Hull City v Leeds United

Saturday 4th January 2025 - MKM Stadium

2024/25 Season

I’m back at home safely and hope all other Leeds fans do the same before the stormy/snowy weather arrives. Thankfully it was only a short journey for us, and we stopped at Selby on the way there. Being there brought a lot of memories from my younger days back of going to senior school there having been born in Carlton. I also ran the Selby branch of the Leeds United supporters club from 1985-1992 organising our travel to away games. We had some great times and I’m only sad that I never wrote anything about them as going by memory means I’ve forgotten lots of things sadly.

Team:  Meslier, Ampadu, Rodon, Bogle, Wöber, Aaronson, James, Tanaka, Piroe, Solomon, Rothwell.

Subs:  Byram for Wöber (66), Joseph for Piroe (90), Guilavogui for Rothwell (90).

Subs not used:  Darlow, Gelhardt, Schmidt, Gnonto, Debayo, Ramazani.

Leeds drew the game 3-3 with Tanaka (47), James (62), Piroe (72) scoring our goals. Hull goals were 5, 81, 89.

Attendance:  24,473, 2,270 Leeds fans.

Referee:  Anthony Backhouse.

Booked:  Rodon.

Leeds got off to the worst possible start when they were a goal down after five minutes. Hull were very quick and got the better of our defence. Meslier came out to meet him and as he neared their player, he lobbed the ball over his head and into the net. That wasn’t good to see from our perspective, but I said we’d see what we are made of now. We were unlucky not to get an immediate equaliser when Solomon’s shot was blocked on the line and the follow up deflected for a corner. Aaronson had a shot saved before we were very lucky that Hull didn’t get a second goal as their cross went all across the box before a shot hit the upright and us getting the ball away. Hull looked the faster and stronger of the sides as we looked lethargic and slow with our build ups. At half time someone said that he wondered what odds he'd get for a 5-1 to Leeds. I laughed and said no chance but then said I would love to eat my words!

The second half set off in spectacular fashion when Leeds came out with renewed vigour and energy as Tanaka hit a fantastic equaliser after receiving the ball from Solomon. Both teams had shots before Leeds took the lead with great teamwork between Wöber, Solomon and Bogle before James hit the ball into the net. Things started kicking off between both sets of fans to the left of me and it turned out that despite the Hull chairman stating he stood by Leeds and Chris and Kev after their murders in Istanbul, one of their fans ignored his plea of no Turkey flags. It’s all on camera so he should be identifiable. Leeds were on fire now and before long made it three after Piroe picked up the ball from their keeper then ensuring he got in the best possible place to score. That should have been it, game over, but as Leeds fans sang, we were going up and Hull were going down, it came back to haunt us. The ball was crossed into the middle of our box and Meslier pushed the ball over the top for a corner, or so I thought. The ball was actually over the top, but he pulled it forward and sadly, it came back down again, and Hull put it into the net to pull one back. We were very late with our subs today and in my opinion, we should have made the changes before they equalised. That saying James got through the middle only didn’t lob the ball high enough to beat the keeper and Hull cleared the ball. It felt rather like a defeat at the end as we really did throw two points away today. We were still waiting to bring our subs on as Hull raced to the other end, getting a corner then scoring from it. We certainly know how to panic at set pieces, especially corners and yes, I’m disappointed at the result, but I’ll leave others to do the ranting.

It’s never being easy being a Leeds fan that’s for sure as we ended up with a draw rather than a win. Next week sees the FA Cup 3rd round home game against Harrogate so my extended family are getting the chance to see a game. For those who want us to be out of the FA Cup to concentrate on promotion, it doesn’t mean we’ll go up as last season showed. Winning breeds winning for me and it’s about time we took every game seriously. 2025 also sees the 50th anniversary of the European Cup Final in Paris. The night was perfect when Lorimer smashed the ball into the net in front of us. I immediately looked to both the referee and linesman and they had both signalled a goal. As we were celebrating Beckenbauer went up to the referee and the next minute he’s talking to the linesman and disallowing the goal. After losing the European Cup Winners Cup Final in Salonika two year’s previously to a bribed referee, it was too much to take. Things kicked off when a Leeds fan got manhandled by many security men when he got onto the pitch. Clarke being brought down with a cast iron penalty denied means I will never forgive or forget being cheated out of our rightful trophy. That’s why WACCOE was created - We are the Champions, Champions of Europe and always will be.

See you next week, LUFC – Marching on Together!