With Bristol City beating West Brom at Ashton Gate, the Teessiders remain in the top six, although they will drop out of the play-off positions if seventh-placed Coventry City win their game in hand against Portsmouth this evening. Expect plenty more twists and turns in the next month.
Boro were second best against Leeds last night, and for all that Daniel James’ second-minute strike ultimately proved decisive, with the winger bundling the ball home from close range after Manor Solomon crossed from the left, the margin of the home side’s defeat would have been even greater had their opponents not had two perfectly-good goals wrongly disallowed for offside.
Ao Tanaka and Patrick Bamford were both onside when they found the net, but Boro were unable to take advantage of their good fortune, with two or three half-chances coming to nothing thanks to some hurried and wayward finishing.
Kelechi Iheanacho, Finn Azaz and Delano Burgzorg all failed to find the target from finishing positions, but in truth, Boro did not really deserve to take anything from the game. The effort and endeavour were there, but the hosts were not clinical enough to seriously threatened former Newcastle United goalkeeper Karl Darlow in the Leeds goal.
The visitors had gone into the game on a run of one win from their last six matches, but any hopes Boro had of exploiting any edginess within the opposition camp evaporated within the first two minutes.
Junior Firpo sent Solomon away down the left-hand side, and when he slid a low ball across the face of goal, James muscled his way in front of Samuel Iling-Junior to stab home from close range.
It was the 47th time Leeds had opened the scoring under Daniel Farke, with the previous 46 occasions having resulted in 40 victories and six draws for the West Yorkshire side. The omens were hardly good for MCarrick and his players.
Things would have got even worse for the hosts had Mark Travers not parried a well-struck effort from James four minutes later, with Leeds’ right winger enjoying some early joy against Iling-Junior. The Aston Villa loanee has had a good last month, but there were times last night when he looked like a winger being tasked with filling in at full-back. James, all lively bursts and astute movement, took full advantage.
To their credit, Boro played their way back into the game after their shaky start. Aidan Morris and Hayden Hackney got a grip of things in midfield, and while a wasteful Iheanacho fired well over after he was teed up by Burgzorg, the Teessiders were at least playing much more of the game in the Leeds half.
Boro had the ball in the net midway through the opening period – Tommy Conway was rightly flagged offside as he swept home from close range following a scramble from a corner – but Leeds were still the side playing the slicker football, particularly through midfield, and they were denied a second goal when an assistant’s flag wrongly went up 11 minutes before the break.
Tanaka was stood behind Hackney when Solomon swung the ball into the box from the left-hand side, but the Japanese midfielder was flagged offside as he stabbed home at the back post. It was a poor decision, and a huge let-off for Boro.
Leeds threatened again at the start of the second half, with Travers saving from Joel Piroe after the forward spun away from Rav van den Berg in the 18-yard box, and with the Boro goal leading an increasingly charmed life, the visitors spurned another excellent opportunity to double their lead in the 54th minute.
James galloped away from Iling-Junior after the full-back ill-advisedly leaped in to try to win possession, but with Piroe and Solomon both unmarked in the middle, the Wales international fired a wasteful cross across the face of the area. With a degree more composure, he would almost certainly have provided either of his team-mates with an opportunity they could not have missed.
Boro needed a route back into the game, but when an unmarked Azaz was presented with the ball on the right of the Leeds box, he blazed a poor effort well over the bar.
Hackney fired a first-time volley at Darlow, who has been promoted to number one at Leeds ahead of Illan Meslier, as the Teessiders continued to push for an equaliser, and as the second half wore on, so Boro’s attacking began to become more dangerous.
Hackney was becoming more of a factor breaking from midfield, and when the England Under-21 international slipped Burgzorg into the right of the area shortly after the hour mark, the Dutch winger fired a shot into Darlow’s midriff.
Leeds brought on Bamford as part of a flurry of substitutions to try to make the game safe, and the former Boro striker was the subject of the night’s second incorrect offside call with 14 minutes remaining.
Bamford was level with Anfernee Dijksteel as he broke onto fellow substitute Wilfried Gnonto’s through ball, but for the second time on the night, an assistant’s flag resulted in a perfectly-good goal being disallowed.
