Leeds United writer Lee Sobot with his verdict from the Elland Road stands on the 1-1 draw against Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup fourth round - and a replay for Daniel Farke's Whites.
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00:00 Hello there, Lee Sobot at the Yorkshire Evening Post here from Ellen Road. Another Leeds United
00:06 game and another victory, five on the spin to start 2024. Fantastic form, the Whites
00:11 are in at the moment and a victory that has put them two points off second place after
00:16 a 1-0 victory here this evening against visiting Norwich City. And a game which really was
00:22 I suppose a fairly nervy conclusion really in the end. Three minutes added time which
00:27 ended up being more like nine or ten, Norwich sending the goalkeeper up for various set
00:31 pieces. But in the end, 1-0 was enough and a Patrick Bamford header and a superb header
00:36 as he took his tally to four goals in his last five games and another assist from Dan
00:42 James. That was the only goal of the game in the 16th minute. Leeds made a bright start,
00:47 lovely cross from Dan James, real good play from Archie Gray, took a knock as he won the
00:52 ball firstly. Then Routier, ball play to Dan James, cross into the box and Bamford
00:57 with basically a header back across goal into the opposite corner. Just real precise, great
01:02 centre forward play and that proved the only goal of the game. Thereafter, Leeds had lots
01:08 of possession as they looked to double their tally. It has to be said Norwich missed an
01:11 absolute sitter on the stroke of half time, ball put wide from very, very close range.
01:17 Second half, Leeds came out and started well again but it was quite sort of tense around
01:20 here and the crowd were getting a little bit edgy as Norwich really started to knock it
01:23 about. They had a decent spell of possession but actually didn't really create that many
01:27 chances and you've got to say that Leeds did hold firm and obviously in the end, the clean
01:30 sheet proved absolutely crucial and everybody did their bit for that. But Joe Rodan, I thought
01:35 was absolutely outstanding at the back. He really is turning into a brilliant loan signing
01:39 and the sooner they can get him signed up on a permanent deal, the better. He looks
01:43 a real talent at the back there for them. In the end, as I say, 1-0 was enough. Leeds
01:47 had plenty of chances in the end. Once they got through that spell of pressure from Norwich,
01:52 they did have some more good chances and Bamford put one wide which was probably a harder chance
01:56 in his header after a decent move. There were other bits and bobs of chances and as I say,
02:01 it's quite often a common theme with Leeds not taking the chances enough but if they're
02:05 going to only put one in the net, then they've got to keep a clean sheet and that's what
02:08 they did and that's proved enough to get the three points this evening. As I say, it's
02:12 a brilliant start to the new year. Five wins in a row, four wins in a row in the Championship
02:17 and the fact of the matter is now, obviously it's the FA Cup this weekend at home to Plymouth
02:21 but when Leeds do return to action at Bristol City, victory in that game will put them second
02:26 and that definitely will put pressure on Switzerland and Southampton. Obviously, they'll have played
02:30 more games and then two more games but you hope that sooner or later they will start
02:34 to drop points. We've said Leeds probably need to be perfect if they're going to finish
02:38 second or near enough. They need to keep churning out the wins and fair play to them. That's
02:42 exactly what they've done this evening. We'll have to wait and see what the injury situation
02:45 is. Archie Gray went off and he looked a little bit upset as he came off putting another outstanding
02:48 shift on. James also came off and had to take a lock in the first half. There's those things
02:52 to watch. There'll probably be loads of changes this weekend for the FA Cup, you would think.
02:56 Onwards and upwards as we finish today. Leeds United 1-0 Norwich City.