A late onslaught on a tiring home defence brought Leeds an equaliser and several near misses, but not the third goal that would have rewarded them with victory and first place in the Championship. Instead Watford became just the second league opponents this calendar year they have failed to beat, the home side twice taking the lead and holding it until the 85th minute when Mateo Joseph, just 25 seconds after coming on as substitute, levelled the game with his first league goal.
Leeds arrived at Vicarage Road in extraordinary form, a phenomenal three-month surge having taken them from fourth at the end of 2023, 17 points behind Leicester and nine away from Ipswich, to the top of the table at the start of the Easter weekend. Since the turn of the year Leeds had taken 37 of a possible 39 points; in the same time Watford had dropped 26 points and a manager, Valérien Ismaël paying for his side’s poor form earlier in the month.
This was Tom Cleverley’s first home game as interim manager and he used the opportunity to spring a tactical surprise, Watford unexpectedly starting with both a back three and a front two and even more unexpectedly dominating much of the opening half. While Cleverley spent the international break working on a fresh formation Daniel Farke was reeling from a succession of disappointments: Connor Roberts, Willy Gnonto and Ilia Gruev all returned injured and several others came back exhausted, leading to an under-par performance.
“We played this game in the worst possible moment,” he said. “First of all Watford, a new manager comes in, there’s new belief, a bit of fresh air. And for us the international break had the worst possible outcome. We had not one session with the whole team and you could feel this in the first half, we were not in our rhythm. If there was a day when perhaps there was a chance to beat us, it’s tonight.”
For half an hour the Hornets created little for all their possession, but in the 31st minute Edo Kayembe stole the ball from Ethan Ampadu in midfield, Yáser Asprilla was played in down the left and his pull-back picked out Emmanuel Dennis. Though Illan Meslier excellently saved the Nigerian’s shot the rebound looped to Vakoun Bayo, who lashed it in on the volley. Three minutes later it took a phenomenal challenge from Joe Rodon to stop Dennis scoring a second, again after Ampadu had been dispossessed.
Leeds’s only shot at that point had come from Crysencio Summerville, who cut in from the left in the 16th minute and sent a right-footed shot towards the far post, which Daniel Bachmann tipped to safety. In the 37th minute he did it again, ghosting past Andrews far too easily and this time, from further out, curling a delicious shot that left Bachmann helpless.
But Watford reacted excellently to this setback and seven minutes later they were back in front, Dennis executing a reverse Summerville from their right flank, cutting inside Rodon and Liam Cooper before shooting hard and low beyond Meslier.
“Everyone wants to play front-foot football but you have to be structured,” Cleverley said. “Against a team like Leeds if you’re a bit gung-ho they can slice you open. We looked a really controlled team. It’s a tough task to come up against the league leaders but we showed we can more than compete. I want everyone to leave at the end of the season thinking we’ve got a promotion push in us next year.”
Leeds made no changes at the interval except perhaps to their attitude, and in the first 10 minutes of the second period fashioned two excellent chances, Sam Byram releasing the excellent, effervescent Summerville, whose shot was turned around the near post by Bachmann, and then having a header cleared off the line, though the referee’s assistant had erroneously decided the ball had gone out of play in the buildup.
Soon it was the home side that was flagging, and Leeds pushed players forwards and added impetus from the bench. Most obviously Joseph came on in the 84th minute and scored with his second touch, running onto Summerville’s low centre, benefiting from Junior Firpo’s fine dummy, and burying the rebound after his first attempt was blocked. A minute later another rebound fell to another substitute, Jaidon Anthony, only for Bachmann to complete a superb double save.
