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GOALS from Brenden Aaronson and Dan James gave Leeds a comfortable victory over Sheffield Wednesday in the Yorkshire derby at Hillsborough.
Aaronson put Daniel Farke’s side ahead with his second goal in three Championship matches this season.
And James produced a tidy dinked finish three minutes into the second half to seal Leeds’ first league win of the campaign.
It was another chastening defeat for Wednesday, who beat Plymouth 4-0 on the opening day but were then thumped at Sunderland by the same scoreline on Sunday and were well beaten again here five days later.
Just as they did against Sunderland, Wednesday always looked vulnerable defensively, particularly when attempting to play the ball out from the back.
Leeds had no such problems and went ahead following a brilliant first-half move in which they swept from one end of the pitch to the other, starting when Jayden Bogle played the ball down the right and James sublimely flicked it off to Aaronson.
The American found Junior Firpo, who put Mateo Joseph through on goal. Owls defender Yan Valery managed to halt him but the loose ball dropped to Aaronson, who calmly slotted past keeper James Beadle.
Leeds continued to threaten and almost doubled their lead just before half-time when James was just unable to get to Firpo’s low cross from the left.
They did score a second soon after the restart – again after a rapid move from back to front.
This time Joseph played a superb ball to James, who darted in behind full-back Max Lowe and finished coolly.
Joseph was excellent but missed a chance to add a third when he blasted over after being teed up by Bogle.
Wednesday struggled to create clear-cut chances and never looked like mounting a comeback, with Beadle producing saves to deny Joseph and James as Leeds continued to dominate.
Leeds face another Yorkshire derby next Saturday, at home to Hull City, when Wednesday will be away to Millwall.
Aaronson’s redemption continues
Aaronson’s start to the season is helping repair his relationship with Leeds fans, who gave his return a lukewarm response.
A big-money signing from Red Bull Salzburg in the summer of 2022, the United States international started well at the club but a disastrous season followed as they were relegated from the Premier League.
Joining German side Union Berlin on a season-long loan rather than stay to battle to get Leeds out of the Championship did not go down well with the Elland Road faithful.
Clearly determined to win them over, he worked tirelessly in the 3-3 draw with Portsmouth on the opening day of the campaign, when his stoppage-time equaliser rescued a point.
His goal and all-round performance at Hillsborough seemed like another big step in the right direction for a player who, this time around, could have a key role in Leeds’ promotion bid.
‘Put it in your album’ – post-match reaction
Sheffield Wednesday manager Danny Rohl told BBC Radio Sheffield:
“It was not the best defending. Some decisions were not right.
“You see the quality Leeds have. They have some really good players and it was hard to defend (against).
“To take something against such a team you have to make sure that all things are right – and we didn’t.
“This is not about individual mistakes. As a team-mate you have to take responsibility to cover the back of your team-mate and then nothing happens. We didn’t.
“We’ve now played against two strong teams and did not do well. Now we have to learn. We have to start again and come back to the basics. Our job now is to stay together as a team.”
Leeds manager Daniel Farke told BBC Radio Leeds:
“It was definitely our best performance of the season – the perfect away performance.
“More or less from the start we were able to dominate this game. We were brave and dominant.
“The goals we scored were fantastic. The first goal, you can put it in your album for best practice in possession football from the build-up to the finish.
“I’m pretty happy for the boys because they made the next step forward. There’s still much work to do, but under these circumstances, for this stage of the season, it was a mature performance and they definitely do deserve some compliments.
– BBCSport
A.I
Aug. 24, 2024
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