As Ipswich Town celebrated their return to the Premier League 200 miles away in East Anglia, a flat Leeds United inside Elland Road were left to wonder what might have been.
Defeat against Southampton was ultimately inconsequential as Ipswich did their job against Huddersfield but having gone unbeaten at home all season till mid-April, Leeds have now lost their last two at Elland Road.
The damning reality is that after a stunning start to 2024, a run of four points in their last six league games has cost them automatic promotion.
Worryingly for Daniel Farke, there is little time for regrets because his side have lost their way at the worst possible time. A two-legged semi-final against Norwich, his former side, awaits and right now, Leeds look a shadow of themselves.
To return to the Premier League at the first time of asking, they will have to do something they have never done before and secure promotion through the play-offs.
Leeds have missed out on automatic promotion after being defeated by Southampton
Adam Armstrong netted from close range to give the visitors the lead at Elland Road
The opener on 18 minutes marked the 27-year-old’s 21st Championship goal of the season
Perennially, this is club that fails at that stage with five failed attempts across two divisions. 1987, 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2019 all exist in the collection of painful memories.
So close and yet so far. If a story sums up their misfortune, then it is that of Angus Kinnear, their current sporting director, removing a bulk of tickets from his boot for the 2019 Championship play-off final and putting them into the hands of a Derby County official outside Elland Road after Derby’s semi-final win.
Not since 1987 have Leeds won a play-off match at Elland Road.
And so when they return here, a week on Thursday for the second leg against The Canaries, they will do so in front of a packed crowd that have seen it all before – haunted by past failures and with a genuine fear of falling short again.
This was always going to be an afternoon of hope rather than expectation. Some classed it as a trial run of the play-off final but only a fool would write off West Brom or Norwich.
On paper, Leeds are the best side of the four yet on current form, they face an uphill task and on this showing, Russell Martin’s Southampton will certainly fancy their chances too.
It was an overcast morning in West Yorkshire and that summed up the mood pre-match.
In the hunt for an early goal to inflict some kind of pressure on Ipswich, Leeds left themselves too open at the back and a minute after Will Smallbone was denied by Illan Meslier, a clever touch from Flynn Downes meant Che Adams was allowed to easily tee up the unmarked Adam Armstrong, who made no mistake from inside the box.
An infuriated Daniel Farke protests the referee’s decision after his side went behind
Leeds responded well to the opening goal and Joel Piroe levelled just three minutes later
Elland Road rallied as it so often does and within minutes, Leeds had their equaliser when Joel Piroe pounced on a poor clearance from Taylor Harwood-Bellis and smashed the ball past Alex McCarthy.
Yet as news filtered through of Ipswich taking the lead, the atmosphere fell flat and Leeds were punished for some lazy defending before half-time and the visitors restored their lead as Kyle Walker-Peters did brilliantly to evade Junior Firpo and his ball across goal was finished with ease by Smallbone.
In the corner of the John Charles West Stand, the chants of ‘Leeds are falling apart again’ began from the travelling support and any small glimmer of hope left within the home faithful was wiped out when Omari Hutchinson doubled Ipswich’s lead straight after half-time.
‘We’re the famous Leeds United and we’re going to Wembley,’ sang the Leeds fans in a show of defiance.
Will Smallbone latched on to a driven cross from Kyle Walker-Peters to restore his side’s lead
Leeds struggled to work their way back into the game following the restart
For the record, they haven’t been there since 2008 but make no mistake, they have been the unfortunate losers in this promotion race, becoming only the second Championship side since Sunderland in 1998 to win 90 points or more and not go up automatically.
It’s the sort of record you don’t want to be a part of. Just like their play-off record. Sunderland failed to go up that year. Leeds will be desperately hoping that they over the next few weeks, they can finally banish those demons. After all, there is no better way to go up than through the play-offs.
