Middlesbrough v Leeds United Tuesday 8th April 2025 - The Riverside Stadium 2024/25 Season After an emotional week where our scores haven’t been at the forefront of my mind, I’d felt more upbeat today as we headed to the game. Thank you for the support and for caring because that means such a lot to me. I’d decided to go to Don Revie’s statue when I got to Elland Road as I wanted him to give some inspiration to the team. It was a beautiful sunny day, and I said it wasn’t over yet and we still stood a chance. Well, we got behind the team and we got that hard worked for three points. It was harder that it needed to be as we had two perfectly good goals disallowed but well done to the lads for the victory. Team: Darlow, Ampadu, James, Rodon, Firpo, Bogle, Piroe, Aaronson, Tanaka, Gruev, Solomon. Subs: Gnonto for Solomon (68), Byram for Firpo (68), Schmidt for James (injured possible hamstring 73), Bamford for Piroe (73), Guilavogui for Aaronson (90+1). Subs not used: Meslier, Ramazani, Joseph, Wöber. Leeds won the game 1-0 with James scoring (2). Attendance: 28,729, 2,622 Leeds fans. Referee: Andrew Kitchen. Booked: Byram. Leeds got off to a fantastic start after Firpo then Solomon passed the ball for James using his pace to get in front of the defence to put the ball into the net. Just what we all needed to settle any nerves. Boro had a goal disallowed when their player ended up with just Darlow to beat but he was miles offside. We kept attacking, which is the best form of defence, as Tanaka put the ball into the net from close range to take a bigger lead only to see that chalked off for offside. We started getting messages from people telling us it was onside and should have been allowed. That was typical as it would have dented Boro’s attacking in my opinion. As it was, we ended up going into the break with the one goal lead. The second half James was prominent in taking the ball forward, his pace caused all sorts of issues for Boro, and he was also my man of the match. Piroe had a shot saved by their keeper as Boro tried to get back into the game. They got into good positions but luckily for us, they’d mostly left their shooting boots in the dressing room although Darlow made a couple of good saves. We really came under the cosh then as Boro constantly attacked us putting us under severe pressure and we needed to change things as far as I was concerned. It wasn’t much longer before we did make the change then five minutes later Bamford came on making his 200th appearance for us. We ran straight up to the other end out of defence with Schmidt passing to Gnonto. With a great ball into the box for Bamford, he put the ball into the net as we started to celebrate only to see this one chalked off for offside again. We were indignant that it wasn’t offside and once again we were proved right when we got messages again saying it should have been allowed. The disallowed goals would have taken all the pressure off us but as there was only one goal between is, we had to battle hard until the final whistle blew. It was very nervy as Boro came close a few times but thankfully, we saw the game out for a very important win which took us back to the top of the table as Burnley drew and Sheffield United lost. Swings and roundabouts, ups and downs, it will never be easy supporting Leeds but, keep the faith, get behind the lads and make Elland Road a cauldron of noise on Saturday as we have another 12.30 kick off for the visit of Preston. See you there, LUFC- Marching on Together!

