Leeds United head coach Paul Heckingbottom felt a crucial ten seconds in the second half cost his team the chance of coming away with anything from their game at Fulham.
Leeds were already trailing 1-0 to a Kevin McDonald goal when Leeds striker Caleb Ekuban was presented with a great chance to draw them level.
The Ghanaian striker, who netted his first Championship goal in Leeds last game against Bolton Wanderers, saw his effort saved by Fulham goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli. To compound the miss, Fulham hit Leeds with a quick counter-attack from the Bettinelli save, with the ball eventually falling to Aleksander Mitrovic and he swept the ball home to double the lead.
Heckingbottom couldn’t help but point at the crucial moment after the game.
“We miss a golden opportunity and 10 seconds later they go two up. You could see other players sink to their knees and it hurts. We were going with everything at them and it was a big moment in the game,” Heckingbottom told the Yorkshire Evening Post.
“But you flip that and you have to be in control all the time. We want to be one of the teams at the top of the league and you have to play with that drive, that emotion and commitment but you tred a fine line. You want to be right at the edge.”
Despite going 2-0 down, Leeds still had good chances to cut the deficit. Substitute Jay-Roy Grot somehow headed over from just a yard out. Stuart Dallas had big claims for a penalty waved away by the officials and Pablo Hernandez saw his free-kick go just wide of a post.
The defeat for Leeds sees them drop back into the bottom half of the Championship in 13th place.