Stoke City 1-0 Leeds: Patrick Bamford misses penalty as Daniel Farke’s men fall to narrow defeat at the bet365 Stadium
Patrick Bamford’s penalty miss proved costly as Leeds saw their three-match Championship winning run end with a 1-0 defeat at Stoke.
White substitute Bamford could have given Yorkshire the lead in the 75th minute at the bet365 Stadium, but shot over from the spot.
And minutes later, at the other end, Wesley’s header hit the underside of the crossbar and went in via Leeds captain Pascal Struijk, which proved to be the winner.
Daniel Farke’s side came into the game in October with a 100 per cent record, while Alex Neil’s Potters were aiming for back-to-back wins after Saturday’s home win against Sunderland.
The Potters had their first sight of goal in the opening minute when Andre Vidigal whipped in a low shot from a Ki-Jana Hoever cross, but it went straight to Illan Meslier.
Vidigal almost became the scorer in the fifth minute when Ryan Mmaee tested Meslier as Stoke’s good start continued.
Apart from a misplaced Jordan Thompson pass which they were unable to capitalize on, Leeds had little joy in the final third of the opening stages.
Hoever’s fantastic work on the right led to a dangerous cross for Vidigal, but Meslier was once again in the right place, while Mmaee turned soon afterwards as Stoke’s attack showed no signs of stopping.
Leeds’ first real chance came when Georginio Rutter released Joel Piroe in the penalty area and Mark Travers denied the effort with his legs in the 26th minute, before claiming Rutter’s header from the resulting corner.
Stoke’s penalty was waved away by referee Paul Tierney when Mehdi Leris turned and went down under Sam Byram’s challenge on the half hour.
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Stoke’s Wesley’s effort is cleared off the line, with the rebound hitting Leeds’ Pascal Struijk on the shoulders before bouncing into the net.
Mmaee’s effort into the penalty area almost forced an opener in first-half stoppage time and Struijk was alert to clear the danger as the ball trickled towards goal.
After the break, Joe Rodon was in the right place to cut out Hoever’s low cross from the right as Stoke continued to threaten, although Jaidon Anthony cut into the box at the other end and curled wide.
Travers equalized Rutter’s low drive before the hour mark as Leeds grew increasingly confident, the Whites striker later firing wide after firing into the penalty area.
Leeds substitute Crysencio Summerville’s first act was to curl a promising effort just wide after 70 minutes.
Bamford won a penalty fifteen minutes from time when Ben Pearson brought him down in the penalty area and referee Tierney pointed to the spot, but the striker fired the ball over the bar.
And that turned out to be costly, because from a corner kick by Hoever in the 80th minute, Wesley headed against the crossbar and the ball went in via the unfortunate Struijk, which turned out to be the winner.
The administrators
Alex Neil from Stoke:
“When you go and perform against two of the better teams in the division and you take six points off that, and you can see how much the boys have put into it, I think it instills confidence in everything we do and I thought there there were good periods in the first half where we used the ball really well, I thought there was a period of 20 to 25 minutes where we were really on top and probably had two or three good chances but we didn’t really take them.
“I think we had a disappointment with the penalty, that was the only moment that worked in our favor and then we went to the other side. I thought the fans blew the roof off as soon as the penalty was missed. I see our players get a little energy from that, and we went on and won the game.”
Daniel Farke from Leeds:
“You have to be clinical in taking your chances and today we missed the biggest chance with the penalty and then you could feel a bit disappointed for a few moments and the whole stadium was buzzing because we missed the penalty. They used this to to create one or two set pieces and from the second they were able to score.
“This is football. We didn’t give away any chances of the game in the second half, but because we missed this penalty and didn’t put the game to bed, we weren’t on for this one moment and they were able to take this chance and then They were in the lead with just ten minutes to go, they tried everything, putting their bodies on the line to block every shot. It’s the Championship, it’s brutal, so congratulations to Stoke and winning a hard-fought victory, but I I also have the feeling that you should leave with points.”