Former Premier League referee Mark Halsey thinks that Leeds United were unfortunate with how their game against Wolverhampton Wanderers ended on Friday night.
With time running down, Wolves defender Conor Coady headed the ball out for a corner, but before the ball could go out of play referee David Coote stopped the play to allow Coady to be treated for a head injury, and then proceeded to give the ball to the home side rather than allow Leeds the chance to attack.
And speaking exclusively to This Is Futbol, Halsey claimed he was amazed that possession was handed back to Wolves in that situation rather than give the ball back to Leeds United in some fashion:
“When I was watching a game I thought, ‘they’ll restart play’ because he’s blown the whistle before the ball gone out of play, and the Leeds player is going to get the ball. So I was pretty sure he was going to restart play by giving the ball to Leeds or getting Wolves to kick it back to them. But when he dropped the ball to the goalkeeper, I was just, I was amazed because Leeds had the ball and you know, they looked like they were gonna score at any time, every attack. They had many chances.”
Halsey is right to point out how aggrieved Leeds can be. Leeds aren’t exactly the best when it comes to set-pieces, having only scored five from them this season. However, given how they were playing that night with 18 total shots, 7 of which were on target, even if they didn’t score directly from the corner, you’d still fancy them to maybe get one more decent chance out of it which could have got them a goal.
In the grand scheme though, unless they think they have an outside chance of getting a European spot, this isn’t really a big deal in Leeds United’s season. If they were well and truly fighting for something, then it’s a different matter.