Leeds 1 Leicester 1: Watch Patrick Bamford’s ‘miss of the season’ as he blows last-minute chance to win game
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PATRICK BAMFORD fluffed his lines with a last-gasp chance to beat Leicester and give Leeds a giant step towards safety.
The striker was left completely free at the back post at a 90th-minute corner - only to fumble the ball wide with the goal gaping.
Jamie Vardy had only scored one goal in the Premier League and that was back in October.
But in a game that Leicester would simply not afford to lose, Vardy delivered a strike that could prove to be just as crucial as those he plundered when his team won the Premier League seven years ago.
New Leicester manager Dean Smith was witnessing a pathetic performance from his team who were trailing to a first-half goal from Luis Sinisterra.
Yet Smith unleashed Vardy for Tete in the 70th minute and ten minutes later, Vardy drilled the ball past Illan Meslier to scrape a point.
Leicester were relieved rather than delighted at the end. Leeds were just incredibly frustrated.
They will look back on this as two points lost, particularly as Bamford missed that absolute sitter in the 90th minute to settle the game.
Equally, just as they seemed ready to leave the Premier League with a whimper, at last Leeds proved they are ready for a bit of a fight.
Even so, Javi Gracia really needs a win at Bournemouth on Sunday.
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Yet the frustration continued here as to why Gracia is refusing to play the supremely-talented Willy Gnonto.
The supporters continued to chant his name while Bamford returned to the side but looked so incredibly slow and that late miss did not help him.
Yet the biggest surprise was that Leeds keeper Meslier remained in goal, despite suffering a dodgy performance in the 2-1 loss to Fulham.
The fact he had also had 13 put past him in three matches illustrated he has not exactly been in sparkling form but equally, it would be unfair to blame everything on him.
And at least Leeds defended better than they had in the previous matches before looking unconvincing at the end.
Leeds got away with one in the seventh minute when Youri Tielemans stunning long-range effort was ruled out by VAR as Boubakary Soumare was offside.
Had James Maddison been an inch taller, he would have got a connection to score the opener and he even used his fingers to Meslier to illustrate how far away he was from the ball.
Yet after a poor start, the disallowed goal not only lifted the crowd but also the players.
And Leeds, potentially, scored a goal that could have resulted in a key win.
It came after a clever, super-quick move, something which we have not seen much of from the home team at Elland Road this season.
It all started with a Luke Ayling throw, Harrison was too savvy for full-back Victor Kristiansen and he cut inside and delivered the type of perfect, dipping cross into an area which is horrible to defend.
Sinisterra was there at the far post, just behind Timothy Castagne, to score with a header.
A key player for Leeds in their successful fight against the drop last season was Raphinha and it was his summer replacement, Sinisterra, who scored.
Initially, Gracia watched with his arms folded and once it had sunk in, he celebrated with his backroom staff.
For Sinisterra, a £21million signing from Feyenoord, this was his fifth Premier League goal but his involvement ended just after the half hour when damaging his ankle, despite initially attempting to continue.
Ayling was slightly lucky to avoid only a yellow card for a scissor tackle on Harvey Barnes and he did not seem to be completely in control even though he won the ball cleanly.
Rodrigo, who also landed a yellow, should have done much better at the start of the second half but a weak shot was blocked by Wout Faes.
Leicester had plenty of the ball but not even the arrival but only a double change of Vardy for Tete and Patson Daka and Barnes made a difference.
And Kelechi Iheanacho broke and despite injuring his groin while skipping over Ayling, he fed Maddison.
He found Vardy who was never going to miss from that position.
Vardy thought he had scored a winner but was offside and then Bamford should have clinched it but somehow missed.
And that came after Daniel Iversen made a great save to deny Marc Roca.
Leicester probably deserved a point for their late rally but they must do a hell of a lot better when they face Everton on Monday.
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You still feel, though, Leicester are too good to go down. But you cannot say the same of Leeds.
Here's how the drama unfolded at Elland Road...
