Leeds are putting everything on a Plate

Leeds United have a lot on their plate right now. On Sunday, they were due to be in two places at once. When they could have been fighting for a place in the County Cup final, the Whites opted to tick off another of their many Division One North games in hand.

Last term, the battle to be crowned the best team in West Riding brought late joy to a season which threatened to fizzle. United had missed promotion but they reached their first final in six years, to test their third-tier credentials against Brighouse Town. Katie Ramsden made it fun by drawing a foul in the box in injury time and Kathryn Smith equalised from the spot to inspire shrieks from a crowd of 800+ who were thinking it was nearly hometime. The Whites lost out on penalties but everyone enjoyed themselves.

Leeds have turned down the opportunity to go one better this season, handing a walkover to their semi-final opponents — the Whites’ own reserves. Victims of their own success, the seniors’ brilliance in knockout contests has put them up to their eyeballs in unfulfilled league fixtures so when it comes to spoiling Brighouse’s County Cup defence, it makes sense to leave it to the kids.

Leeds have bigger fish to fry. Next weekend, Rick Passmoor’s side could be crowned national champions for the first time since 2010 when they take on Stourbridge in the FAWNL Plate final. Against Bradford on Sunday, players were charged with not only climbing the table, but also showing themselves worthy of the chance to take part in an historic club moment.

Jess Rousseau made a strong bid, despite wasting the first chance of the game. Sprinting away from Maisie Norde and Harriet Jakeman, she enjoyed her pace too much to create a tricky angle. As Abbie Brown was speeding toward the back post, Rousseau chose the near one and gave Tiffany Whelan a simple save.

Bradford City forward Arianne Parnham kicked off an afternoon of causing trouble by hounding Bridie Hannon off the ball in Leeds’ half. She was clean through but had distance to cover, giving Catherine Hamill time to save the day. With United’s clean sheet in peril, Hamill charged across the pitch to force Parnham into an early, ineffective shot.

On the other side of half time, the goalless scoreline survived another hairy moment. Under pressure from Jessica Watkins, Hamill secured an awkwardly bouncing ball by guiding it towards home — but Carrie Simpson was discombobulated by the bobble, and her clearance got caught in Watkins’ legs. With no time to waste, Watkins struck instinctively, and the bobbles made the ball’s slow passage goalward agonising. Danielle Whitham and Hannon gave chase before the post came to their rescue.

On the hour, the bumpy surface seemed to have saved Chynna Harris a race that Macy Ellis will always win. The ground took the sting out of a long ball, but its jerky movement confounded Harris, who headed it upfield into Ellis’ path — game over. Striding to the byline, Ellis didn’t look up before whipping the ball into a dangerous channel. Substitute Amy Woodruff gave only the slightest of touches and Leeds led 1-0.

The game had hardly got going again when Rousseau doubled the advantage after latching onto Smith’s long ball (Leeds are getting good at these). Young Rousseau shrugged off offside calls from the back line and strolled calmly into the box. Things were too easy. Wasn’t her midweek showing against York enough? Rousseau let the ball roll and roll, making the angle on her dart-like finish something else to talk about. Readers, it pinged in off the inside of the far post. Lovely.

“I can do this, too!” Rousseau seemed to say, scoring her second goal in three minutes, her third in two games, demonstrating another way to finish. Whitham’s long ball bounced on the edge of the area and hung mid-air before the advancing Rousseau, as tantalising as Macbeth’s dagger. She couldn’t level up this time — the chance was already a challenge. The ball was boinging hard but, with the keeper coming out, it was now or never. Knee over it, little flick, now it’s boinging off the back of the net. Ella Toone eat your heart out.

Bradford looked defeated at this point. Three-nil down at the home of your local rivals, with relegation looming. But for the Bantams, there was hope in the shape of what Passmoor called “fatigue and silly errors”.

Ten minutes after Rousseau’s second, Charlie Ramsden’s lofted free kick sent three players crumbling to the floor as they tried to squeeze themselves into the same small part of Leeds’ six-yard box. Parnham stopped Rachel Hindle from booting it away and patiently reset the attack. Her cross drifted into the same area, but this time it was straight-forward. Only Charlotte Stuart challenged, putting the ball past Simpson with a little nod of her head. Hannon was still recovering from the initial collision as City picked the ball out of the net for the restart.

Parnham wasn’t done being a nuisance. One moment, she was facing the corner flag with the ball at her feet but then, having wriggled clear of three white shirts with alarming ease, the pest was suddenly seven yards from the goal — the ball with her. Undeterred by Hamill stepping out, Parnham’s strike put City within a whisker of a point with ten minutes to play.

But even tired and silly, Passmoor’s players held out for the win, securing their second victory in five days to send them down to Solihull in fine spirits. With the title dream over and the County Cup’s fate in the hands of the reserves, it’ll be all or nothing in their FAWNL Plate final next weekend. Silverware or no silverware. Glory or disappointment. Something tangible to show for the season, or just a good step in the right direction.

With his Leeds United tenure approaching eight months, Passmoor wants both. “We need to finish that journey off, and use that journey also to stimulate us to go forward in the league.” ⬢