Leeds United v Norwich City

Thursday 16th May 2024 - Elland Road, Leeds

2023/24 EFL Championship Play Off - Second Leg

Wembley, Wembley, we’re the famous Leeds United and we’re off to Wembley! Well done lads, an amazing night supporting our team at Elland Road tonight and I’m still buzzing. A fantastic performance and one of the great nights to be there. Thank you to the fans for becoming the 12th man which is what I wanted!

Before the game I was interviewed on Calendar along with my granddaughter, (was wanted by Look North too but ITV got there first). We had to go into the West Stand car park into Fullerton Park but luckily had no issues, as I wasn’t sure whether we would be allowed to go that way as it was through the Norwich fan zone. We still had a chance and as I said off camera, I was glad it was 0-0 from the first leg as I wouldn’t have wanted us to be too complacent if we were leading 1-0. There was some spirit in the second half at Carrow Road, which was good to see as it had been missing for a while. I wanted the team to shoot on sight of the goal and the fans to become the 12th man as there’s nothing better than being at Elland Road with an ecstatic crowd behind you.

It was great talking to everyone before the game and also good to see Gilly and Sean from Australia and another lad from Greece in the Peacock. Also, a shout out to Paul who has supported Leeds United for 73 years! We went into the fanzone before the game to see Paul Wilson perform in memory of Rob Hiscoe who was killed recently. There was also an applause on 11 minutes for him in the ground which must have been touching for his family who were in the crowd. Rob raised over £16,000 for the NHS through lockdown, and I heard before the game that his organs were donated to save others too. He will be missed greatly by all those who knew him. Rest in Peace Rob and thoughts with your family and friends.

As I tried to get into the ground using my season tickets thinking they’d been activated for the game, they wouldn’t work. As I couldn’t get onto my phone as there was no signal, I couldn’t look to find my email. Please note Leeds that we do need to have WIFI around the ground please, something that was great to have when we watched the U18s play at the Etihad last week. Luckily someone helped me out and thanks to them we got into the game. It wasn’t until later that I looked in my wallet and found I had downloaded the tickets after all!! You could say that with everything going on in the background with my husband’s terminal illness, that it has had an effect but I’m probably dozy too! He is due to have 5 sessions of radiotherapy to his main tumour shortly and he will then continue with immunotherapy. Hopefully the combined radiotherapy and immunotherapy with give him a bit more time.

The club had put scarves out on everyone’s seats for the game and although some people thought they were tinpot and brought back bad memories of the Derby game, I was glad to see them so thank you!

Team: Meslier, Ampadu, Gray, Rodon, Firpo, Gruev, Kamara, Rutter, Summerville, Gnonto, Piroe

Subs: James for Gnonto (69), Roberts for Rutter (74), Joseph for Piroe (74), Anthony for Summerville (74), Cooper for Gruev (83).

Subs not used: Darlow, Cresswell, Shackleton, Gelhardt

Leeds won the game 4-0 with goals from Gruev (7), Piroe (20), Rutter (40), Summerville (68).

Attendance: 36,384 with approx. 1,900 Norwich fans

Referee: Jarred Gillett.

Booked: Gruev, Rutter

With the fans on fire as well as an electric atmosphere, Leeds got off to a fantastic start when Gruev hit a free kick straight into the net to give us an early lead. Obviously, the lads had listened to my advice pregame telling them to shoot on sight! Some fantastic play from Gray who was playing right back, saw him send a great pass to Gnonto. He ran forward then sent a fantastic cross into the box and Piroe doubled our lead as Elland Road went wild. Norwich nearly got straight back into the game as they counter attacked and got the better of Ampadu and were clean through with only Meslier to beat. He pulled off a stunning save to keep Norwich out and maintain our two-goal lead. That was a vital save from Meslier as it would have given them a chance to get back into the game. Leeds weren’t finished there as Piroe and Summerville with some lovely play down the left hand side, saw Piroe run to the edge of the box, pass it into the middle where their defender under pressure from Summerville, passed the ball into the path of Rutter to send a fantastic rising shot into the net to give us a three goal lead in the first half. Rutter nearly got another but was kept out by Norwich as we went into the break three goals to the good.

There was a fantastic atmosphere below the stands as everyone was enjoying the moment. Gruev got his own song as Klich’s song was changed to 20 yards or 30 yards, Gruev is scoring goals. I was also told that the following songs should be changed too, Georgenius, rather than Georgino and Gnonto is better than Messi rather than mentioning a part of his body. I’ll admit I prefer to sing Messi anyway.

The second half started off as explosive as the first and we were unlucky not to get a couple more goals. Another great move saw Summerville running forward in the middle this time. His pass to Gnonto saw him hit a low shot which their keeper fumbled, Firpo reacted quickly to get to the ball and pass it back into the middle for Summerville to get a fourth goal on the day. Leeds fans dared to sing Wembley, Wembley and que sera sera as Elland Road was bouncing.

When the final whistle blew the ground was rocking and lots of us stayed in our seats to enjoy the moment for a long while.

We eventually left to join family at Billy’s statue before making our way home.

What a night, what a game and I absolutely loved it. See you at Wembley, LUFC – Marching on Together!