After the horrendous conditions yesterday from storm Babet, saw those who travelled here yesterday having a challenging time. Having driven through some floodwaters myself, I decided to set off in plenty of time and got to Leeds with an hour to wait for the coach. As I got to Maccy Ds, fans waiting for the Griffin coach said to beware of the smell. The heavy rain had obviously kicked up a stink with the drains. With so many trains being cancelled at the last minute due to the weather, getting to the game was so much harder for some.
As 1,796 Leeds fans were recorded at the game instead of 2,022, I’m assuming some didn’t make it, which would be made harder knowing we had come back from two goals down to win. Some also had to leave early to catch what transport they could to get home. We had a good run down although I’d no idea if we had any diversions as I slept most of the way there. It was only on the way back I realised we were on lots of A roads with our way forward blocked off. I’d put my Bielsa coat on this morning and went prepared for the worst weather, but it was quite warm, and the bit of rain happened whilst we were in the ground. Leeds fans joined in with an applause on 29 minutes for a young Norwich lad who had died. It was also good to have a chat with another WACCOEer today too.
Leeds were a goal down within the first five minutes when their player got on the end of a corner and headed the ball into the net. Despite this early set back, Leeds started to attack but we didn’t have our shooting boots on in the first half. A rising shot from James went over the crossbar and Summerville and Piroe couldn’t get their shots on target. We got in plenty of good positions but couldn’t make our shots count. Kamara, saw his shot go narrowly passed the far post then Rutter saw his shot comfortably saved by their keeper with the latter subbed after 30 minutes of the game. It was even more frustrating that we hadn’t made use of our chances when Norwich scored a second goal just before the break.
Along with fans around me, we were convinced we needed to make changes at the start of the second half, but Farke kept the same side. Things didn’t get any better and I said we needed to change things but would happily eat my words if Farke proved me wrong. As Bamford and Gnonto were getting ready to come on and make a difference to the game, it had the desired effect. Leeds challenged at their end with James on the receiving end of another great pass from Rutter, then saw his cross put into the net for an own goal. Farke changed his mind about bringing the subs on immediately and waited another five minutes, but the game did change for the better. Norwich were straight back on the attack after our goal but Leeds kept them out. We then took the game by the scruff of the neck and were on the attack now as James had a great shot saved by the keeper. We had been trying to walk the ball into the net but then after a corner, Summerville hit a great curling shot from the edge of the penalty area to equalise, sending the Leeds fans wild. Leeds picked up the pace with further subs as Rutter won the ball near our penalty area from a Norwich corner and sent a glorious pass forward for Summerville to run onto. He ran with the ball to the opposite end of the pitch and sent a first time shot into the bottom right-hand corner to win the game for Leeds. What a turnaround as the celebrating Leeds fans were in full voice. Even though eight minutes of injury time were added on, we saw the game out to get a precious away win and three more points putting us third in the table.
At the end there were two pieces of humbleness firstly with Rutter; with the fans singing his name, he pointed to his teammates saying it was a team effort. Farke wouldn’t do his end of game ritual either out of respect for Norwich fans, having managed them in the past. The team may have put us through the wringer but experiencing those scenes on the terraces are what it is all about as they are priceless. We travel to Stoke on Wednesday so hopefully we can keep up the momentum.
