Captain Liam Cooper has led Leeds United to a promotion challenge and is insistent that Tuesday night’s defeat to Queens Park Rangers will not be the defining moment, per quotes published by the Yorkshire Post.
Defeat at Loftus Road meant our game in hand over Norwich City and Sheffield United was not utilised to the maximum and we now have to beat fourth-placed West Bromwich Albion on Friday to stay on their coattails in case they falter.
The pre-New Year scenes of seven wins on the bounce are certainly no more if the sluggish January had not raised enough concerns.
Our captain, though, refutes the suggestion that United lack a self-belief to get the job done and that the “real chance” scuppered at QPR will dent the confidence in the dressing room to secure top-flight football for our centenary year.
“We are confident in our own ability and our team spirit and we know we have got enough in that dressing room to get us over the line,” said Cooper. “We have just got to keep working hard, that’s been the moral all season and we will keep doing that.
“It was a real chance for us [against QPR] and we have let ourselves down. It’s a very disappointed dressing room but we have got to dust ourselves down and go again, that’s all we can do.
“It’s back to the drawing board and we will be working hard again for a big game on Friday. It’s a massive game.”
If we do lose two on the bounce and Darren Moore’s Baggies get one over us at Elland Road, we would at least stay third in the table.
However, Norwich will know that a win at 20th-placed Millwall on Saturday could stretch their lead over us to five points.