeds saw their momentum momentarily halted and were forced into a change. Ethan Ampadu picked up an injury in a challenge for the ball, and had to be replaced, with Ao Tanaka entering for the captain.
The Sky Blues did look to push forward more as the opening half edged towards its conclusion and in doing so left some space. Both Gnonto and Bogle looked to take advantage on the counter, but both struck narrowly off target.
A dominant half from Farke’s side saw them take a one-goal lead into the dressing room, when the whistle sounded for the interval.
HALF TIME: Leeds United 1-0 Coventry City
No changes were made on either side during the break and Leeds were straight back out, on the front foot and in search of another goal.
Just four minutes after the restart, the lead was doubled and it was another excellent team move. Bogle and Ramazani linked up and played an excellent one-two, allowing the full-back to burst into the box and strike low into the bottom corner to make it two!
Looking to respond and find a way back into the game, the Sky Blues went to their bench and made a triple change. Haji Wright, Tatsuhiro Sakamoto and Brandon Thomas-Asante all entered for the remaining 30 minutes.
Farke made a change of his own as well in attack, bringing on Piroe in place of the ever-threatening Ramazani.
Just a few minutes after the change and just like in the win over Cardiff the previous week, Piroe made an instant impact!
Fellow substitute Tanaka found Gnonto with a brilliant pass down the wing, the forward then picked his moment to find Piroe who slotted home in the box with a clever right-footed finish.
After the third goal, further changes were made. Joe Rothwell, Isaac Schmidt and Sam Byram were all introduced for the final 10 minutes.
In the final seconds of the game, Illan Meslier had to be alert and on guard to keep his well earned clean sheet. Looking up from 25-yards, Joel Latibeaudiere hit a dipping shot at goal, only to see the ‘keeper make a fine save.
The whistle blew shortly after and confirmed an excellent three points. Next up for Leeds is a double-header on the road, with trips to Norwich City and Sunderland away within the next week.
FULL TIME: Leeds United 3-0 Coventry City
