9 Goal Thriller At St. Andrew's Stadium.

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Leeds United would be thrilled that they are where they want to be as the year 2019 runs out. Manager Marcelo Bielsa and his wards in the last English Championship fixture of the year overcame a 9-goal thriller away at Birmingham City to return to the summit of the Championship table.

Having gone on a 3-match winless run(3-3 Cardiff, 1-2 Fulham & 1-1 Preston), it suddenly felt like familiar territory for Leeds where automatic promotion spot seems to be slipping away from a vantage position. However, the timely victory will give both the gaffer and club a breather.

Birmingham City was not in a good place coming into the clash either. The Blues as they are fondly called have lost 3 & drew 1 in their last 4 league matches. And with relegation threat staring at their face, they were expected to give Leeds a stern fight.

(R-L) Pep Clotet & Marcelo Bielsa

It didn't take long before Leeds confine Birmingham into deeper waters. Two(2) goals in space of 6 minutes{Helder Costa(15') & Jack Harrison(21')} set Leeds on the path of a seemingly easy win, however, the home side had other ideas. Birmingham pulled a goal back 3 minutes before the half-hour mark through teenager Jude Bellingham(27'). Birmingham took matters up a notch and drew level in the 2nd half when Lukas Jutkiewicz nodded home.

Leeds were not going to settle for another draw, they regain the lead when Luke Ayling fired home in the 69 minutes. But for the 2nd time in the match, Birmingham drew level, Foxing Bela(83') heading home from a free-kick. The topsy-turvy match continued when Leeds regained the lead just a minute after losing it, Stuart Dallas(84') poking home to make the scoreline 4-3 with just 6 minutes of play remaining.

Elated Leeds players

There was plenty of time for two(2) more goals to go in. Birmingham levelled for the 3rd time in the match,

Jutkiewicz(90'+ 1) with his 2nd of the match to made scoreline 4 all. Just when it seemed that the points would be shared, Birmingham's Wes Harding(90'+ 5) under pressure put the ball into his own net in the 5th minutes of added time to hand the maximum 3 points to Leeds, a cruel way to end a classic championship fixture.

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Leeds will begin the year 2020 as joint EFL leader(alongside West Brom) with 51 points but ahead on goal difference with +22, 2 goals better than West Brom on +20. See EFL full table

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