Leeds United eased their way to Wembley with an emphatic 4-0 win over Norwich City.
After a cagey 0-0 draw in the first leg, it was anything but at Elland Road last night as Leeds completely romped past Daniel Farke’s former side with arguably their best performance of the season.
Leeds could not have asked for a better start as a brilliantly worked set-piece from Ilia Gruev was too much for Angus Gunn, before Joel Piroe doubled the lead shortly after.
Georginio Rutter, who was back to his best after a difficult first leg, then scored just his second ever goal on home soil in a Leeds shirt to send the hosts into half-time with an incredible 3-0 lead.
Leeds could’ve had even more goals in the second half as Gunn did well to thwart Piroe, but a fourth was added through Crysencio Summerville after some incredible composure from Junior Firpo on the byline.
What it was like at Elland Road in emphatic Leeds victory
In his press conference in the first leg, Farke alluded to the advantage of being at home for the return fixture and Leeds certainly made use of that.
The atmosphere within the ground was building even 10 or 15 minutes before kick-off and when the players ran back into the tunnel after the warm-up, they will have been feeling the energy.
Scarves were placed on every seat, which may have brought back bad memories of the defeat to Derby County five years ago, but it certainly added to the atmosphere last night.
The pre-match rendition of ‘Marching on Together’ was undoubtedly the loudest of the season, and it certainly set the tone for Leeds’ rapid start.
From then on, it was up to the XI on the pitch to keep that energy in the crowd going and they certainly did that. Not just from the goals, but the way they won the ball back constantly, meant the momentum just kept building.
Even Illan Meslier’s crucial save from Josh Sargent brought a huge cheer from around the ground, and that must have given him so much confidence considering his difficult few weeks.
From half-time onwards, it was just a party atmosphere inside Elland Road with all old chants coming out for the likes of Mateusz Klich, Pablo Hernandez and Gaetano Berardi.
Farke also could not have handled what is likely to be Liam Cooper’s final appearance at Elland Road any better. Cooper is out of contract in the summer and not expected to be offered a new one.
As a result, he received an excellent reception whenever he warmed up, and an even better one when he came on. Leeds fans would’ve been on the pitch if he scored.
After the mocking from Leicester City recently, it was also nice to bring out ‘I Predict A Riot’ again at full-time.
Leeds end Elland Road play-off hoodoo
It has been well documented just how poor Leeds’ play-off record has been over the years, but that was one monkey off the back.
That was Leeds’ first home win in the play-offs since 1987, but there is still just one more job that needs doing.
Leeds haven’t been promoted via this route in any of their previous five attempts and hopefully this can be the year that hoodoo ends.