talkSPORT pundit Danny Murphy has heaped praise on Leeds after a “really good” performance against Derby in the first leg of the Championship play-off semi final at Pride Park.
And he singled out their ability to keep the ball, under pressure, away from home.
However, talking on the Jim White Show (talkSPORT, Monday, 11.30am), Murphy said that the decision to award a penalty to Derby shouldn’t have been reversed.
After pointing to the spot, the referee awarded Leeds the free-kick after consulting with his linesman after Jayden Bogle went down after tangling with Jack Harrison in the box.
“It’s a really weird coming together, have you seen it?” Murphy said. “What Frank [Lampard] is saying is that once the penalty has been given there can’t be enough evidence, not conclusively, to make him change his mind. Once you’ve given it you’ve given it.
“The linesman, sorry, the referee’s assistant, obviously thinks he saw it clearly. Now we get the advantage of watching it over and over. Actually, I was listening to Darren Bent on here, he watched it five or six times and he still doesn’t know and I’m the same.
“Let’s move away from that. Derby started quite well but Leeds’ performance was really good, they kept the ball so well, you know, under pressure, away from home.
“They struggled towards the end of the season, lost a few games. I thought it was a really good performance, really good.”
Jim White agreed saying, “They’ve come back into it at just the right time.”
OPINION
Leeds put a string of disappointing performances towards the end of the season behind them to win the first leg of their semi-final away from home. The 1-0 advantage makes them the big favourites to progress through to the final at Wembley next Monday, but this tie isn’t over yet. Leeds have beaten Derby 3/3 times this season, incredibly counting for 20% of Lampard’s managerial defeats, but they’re going to be without striker Kemar Roofe, as well as Tyler Roberts and Adam Forshaw for the second leg. Pontus Jansson is also a doubt and it leaves Marcelo Bielsa with the bare bones up front. He confirmed that Patrick Bamford would start on Wednesday night after returning from suspension. Murphy is right when he says it was a “really good” performance from Leeds and one more will see them through to the final. We’re not so convinced by his view on the penalty incident. It’s fairly rare for a referee to change his mind once a penalty has been awarded, but the main thing is getting to the right decision. And not many people outside of the Derby camp are convinced that it was a spot-kick.