West Bromwich Albion vs Leeds United. Sky Bet Championship.
The HawthornsAttendance25,409.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between West Bromwich Albion and Leeds United at The Hawthorns on Friday | Grady Diangana scores winner in the first half for Baggies.
Friday 29 December 2023 23:44, UK
Leeds' hopes of automatic promotion from the Championship suffered another blow as they were beaten 1-0 by West Brom at the Hawthorns.
Grady Diangana's 37th-minute goal was enough to give former Leeds coach Carlos Corberan back-to-back home wins and inflict a second consecutive loss on Daniel Farke's side, who have won one of their last five games and trail second-placed Ipswich by nine points.
And they did little to suggest they could come back from Diangana's fifth goal of the season as they failed to test West Brom goalkeeper Alex Palmer.
But they were perhaps unfortunate not to win a 30th-minute penalty for Cedric Kipre's challenge on Wilfried Gnonto.
Leeds settled quicker and had the ball in the net in the 16th minute when Sam Byram swept home Joel Piroe's cross on the volley, but the full-back had strayed a yard offside.
West Brom were denied the opening goal in the 23rd minute with their first serious attack.
Djed Spence cleared Kipre's low volley off the line from Alex Mowatt's corner before Okay Yokuslu lifted the loose ball over the bar.
Yokuslu then had some defending to do as he blocked Gnonto's shot at the other end.
Leeds were denied what could have been a spot-kick - with Italy forward Gnonto was at the centre of the action.
Ethan Ampadu chipped the ball forward and Gnonto was on to it in a flash only for Kipre to grab him around the waist. The 20-year-old fell to the ground as he shaped to shoot, but referee Graham Scott waved play on.
West Brom punished the visitors by taking the lead in the 37th minute.
Spotting the intelligent run of Jed Wallace, Yokuslu split the defence for the Baggies captain to slide the ball across goal, and although Diangana's first shot was blocked by Joe Rodon, his second attempt flew into the net.
West Brom started the second half brighter but they had a let-off from a free-kick when Rodon glanced a header well over the crossbar with Palmer committing himself but failing to make contact.
Leeds wasted a half chance when Gnonto ballooned a loose ball high and wide from 25 yards after Spence's cross was blocked.
Within seconds Spence's replacement Jaidon Anthony had the chance to equalise but he could not keep his effort down.
Yokuslu was in the right place again defensively when he nodded away Crysencio Summerville's curling shot.
The Baggies went close to a second goal when John Swift picked out the run of fellow substitute Adam Reach, whose attempted lob forced a falling save from Leeds goalkeeper Karl Darlow.
West Brom's Carlos Corberan:
"It was special in terms of the commitment the players put into the game.
"We knew that to beat Leeds you can only have these special wins if you have a lot of good players, if you're a very strong team and you play with a lot of team mentality, team spirit and personality.
"We found good possibilities to cross from our right side with Jed Wallace, and from one of these actions, we scored.
"The second half started balanced, but then they changed formation and were very aggressive with a lot of attacking players and we had to adapt our shape and to defend the goal we scored."
Leeds' Daniel Farke:
"I think the whole stadium saw the situation but they decided not to give us a penalty. Normally if that had been a penalty, it would also have been a red card.
"There was no intention to play the ball so it was a decisive moment in the game. It changed so much against a side who was so focused on defending.
"We started well, but the last two or three per cent brutality to get the shot away was not there - that's why we lost.
"We changed our base formation and brought on offensive players, they brought all their defensive players on and showed great commitment to block our strikes.
"We needed that last few per cent brutality to win those headers or to shoot after a really tidy first touch to get the shot away."
