With fifteen minutes played and the sun shining down on Elland Road, I started thinking about what new effusive praise I could write about this Leeds United team. Junior Firpo had doubled down on his logical reinvention as the Lee Chapman of the TikTok generation, heading United into an early lead against a West Brom side that was struggling to get out of their own half in the face of Leeds’ opening intensity.

Earlier in the week Daniel Farke had spoken about the recent improvement in Joel Piroe’s performances, crediting some hard graft in fitness sessions for waking Piroe from his perma-slumber, and with Leeds 1-0 in front and searching for a second, I smugly assumed we were witnessing a team reaching peak condition both physically and mentally — ready and willing to put their foot on the opposition’s throat.

Before long, Brenden Aaronson was reaching a ball over the top of West Brom’s defence that gave him a chance to get in on goal and add a second. But rather than drive towards the penalty spot like the Red Bull manual he has been forced to read over and over again implored him to, Aaronson dallied, looking like he’d have preferred the opportunity to fall to Dan James, and was dispossessed before getting a shot away. From that moment on, the game became much more familiar as the standard second-tier slog taking place in the early afternoon slot when everyone would much rather still be in the pub. So much so that with ten minutes left of the first half, I headed to the concourse for a pint safe in the knowledge it was unlikely I was going to miss much, only to turn around from the bar with my pint in hand and see Darnell Furlong celebrating his looped header over Illan Meslier for West Brom’s equaliser.

Your reaction to the 1-1 draw will ultimately say a lot about whether you’re a glass half full or half empty kinda person. If it’s not half full after a draw in — on paper — our toughest fixture remaining this season, with Leeds three points clear at the top of the division, and eight points clear of third after two of the most exhilarating wins in recent years back-to-back, then it never will be. Still unbeaten in three months across the busy part of the season, this team has enough credit in the bank to be allowed a slight comedown after the ecstasy of Sunderland and Sheffield United.

Daniel Farke seemed more his glass was half empty during the game, visibly losing his shit on the touchline with Leeds’ midfielders Ao Tanaka and Joe Rothwell for failing to match their usual high standards in ensuring the ball kept coming back at the opposition, instead allowing West Brom to ease the pressure and take rests by being too slow into challenges and misplacing passes. But Farke was more optimistic once the full-time whistle had been blown and he’d calmed down, telling reporters in his post-match presser:

“This is quite a good experience. I’d rather have the experience with the outcome of a draw instead of a loss. So for that, we take the positives also out of this game, and it was still something we have addressed, that if we will be in a similar situation again during the season, and we go and lead and find it easy, don’t underestimate a situation, because in one second in the game of football, the momentum can change a lot.”

Likewise, for all West Brom could have taken all three points, missing good chances in either half, their boss Tony Mowbray was happy enough too. “The energy and effort were there, the desire not to get beat,” he said. “We’ll take the point. I think there were opportunities to win it, we could have lost it of course.”

That was because Mateo Joseph came off the bench and hit the bar for Leeds with his first involvement, while Dan James flashed a late shot into the side netting. Leeds still needed to be grateful for Joe Rodon going full Marius Zaliukas in stoppage time, chasing Tom Fellows as the West Brom sub broke clear from the halfway line with United committing everyone forward. It was hardly the most graceful goalsaving heroics from Rodon, falling over as he raced back and tackled Fellows as well as Daryl Dike while he was still on the floor, but that only made me appreciate the gutsiness of it all even more. Much like the rest of the game, it might not have been pretty, but it was still a stumbling step in the right direction. ⬢

(Photograph by Mark Fletcher, via Alamy)