Leeds United 1 - 1 Coventry City

[dutchman]

Leeds held to home draw by battling Coventry



Leeds failed to capitalise on Ipswich dropping points in the East Anglian derby as they were held to a draw by Coventry at Elland Road.

They would have closed the gap to the top two of Leicester and the Tractor Boys to eight points with a victory, but the draw sees them sit 10 points adrift.

Crysencio Summerville slotted home his 10th Championship goal of the season to give Daniel Farke's side a 58th-minute lead.

But the advantage did not last long as Bobby Thomas headed Tatsuhiro Sakamoto's cross past keeper Illan Meslier nine minutes later to claim a battling point for the Sky Blues.

The draw ended a run of seven consecutive home wins for Daniel Farke's side, with Thomas' equaliser ensuring the first league meeting between the two clubs since February 2012 ended all-square.

Summerville, who was involved in a heated exchanged with Coventry's players at the full-time whistle, has now either scored (five goals) or assisted (five goals) in his past seven games at Elland Road.

Leeds dominated the early stages, with Georginio Rutter having a shot saved and Joel Piroe testing Brad Collins in the Coventry goal.

Mark Robins' side coped well with the pressure and then had a couple of quickfire chances themselves, with Ben Sheaf having a shot save before Sakamoto missed the target after being played in by Ellis Simms.

Leeds went close after 20 minutes when Dan James sent a ball across the face of goal but Rutter could not quite get on the end of it.

Wales international James' pace was causing problems for the Sky Blues and he had a shot blocked before claiming unsuccessfully for a penalty after going down under pressure while through on goal.

With the first half coming towards a close, Rutter spun away from a defender and fired a shot which went narrowly wide.

Summerville put Leeds in front shortly before the hour mark, finishing off a slick move which saw Rutter slide the ball in behind the Coventry defence to find the run of the Dutch forward, who slotted nicely past Collins.

But the Sky Blues reacted well and Thomas headed them back on level terms in the 67th minute from Sakamoto's pinpoint cross.

Mark Robins' team had to hold as they battled to the draw, with Rutter forcing Collins into a fine double save before James had a chance to win it in the 95th minute but missed from close range under pressure from Thomas.

Leeds have taken only one point from their past two games, while Coventry, who have lost just one of their past seven, drop a place to 15th.

Coventry boss Mark Robins told BBC Coventry & Warwickshire:

"I'm really proud of everybody. I think that when you come to a place like Leeds, in any normal circumstance, it is a difficult game. They are a Premier League team, they have Premier League quality.

"On the back of that, we played on Wednesday, they played on Tuesday. They've got unbelievable depth and unbelievable quality so for us not to just hold them but carry a threat, everybody should be really proud.

"We were backed fantastically by the support and the fact we have drawn 1-1, it feels like a win. We've scored a really well-worked goal and had other opportunities to score as well.

"We know how good these teams are and the way they (Leeds) have performed here this season, they are unbeaten here, so to have that opportunity to go and maybe nick a win was brilliant and credit to the players. It should give them plenty of confidence moving forward."