NORWICH CITY: WHITES FIGHT BACK FOR DRAW

NORWICH CITY: WHITES FIGHT BACK FOR DRAW

Leeds come back from three goals down.

EFL Sky Bet Championship 

Leeds United 3 (Wood 45+1, Bartley 49, Hernandez 78) Norwich City 3 (Naismith 28, Oliveira 34, 45)

Leeds United fought back from 3-0 down to draw 3-3 at Elland Road, but the result, coupled with final scores elsewhere, all but ended the Whites’ Play-Off hopes.

The visitors made a bright start and Ivo Pinto threatened with a long range effort, striking just wide.

Eunan O’Kane who returned to the starting line-up, played a fine looping through ball, trying to play Kemar Roofe into the box, but the forward couldn’t get on the end of it.

Luke Ayling and Pablo Hernandez then put crosses in looking for Chris Wood, but both were slightly too high and the New Zealand striker couldn’t direct his headers on target.

Norwich took the lead in the 28th minute, Steven Naismith picked up the ball 30 yards from goal and as the Leeds defence stood off him and he fired into the top left corner.

Nelson Oliveira nearly doubled the lead for the Canaries, his curling effort from the edge of the box went just wide.

Oliveira did double Norwich’s advantage just a minute later, Josh Murphy beat the offside trap, before playing the ball across the face of goal, for Oliveira to tap home.

Straight from the restart it could have been three, Alex Pritchard put in a great low cross, but this time Oliveira fired wide.

Pritchard then fired from the edge of the box, but his effort was just wide of the target.

In the final minute of the half, Jonny Howson played Oliveira up-field and he drove forward, before finding the top right corner.

United striker Chris Wood pulled a goal back for Leeds in added time, converting at the back post, following Stuart Dallas’ cross, to give Leeds hope.

Half Time: Leeds United 1-3 Norwich City

Leeds came out fighting in the second half, O’Kane played Hernandez into a good position, but the Spaniard fired wide.

The Whites then reduced the deficit further, Hernandez whipped in a corner, Pontus Jansson headed towards goal and Kyle Bartley bundled the ball over the line.

Norwich then had an opportunity to restore their two goal cushion when Pritchard played in Oliveira, but he was denied by a fine save from Rob Green.

O’Kane then drove forward before crossing and Kemar Roofe was only prevented from equalising by John Ruddy.

Green was then forced into another great save, this time he denied Ivo Pinto from a narrow angle.

Oliveria was then picked out in the box, but he was once again denied a hat-trick by some more brilliance from Green.

In the 76th minute Gaetano Berardi won a free-kick on the edge of the box and Pablo Hernandez equalised, superbly finding the back of the net from the set-piece, to level the scores and keep the Whites’ Play-Off hopes alive.

Naismith was shown a red card for the visitors with two minutes of regular time remaining, following a horror challenge on Ronaldo Vieira.

With six minutes of added time, Leeds continued to push for the winner, to stay in contention for a top six spot, substitute Alfonso Pedraza put in a fine cross, but Bartley couldn’t direct his effort on target.

Despite continuing to press for a vital goal, United couldn’t get the better of the Canaries defence and were made to settle for a point, to end Leeds’ Play-Off hopes.

Full Time: Leeds United 3-3 Norwich City

Leeds: Green, Ayling (Pedraza 72), Bartley, Jansson, Berardi, O’Kane (Phillips 82), Vieira, Hernandez, Roofe, Dallas (Doukara 62), Wood.  Subs not used: Peacock-Farrell, Taylor, Sacko, Coyle.

Norwich: Ruddy, Dijks, Dorrans, Martin, Naismith, Howson, Oliveira (Jerome 83), Pritchard, Bennett, Pinto, Murphy (Klose 90).

Booked: Berardi, Jansson (Leeds) Dorrans (Norwich)

Sent off: Naismith (Norwich)

Referee: T. Harrington

Venue: Elland Road

Attendance: 34,292

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