It will take more than Marty McFly and Doc Brown to transport Leeds back to the promised land but, despite the refrain from Fulham’s supporters, Steve Evans will probably not be getting sacked in the morning. The new Leeds United head coach, taking charge of his first match, may not last long in the job under Massimo Cellino but at least this was a decent start, an impressive display that deserved more than a point.
Chris Wood’s second-half penalty earned Leeds a draw, Evans’s side coming from behind following Moussa Dembélé’s 23rd-minute strike. It was an evening that began with Leeds fans calling on Cellino to leave the club following a second Football League ban but ended with Evans and his players receiving a flurry of applause from the 4,000 away supporters.
If this was the day that McFly and Brown “lived the dream”, famously time-travelling to 21 October 2015 in Back to the Future, they would have missed an awful lot where Leeds United are concerned. The club have had 18 permanent managers, won promotion, the league title, reached a European semi-final, been relegated twice, fallen into administration and been promoted once in the last 30 years.
For Fulham, this was relatively abject stuff. The owner, Shahid Khan, was in the standsbefore Jacksonville Jaguars’ NFL game in London this weekend and will surely not have been impressed by the performance of a team lacking ideas.
“I’m very humbled. I was almost choking going across the pitch,” said Evans. “You stay as the Leeds United manager if you win football matches. What’s longevity in football these days, six months, a season?I think they [the players] saw a corner turned when Steve Evans walked in. You have to be straight with players. Perhaps they have to apply themselves a little bit differently. My view is that he [Cellino] doesn’t want to be changing managers, he wants some stability.”
Stuart Dallas had the first opportunity, meeting Wood’s knock-down from a long ball with a powerful drive at Joe Lewis, the Fulham goalkeeper who was deputising for Andy Lonergan. Soon it was Wood who came close, the New Zealand striker capitalising on miscommunication between Dan Burn and Luke Garbutt at the far post only to see his shot blocked.
The first half was all Leeds, but for Dembélé’s goal after 23 minutes. Out of nothing the visiting defence were caught flat-footed and the French forward dashed past Sol Bamba before releasing a shot across goal that went through the goalkeeper, Marco Silvestri. Cue the home crowd’s chants at Evans.
Leeds’ pressure paid off in the 64th minute when the substitute Jordan Botaka’s corner rebounded off the arm of Ben Pringle – a Leeds lad – and the referee, Keith Hill, awarded a penalty for handball. Lewis got a firm touch on Wood’s strike yet could not prevent it nestling in the bottom corner.
They almost secured the points late on but were thrice denied by Lewis. Cook’s nimble feet slipped Mirco Antenucci through but the legs of the goalkeeper kept the Italian out, before Dallas’ curling effort from the left edge of the area was expertly tipped over and Antenucci was thwarted once more.
The Fulham manager Kit Symons said: “A disappointing performance from us really. We’ve got to be quite thankful to get a point from that, Leeds had the better chances and Joe Lewis had a good game in goal for us.” On Khan’s presence, the Fulham manager added: “He’s a little disappointed and frustrated like all of us. But he’s very supportive.”
