Leeds 2-2 Brentford: Patrick Bamford levels in four-goal thriller
- Published
- comments
Bamford scored his first goal of the season for Leeds
Patrick Bamford returned from injury to score a stoppage-time leveller off the bench for Leeds against Brentford at Elland Road.
Tyler Roberts put the hosts in front at half-time but two goals either side of the hour from Shandon Baptiste and Sergi Canos almost secured a second win in three league games for the Bees.
Despite Bamford's return Leeds' injury issues continued, with captain Liam Cooper hobbling off after 15 minutes to be replaced by Jack Harrison and Kalvin Phillips withdrawn in the second half.
Just shy of the half-hour mark, Roberts, on his 100th appearance for Leeds, opened the scoring.
Leeds United 2-2 Brentford: We dominated for 60 minutes out of 90 - Marcelo Bielsa
The Wales forward stayed onside to steer home Raphinha's second cross in quick succession, after the Brazilian's initial effort was cleared by Pontus Jansson.
Luke Ayling, returning to the side after more than two months out, almost doubled the hosts' lead moments after the restart, heading Raphinha's free-kick towards the top corner only for Alvaro Fernandez to deny him with an acrobatic save.
Brentford levelled through Baptiste on 54 minutes, the midfielder reacting quickest after Canos' cross was deflected and placing a finish past Illan Meslier from the edge of the area.
The momentum changed and seven minutes later the turnaround was complete. Moments after missing a great opportunity Canos fired the Bees ahead, combining with Bryan Mbeumo before lashing home.
Bamford struck deep into added time, scrambling home a corner from close range to save Leeds' blushes. The 28-year-old said he believed his chance would come right until the very end.
"I felt rusty as hell, but it was nice to be out there," he said. "I always felt when I came on that I was going to get one chance. It didn't come for ages and ages and then [Adam] Forshaw said I was going to get one chance and so it happened."
Leeds' blushes saved despite second-half collapse
As well as both Cooper and Phillips to injury, Leeds lost their composure in a difficult second-half spell that almost proved costly.
At the break it looked like there would only be one winner, with Brentford having lost striker Ivan Toney to a positive Covid-19 test prior to kick-off and lacking presence without him.
I can't praise Brentford players enough - Frank
But after Ayling's header something stirred inside Thomas Frank's men. They levelled and then took the lead in a flash but squandered other chances in the interim. Leeds didn't know what had hit them.
Raphinha's impact dwindled as Bamford was summoned, and after a late victory over Crystal Palace in midweek there was another twist when the England forward popped up at the death after 11 weeks out.
Marcelo Bielsa lauded Bamford but he was left frustrated that Leeds hadn't managed to win after such a positive start.
"Bamford scored a goalscorer's goal and his opportunism stood out. You can't teach that," he said. "We deserved a point, perhaps we should have won, given the amount of time we dominated the play and in terms of how much danger we caused compared to the opponent."
Meanwhile, Brentford boss Thomas Frank believed his side deserved more out of the game.
"I guess it is the round of cruel moments for different teams: Liverpool's late winner, Brighton's late equaliser and now Leeds' late equaliser. We know it can happen in football but I can't praise the players enough. They gave everything," he said.
"They had two chances in the game and scored two goals. There are positives to take from this game; we have big ambitions but we can't run away. When you have injuries like we did today, three key players out, and do how we did, it is fantastic."
Our coverage of your Premier League club is bigger and better than ever before - here's everything you need to know to make sure you never miss a moment
