Sky Bet Championship
Stoke City 1 (Struijk og 80’)
Leeds United 0
Stoke: Travers (GK), Pearson (C), Rose, Burger (Laurent 81’), Vidigal (Stevens 90’), Johnson, Thompson (Gooch 76’), Hoever, MMaee (Wesley 76), McNally, Leris. Subs not used: Bonham (GK), Haksabanovic, Junho, Tchamadeu, Lowe.
Leeds: Meslier (GK), Ampadu, Piroe (Bamford 70’), Anthony (James 70’), Rodon, Struijk (C), Gray, Rutter, Byram (Poveda 85’), Gnonto (Summerville 70’), Gruev (Ayling 85’). Subs not used: Darlow (GK), Cooper, Kamara, Shackleton.
Venue: bet365 Stadium
Attendance: 22,587 (2,253)
Referee: Paul Tierney
Booked: Thompson (Stoke) Gnonto, Rutter, Summerville (Leeds)
Leeds United travelled away from home to face Stoke City, making it back-to-back matches on the road for Daniel Farke’s side in the Sky Bet Championship, but the winning run couldn’t be extended with the Potters taking the three points.
The opening period at the bet365 Stadium was quiet, with very little between the two teams in the early stages as they looked to settle into the game.
When the match finally opened up, it would be around the 20-minute mark when the chances started to come. Illan Meslier was firstly tested by Andre Vidigal, before the ‘keeper saw Ryan MMaee fire off target for the hosts moments later.
Up the other end, Jaidon Anthony’s dangerous free-kick was met by Sam Byram, but his header was over the bar in what was a good chance for the visitors.
An even better opening arrived shortly after. Georginio Rutter played Joel Piroe through into the box and his right-footed powerful effort had Mark Travers at full-stretch, to turn away with his foot. The resulting corner was then met by Georginio, but Travers saved again.
The remainder of the half continued to be a hard-fought battle, but neither team could break through one another to find the net, meaning they went into their respective dressing rooms on level terms.
HALF TIME: Stoke City 0-0 Leeds United
Out for the second 45 minutes, there were no changes on either side as the teams looked to find an opener under the lights in Staffordshire.
Leeds looked the sharper of the two teams after the restart and created the first two openings. Both of them went to Georginio, with the striker seeing his first strike saved well by Travers before drilling the second just past the post.
With the match still level and void of many chances at either end, Farke turned to his bench for the final 20 minutes. Patrick Bamford, Dan James and Crysencio Summerville all entered the action, in a triple change.
Summerville was instantly into the thick of it. Looking for the same corner he found twice in the last game against Norwich, the winger curled narrowly past the post after cutting in from the left.
A couple of minutes later and the substitutions had impacted again. Rutter played Bamford into the box and he was brought down, with a penalty awarded. However, the striker was unable to convert from the spot.
With 10 minutes remaining, the home side went into the lead. An in-swinging corner was met by recent substitute Wesley who flicked a header onto the bar, only to see it come down and go into the back of the net off the unfortunate Pascal Struijk for an own-goal.
Despite the best efforts of Farke’s side, they couldn’t find a leveller in the game and the three-match winning run was ended. Next up, the Whites face Huddersfield Town at Elland Road on Saturday.
FULL TIME: Stoke City 1-0 Leeds United
