Sky Bet Championship

Leeds United 0

Swansea City 1 (Routledge 90)

Leeds: Casilla, Alioski (Douglas 83), Cooper, White, Dallas, Phillips, Forshaw, Klich (Costa 71), Harrison, Hernandez, Bamford (Nketiah 61).  Subs not used: Meslier, Berardi, McCalmont, Shackleton.

Swansea: Woodman, Rodon, van der Hoorn, Fulton, Roberts, Bidwell, Dhanda (Routledge 63), Grimes, Celina, Ayew (Byers 85), Baston (Surridge 63).  Subs not used: Nordfeldt, Wilmot, Naughton, Garrick.

Booked: Alioski, Phillips (Leeds), Fulton, Byers (Swansea)

Referee: D. Bond

Venue: Elland Road

Attendance: 34,935 (1,418 Swansea)

Leeds United suffered a first defeat of the Sky Bet Championship season, with a late Wayne Routledge goal securing Swansea City victory at Elland Road.

Head coach Marcelo Bielsa welcomed back captain Liam Cooper to the side, in the only change to his team that defeated Stoke City 3-0 last Saturday.

Leeds almost took an early lead inside four minutes.  There was nearly an own goal as Mike van der Hoorn intercepted a Stuart Dallas cross, which caught out goalkeeper Freddie Woodman, but the Swansea stopper managed to retreat and get back in time to prevent the ball crossing the line.  From the resulting throw, Ezgjan Alioski fired following a good ball into the box by Pablo Hernandez.

Stuart Dallas put a decent ball into the box which just evaded Jack Harrison, but found Alioski who hit an acrobatic effort, forcing Woodman into a good stop.

Jack Harrison did well to find Patrick Bamford in the box with a low pass, but he couldn’t get enough on his attempt under pressure to really test Woodman.

In the 16^th minute Leeds had a really good chance to take the lead, Dallas delivered a lovely ball from the right flank which found the head of Bamford unmarked, but he headed wide.

Bamford headed wide under a lot of pressure from the Swansea defence 10 minutes later, before Swansea had their first real chance from a free-kick, which former Leeds loan man Matt Grimes hit into the side netting.

Dallas saw a volley well blocked, prior to Mateusz Klich breaking into the box and teeing up Adam Forshaw, but he couldn’t keep his effort down.

Swanswa then went close from another free-kick, Bersant Celina’s effort hit the wall, before Grimes forced Casilla into a really good stop with a second attempt.

In stoppage time, Leeds almost took the lead from a corner, captain Cooper saw a header hit the crossbar and he could only put the follow up over, as the two sides went in level.

Half time: Leeds United 0-0 Swansea City

Leeds carved out another good opportunity a minute into the second half.  Klich did well to keep the ball in at the byline and then found Bamford, who fired a snap shot just off target.

Hernandez then forced Woodman into action with a strike from the edge of the box, before Leeds substitute Eddie Nketiah got in behind the Swansea defence seconds after being on the pitch, but could only fire over with his attempt.

Forshaw played Hernandez into the Swansea box with a lovely pass, but he couldn’t get his shot away.  The ball then fell to Harrison, who saw his shot superbly blocked, as once again Swansea held out.

In the 73^rd minute, fellow Leeds substitute Helder Costa did well on the right flank, he picked out Hernandez on the edge who hit a first time attempt, with his strike going just over the bar.

With eight minutes to go, Swansea went close, Andre Ayew got to the byline, Jay Fulton’s cross then found substitute Sam Surridge, with his header going over.

Leeds then had a great chance to claim the win a Dallas cross was missed by Woodman in the Swansea goal and Nketiah had the chance to head on goal, but he could only put it into the side netting.

It was the visitors who took all three points though, when Leeds failed to clear a second ball into the box and Routledge was on hand to strike a vital blow.

Full time: Leeds United 0-1 Swansea City