Leeds United V Luton Saturday 5th April 2025 - Kenilworth Road 2024/25 Season It’s been a very emotional week for me personally because yesterday saw the anniversary of my baby daughter’s sudden death from an undiagnosed heart defect. Tomorrow also sees my late husband’s birthday so alongside the Chris and Kev tributes it all hit home for me and plenty of tears have been shed. Thank you to everyone for the support you have given me with words and hugs because they are all greatly appreciated. With another 12.30pm kick off, it was an early start as we left Leeds at 5.30am stopping at Stevenage getting to the ground in bright sunshine. I needn’t have worried about being under the stand and not getting any sun, as my seat was at the side. As it was cold this morning when we left, I’d been well prepared despite knowing the weather would warm up by kick off. Well done to Luton for their support in the 25th minute with the round of applause for Chris and Kev with flags in the Leeds end and everyone turning their backs in tribute to the lads. With Farke making the decision to drop Meslier and put Darlow in goal, it had taken the sting out of the social media emotions. All I wanted from today was to keep things in our own hands, battle and fight for 90 minutes. As we all know now, we got a draw which means Burnley had leapfrogged us to go top. Although it is still not over yet as we have chances, we need to up our game if that’s the case. Team: Darlow, Ampadu, Struijk, Bogle, Firpo, James, Solomon, Piroe, Tanaka, Gnonto, Rodon. Subs: Bamford for Gnonto (63), Aaronson for Piroe (79), Struijk (injured) for Wöber (86), Byram for Bogle (87), Schmidt for Solomon (87). Subs not used: Meslier, Gruev, Ramazani, Guilavogui. Leeds drew the game 1-1 coming from behind with a James goal (28). Attendance: 11,867, 1,400 Leeds fans. Referee: Thomas Bramall. Booked: Bogle, Solomon. Leeds started off on the front foot which saw their keeper save from Firpo before another attack saw him save a Solomon shot. Luton then took an early lead after counter attacking and winning the ball on the far side before racing towards our goal in front of the Leeds fans. When they crossed over to our side their man was in loads of space having no one marking him, to hit the ball into the net. That was disappointing but Leeds fought back to equalise with a fantastic goal by James 15 minutes later. Level terms at half time gave us some hope. Darlow had to make an important save at the start of the second half. It took a while before Leeds suddenly looked to get the impetus to attack when Bamford had come onto the pitch for his first game after a long injury. After a powerful header out of defence by Rodon which was picked up by James to run onto, he passed to Bamford who saw his low shot parried by their keeper. James got behind the Luton defence again and sent a great pass across the box with Solomon coming in at the far post only to see the ball go wide. Bamford got on the end of a Tanaka forward pass, but their player caught up with him and closed him down. His pass to Schmidt saw the ball taken off the latter’s toes. With Leeds getting on top, Luton made subs that took the sting out of the game as they took such a long time. At times we were very slow in our build ups playing across the back, but it did feel that we wouldn’t get the winner despite 8 minutes of injury time. Looking back at the playbacks, their keeper spilled every shot from us but sadly no one was near enough to follow up and stick the ball into the net. It's still not over, there are going to be plenty more ups and downs and we go again on Tuesday against Middlesbrough. We’ve got to keep fighting despite the draw today and never give up. After hearing that our last home game against Bristol has now been moved to the Monday night with only three weeks’ notice, I feel sorry for so many of our fans who are now unable to attend. Hearing some of our Irish fans were not only attending the game but had flights and hotels booked, shows the high impact this will have had on many. It is time the 3pm kick off blackout is consigned to the bin so that games do not get moved at the last minute. Fans will still go to the games despite them being on TV, as well as ensuring fans around the world can watch their team too. Many of you will know about the CDs we recorded with over 200 songs and chants from the terraces from the 1960s until 2018. On 24th April we will have 99 of these songs and chants being available for downloading from sites such as Spotify. As before, any monies raised will go towards the Leeds United Foundation/Academy. Hopefully our fans who used modern sites to listen to music will help support this. Thank you to those who have given great feedback from my new website going live. If you haven’t seen it yet, please have a look at www.followmeandleedsunited.co.uk and you may just find yourself included in the photos from each game on the Matchday link. I will still post my blogs as I have been doing but the website will have everything in one place even though it is still work in progress. Also thank you to Kevin Smith from Harrogate for the Leeds United LP Marching on Together Leeds United Greatest Hits, Golden Anniversary Collection. I’m looking forward to listening to this. I pulled into Hartshead Moor services on my way home, rejoining the motorway a short time later with blue lights bearing down behind me. When I got level with the two cars at the side of the road, one was facing towards me and the other in the right direction. It puts it all in perspective for me. After having a robin serenading me in the garden yesterday as I was having a quiet moment, I do feel I’m being looked after by loved ones. See you Tuesday, LUFC – Marching on Together!