The first half of the Championship play-off semi-final between Norwich and Leeds ended in a scoreless tie.
After a scoreless first leg at Carrow Road, Thursday’s second leg at Elland Road will determine who advances to the Wembley final on May 26.
Both teams made it into the play-offs in the end, although Norwich barely scraped into sixth place with two victories in their last seven league games while Leeds blew their prospects of automatic promotion with just two wins in eight.
The Canaries’ Gabriel Sara and Leeds’ Sam Byram wasted their best chances in a game with little scoring possibilities, reflecting their poor form and the cautious approach taken by both teams.
Manager Daniel Farke made an impromptu change due to Leeds’ poor run; Archie Gray started in place of Joel Piroe at striker, putting Georginio Rutter in a more forward role, and Norwich received a boost from Jonathan Rowe, who hadn’t played since January due to injury issues.
Despite a plethora of offensive skill, neither team threatened the other goalkeeper and instead prioritized defense.
In an anxious first half, Leeds defender Sam Byram was nearly caught off guard by Dimitris Giannoulis’s attempt to head the ball back to goalkeeper Illam Meslier, while Rutter missed a good chance at the other end of the field.
While Joe Rodon was putting pressure on Josh Sargent to head a great Jack Stacey cross wide, Junior Firpo had the ball in the net earlier in the sequence, but Rutter was flagged for offside.
Although he was unusually silent for Leeds, Crysencio Summerville managed to latch on to Shane Duffy’s clumsy headed clearing and had Angus Gunn turn a snap-shot around the post.
Following the substitutions of Rowe (who was substituted after an hour), Sargent (who suffered an ankle injury), and the ineffectual Summerville, both teams lost key offensive threats.
After the Canaries created an unusually strong opportunity, Sara missed the target with a shot, and full-back Byram wasted a reckless swipe that would have given him a decent chance to score as well.
It’s a conclusion I’m completely fine with. It took a lot of hard effort, a strong start, and some guts from my squad to rally the audience behind us.
It is game on because I am aware of how good this outcome can be in the playoffs. I thought the teams were finely focused and concentrated, and they were able to neutralize each other offensively in particular.
We will continue to play with the cards that are dealt to us. No one thought the first leg would decide this semi-final.
“He couldn’t continue, but I haven’t talked to the medical department or Josh Sargent about it. I don’t think his ankle will be too much of a problem for Thursday’s game because he’s a tough man.
In a two-legged semi-final, a clean sheet and an away tie are always great results, but they are especially impressive when played on a tough surface. Both the performance and the outcome met my expectations.
After keeping a lot of clean sheets all season long, the regular season’s last games were a letdown in terms of performance and goal-scoring. We didn’t give them a second chance because we wanted to play solid today.
Especially in the second half, when we applied a lot of pressure and their defense was outstanding, our confidence grew as the game progressed because we felt like we were in charge.
We were gaining the upper hand, and the goal seemed imminent; but, it is important to maintain composure and allow for counterattacks.
“We could have made better decisions in and around the box given our chances.”
