Leeds United Under-21s will host their Premier League 2 Division 2 play-off final against Nottingham Forest on Monday night. Having missed out on automatic promotion last month, Paco Gallardo’s young Whites sealed their spot in the play-off final earlier this week with a 2-1 win over Aston Villa.
Leeds were forced to come from behind at Elland Road, but first-half goals from top scorers Mateo Joseph and Sonny Perkins proved enough to ease through their semi-final encounter and set up a do-or-die, win or bust, clash against the Reds. The game will be played on Monday, May 15 and as United are the highest-ranked team remaining, they have the opportunity to host the game at Elland Road.
A win for the Whites and they will have achieved their goal of winning promotion back to the top tier of English youth football at the first time of asking. Defeat and Gallardo’s side will be forced to make do with another season in the second tier.
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Fans will be able to attend the match and the club will be hoping to welcome a large crowd in order to help their youngsters over the line. Leeds have met Forest, who finished third in the table and saw off West Bromwich Albion in their semi-final clash, on two separate occasions already this season.
Leeds thumped them 5-1 at Thorp Arch back in August, but the return fixture brought about a very different result as United fell to their first defeat of the league campaign, losing 1-0 at Meadow Lane. It’s been a remarkable season for the U21s, who were coached by Michael Skubala at the start of the season before his promotion to the senior squad, and they’ll be striving to end it in the best way possible next week.
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