Leeds were brought back to earth after Monday’s excellent win over Newcastle, being held to a draw by a resilient Crystal Palace side, in a game we could easily have lost.

After the excellent performance earlier in the week, it was no surprise that Daniel Farke named an unchanged starting line-up for this game, and the majority of the crowd came to Elland Road expecting another comprehensive victory over a Palace side who have endured a difficult start to the season.

Earlier results in this round of games had dropped us down to sixth place in the table and we needed a win to reclaim our rightful third spot, but surely that was a formality. Yet that’s not exactly how it turned out, as the south London mob had clearly been studying the video of the Newcastle game, and realised that they had to at least match our intensity in midfield. Or had a bit of complacency set in already, both on the field and in the stands?

We exerted a bit of pressure early on, but with few decent chances to show for it. Stach sent a free kick straight into the wall, and Benítez was looking comfortable in coming out to deal with crosses. But then the Palace keeper forgot the new rule and held onto the ball for too long, meaning that we had a bonus corner.

It would have been really funny if we’d scored from it, but Muharemović sent a looping header quite well wide. The big Bosnian made a more telling contribution at the other end a few moments later as Palace broke away, with a perfectly timed intervention to deny Strand Larsen. I really didn’t want Larsen to score after we failed to sign him in January.

Then a fierce Bogle shot hit the top of Mitchell’s arm, but the referee and VAR declined to give a penalty as it was in the all-important ‘natural position’, and the ball was drilled at him from about two yards away. And a few minutes later a corner was flicked on to Tanaka, but AO was leaning back and sent his left and sent his left foot shot well over the bar.

That had me howling in frustration more than a missed chance should have done, feeling that we needed a goal to change the pattern of the game, and we may not get too many more opportunities. Because Palace were growing into the game, and soon Strand Larsen won the ball midway inside our half and fed Kamada, but Trafford got down well to make the save.

Just before the break, Tanaka sent another shot well wide from the edge of the box when trying to take it first time. No extra touches to set himself up for a shot in this game. We thought Farke would sort things out during the break, but although Leeds did look more determined at the start of the second half, if anything Palace became even more dominant in the spell that followed.

A fiercely struck free kick from Pino went past the wall, but Trafford was alert enough to get down and turn the ball round the post. And then Kamada sent a shot across the face of goal and just past the far post. It seemed inevitable that Palace would score, but just when they thought they had done so, we had a massive let-off from the officials.

Pino played a ball inside two defenders for Khalaili to race in behind them and collect, and although Justin cut out his cross, it bounced out for Mitchell to hammer the ball into the net. But VAR came to our rescue, as Khalaili had gone a split second too soon, and was offside by the width of a knee.

Payback for that goal Bamford had chalked off by a narrow margin at Selhurst Park a few years ago. The relief fired up the crowd as we felt it might be a game-changing moment, and after a clever turn from Bogle, Justin’s cross found Calvert-Lewin right in front of goal, but he didn’t get the connection he wanted, sending the ball straight at Benítez for a routine save.

But that brief spell of momentum faded out, and on 67 minutes Farke went to his bench to try and put some life into the Leeds performance, and Bogle and Tanaka went off as we moved to a more positive formation. There was a case for removing Stach instead of Tanaka, as the German doesn’t look like he’s fully fit, though AO had been booked for fouling his Japanese international colleague Khalaili, and that might have played a part in the decision.

Aaronson and James came on, but neither looked like doing much to influence the game, apart from one run and cross from James that was just too far in front of Calvert-Lewin for DCL to apply the touch that was needed in front of goal. On 75 minutes Okafor was withdrawn despite having looked as lively as anyone, so that Nmecha could have a go.

There was another anxious moment as Kamada headed just wide, and if it had gone in we would have had precious little time to salvage a point. Some fans have been clamouring for new signing Bahoya to get a game, and they finally got their wish deep into injury time. His first act was to grab the ball for a throw-in, perhaps to make sure he got at least one touch of the ball.

But the Frenchman still had time for a run down the left, which was rudely interrupted at the expense of a free kick. That gave Leeds one last chance to pinch a victory, but it was headed clear, and the final whistle sounded before we had the chance to recycle the ball back into the box.

So we had to make do with a draw, and in truth that is the absolute maximum we deserved from this performance. Or rather “one we got away with” in the words of one post I’ve seen on social media. All-in-all this was a reality check, after Monday’s result had got us all checking the expiry date on our passports in preparation for a European campaign next season.

But it’s nothing really to worry about, even though it’s four games already against Southern teams in all competitions without beating any of them. We have won all three games against Midland and Northern opposition.

In some ways it’s been a strange Premier League season so far, with nobody showing any consistency so far except Man City, so we may as well join the trend. Overall, we can be satisfied with the start we’ve made, and we’re well placed to continue to battle for a top-half place once everyone is back from the international break.

reuters