Leeds United missed a great opportunity to take top spot in the Championship on Saturday.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall insists Leicester City were made to keep away from Ipswich Town’s derby-day clash against Norwich on Saturday, with focus only on their upcoming clash against Birmingham a few hours ahead.
Leicester were the undoubted winners on a weekend in which the Championship promotion race took another turn, with the Foxes climbing from third to first after beating Birmingham 2-1. They were only able to jump two places as those above them both tasted defeat.
Ipswich were beaten 1-0 at Norwich in the early kick-off, handing the impetus to both Leeds and Leicester. But only the latter came out on top in the 3pm kick-offs and Dewsbury-Hall insists they were focused only on their fixture.
“We were specifically told not to watch the Ipswich game,” Dewsbury-Hall told Foxes Hub. “We weren’t to focus on anyone else. The first we heard of it was when it got announced during the warm-up.
“We’re only bothered about us. We can’t be too bothered about other teams as it will affect the way we play. I know if we do our job, we’ll be there. We’ve played 40 games this season, we’ve got six more. That’s nothing in the grand scheme of things. If we put another six performances in, we’ll be there.”
Leeds were unable to capitalise on the opportunity handed to them, losing 2-1 at Coventry City in an underwhelming display with Joel Piroe’s late effort mere consolation after Ellis Simms and Haji Wright put the hosts two up. Farke admitted after the game that his side were aware of the Ipswich result, albeit the German insisted it had no bearing on the performance.
“Yes, we were aware of the result (at Norwich) but it doesn’t doesn’t help that much,” he said. “We would rather fully concentrate on our own game and it was not like we were over the moon after Norwich won.
“Yes, each away game is difficult. Ipswich had a difficult game against a really good Norwich side, we had a difficult game against a really good Coventry side and you have to respect each game. If you’re too much looking on what happens on other pitches you can’t be yourself. This was not the reason that we lost the game.”
Leeds have an opportunity to turn things around quickly with consecutive home games against bottom-half sides, starting with the visit of Sunderland to Elland Road on Tuesday before Blackburn Rovers on Saturday. Defeat on Saturday leaves no other option but to hope one of Ipswich and Leicester drop points, although plenty more twists are expected between now and May.
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