Daniel Farke paid tribute to a determined West Bromwich Albion side after today’s disappointing draw, and acknowledged that in this game we hadn’t done enough to deserve to take all three points.

Our manager told BBC Radio Leeds "Sometimes you have to settle for a draw and we have had to this time against a really good side. West Brom got a foot back into it and you could see it coming. Tony Mowbray's sides always go for it. They are always brave and have a lot of quality. We had situations to bury the game but the danger was lurking”.

"You want to win your home games but sometimes if you cannot win you have to make sure you don't lose. Maybe we were trying to enjoy ourselves a little too much in the sunshine. And, after losing your momentum, sometimes it's hard to win it back." Albion’s well organised side needed the points in their battle to get into the play-offs, so this was never going to be an easy game.

Farke opted to start this game with a slightly more positive line-up than that which began at Brammall Lane, as Rothwell came into the midfield in place of Gruev. And after nine minutes it seemed to have paid dividends when we took the lead through another fine headed goal from Junior Firpo.

That came after James popped up un the left and Firpo got between several defenders to guide his inswinging cross into the net. At that stage we all thought that Leeds would go on to record yet another comfortable home victory, but where numerous sides have buckled after conceding early at Elland Road, today’s visitors began to work their way back into the game.

Even before the goal we’d had a warning of their potential threat on the counter, when Price’s cross found Swift completely unmarked on the edge of the area, but thankfully the Albion man slightly dragged his shot, so it went just past the post with Meslier completely flat-footed in the centre of his goal. Had the shot been on target he would never have reached it.

And the visitors were close to an equaliser, when a five man move coming downfield led to Johnston’s ball into the area putting Armstrong through with just Meslier to beat. Our keeper defied his critics by coming out quickly to get a hand on the ball, with Struijk coming in behind to make sure it didn’t spin into the net.

We could have scored again after good work from Bogle on the right, with the referee opting to play on after he seemed to have been fouled on the touchline. That was because James had collected the ball in a good position, but the Welshman curled his left footed shot just past the far post. But Albion were still in the game and equalised on 39 minutes

A free kick was sent deep beyond the far post and Bogle was left with two players to deal with on his own. It came down to Furlong, who directed his excellent header into to the one spot where nobody could get to it, over the top of Meslier and under the bar into the far corner. Similar to Tanaka’s header on Monday, and just as effective.

And so we went in level at the break, after a performance that lacked the sparkle of recent weeks. After winning all five of our league games in February, was a little complacency setting in as we moved into March? We needed to up our game in the second half and did so, but as WBA fell deeper they always seemed to have a defender in the right place at the right time to make the block.

There was an example of their determined defending only a few minutes into the half when Piroe’s ball to the far side of the areas found Solomon, but as he cut inside Price got there just in time to deflect the shot over the bar. And it continued.

Solomon worked his way inside and spotted James’ run down the right, picking him out with an excellent cross-field ball. James’ shot was blocked and it came back to Tanaka, but after Ao had beaten a defender to make space for the shot it was Molumby who flung himself across to make sure the ball didn’t fly into the net.

But much as Albion were content to sit deep, they were still dangerous on the counter, and they created several opportunities to come away from Elland Road with all three points. Good work from Johnston on the left Furlong got to his cross ahead of Firpo, but this time he sent his header just over the bar.

On 72 minutes Farke wanted to inject a bit more life into his attack and so replaced Aaronson with Joseph, with the other sub being Gnonto for Solomon seven minutes later. And it nearly paid off. Joseph’s determined run down the left saw him beat Wildsmith with a clever dummy, but unfortunately got his shot clipped the bar on it’s way over. A shame, because it would have been a fine goal, as well as a vital one.

With Leeds putting the pressure on there were inevitable gaps at the back, and a long ball out of defence sent Fellows racing into our half. But thankfully he didn’t quite have the pace to get clear of the pursuing defenders, and although Rodon slipped, he was still able to get a challenge in, before getting another vital touch whilst on the ground.

Our last big chance came when Bogle did well to evade a defender and slip the ball through to James, but unfortunately the Welshman blazed his shot into the side netting. And that was about it, with Leeds having to settle for a draw after four minutes of injury time, which was certainly a fair result after the way the game panned out.

All the talk on social media after the game has been on the lines of “you can’t win them all”, and indeed we can’t. From now until the end of the season we don’t have to face anyone in the current top seven, but our fixtures will include a couple of sides in decent form and a few desperate for points in the relegation struggle.

Though few remaining opponents will be as disciplined as Albion in their defensive play, we still need to take this game as a reminder that it’s not done an dusted yet, and we still have work to do as we approach the ‘squeaky bum time’ phase of the season.

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