Leeds United’s second game of the season ended in a 2-2 draw with Southampton at St Mary’s Stadium.
In a very entertaining game, the spoils were shared between the two sides who finished in the bottom five last season. Southampton will enjoy the point more than Leeds, after the Yorkshire club were pegged back from 2-0 up in the last twenty minutes. The heat was a factor for both sides as the temperature scorched, and the bright sun blazed down on the pitch.
Leeds got off on the right foot and looked to be the side in the ascendancy. Brendan Aaronson buzzed about the pitch and for the first 20 minutes, The Whites looked the most likely to break the deadlock. Patrick Bamford flicked an effort past the post and Rasmus Kristensen should have done better when Aaronson whipped the ball into Rodrigo to flick it on across the goal, but the Dane struggled to keep his eye on the ball and got his header at the back post all wrong. Saints’ Stuart Armstrong raced through on goal and a great last ditch, lunging tackle from Diego Llorente denied him a shot on goal. After a VAR check, it was proved how good a tackle it was.
Frustrations rose for Jesse Marsch and the travelling fans as Bamford was forced off with what looked like a groin injury, midway through the first half. Marsch shuffled his pack and brought on Dan James. The winger was back after serving his suspension and went straight up top to lead the line. He then had the best chance of the half when good work from Jack Harrison allowed him to sprint through on goal, only to see his low drive tipped round the post. Not too many more chances came and an entertaining half ended 0-0.
The second period got off to a frantic start, Leeds, again started brightly and went ahead within a minute of the restart. Harrison continued to cause problems down the left and he put in a fabulous cross to Rodrigo’s perfectly timed run and the Spaniard smartly swept the ball past Bazunu in the Saint’s goal. Leeds continued to press and forced Southampton into giving away successive corners, one of those was flicked onto the roof of the net from Rodrigo. Another set piece saw Leeds double their advantage when Aaronson delivered a corner onto the head of Pascal Struijk and he saw his looping header going in, but in true striker instinct, Rodrigo nodded it home on the line.
Southampton shuffled their pack and the subs made a massive impact. Joe Aribo dragged the saints back into the game and forced a host of Leeds defenders to put their bodies on the line to block his shot. A few moments later, it was 1-2. Aribo was calm on receiving the ball in the box and took his chance well. He dropped his shoulder and somehow managed to keep possession from an incoming slide tackle from Illan Meslier and blasted a shot through a packed goal line. The home side was level again only a few minutes later when a sublime pass from Sekou Mara caught Harrison napping and picked out the run of Kyle Walker-Peters, to slot past Meslier into the far corner.
Leeds made substitutions, albeit a little too late. Luis Sinisterra came on for his debut and Leeds tried to rally, the in-form Rodrigo had another effort saved at full stretch by Bazunu and then Meslier was forced to make a similar save to deny the Saints all three points. The full-time whistle sounded and the points were shared. Leeds have now taken 4 points from their opening two games, Southampton with one point from two.
Southampton 2 (Aribo 72′, Walker-Peters 81′)
Leeds United 2 (Rodrigo 46′, 60′)
Venue: St Mary’s Stadium.
Ratings: Meslier (7) Kristensen (6) Koch (6) Llorente (7) Struijk (6) Aaronson (7) Roca (6) Adams (6) Harrison (8) Rodrigo (9) Bamford (5)
Subs: James (6) Klich (5) Sinisterra (5) Forshaw (5)
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