Dan James has claimed that Tyrone Mings’ ‘push’ helped him beat the Aston Villa defender to a crucial header during Leeds United’s 3-3 draw at Villa Park on Wednesday night, as he told BT Sport.
At the end of the first half, with Villa winning 3-1, Rodrigo’s deflected and looping cross resulted in James beating Mings in the air to score his and Leeds’ second of the night.
Despite standing at 6ft4, Mings somehow allowed one of the smallest men on the pitch to get his head on the ball and help bundle the ball home.
It ended up taking the sting out of Villa’s fightback, which saw them score three goals within the space of 13 minutes, after going 1-0 down to an early James opener.
Villa didn’t manage to score in the second half, but Leeds did find the equaliser through Diego Llorente after Mings failed to clear a loose ball.
Nonetheless, this is what James had to say about winning the aerial battle with Mings for one of his two goals yesterday.
“The gaffer keeps telling me to get into them positions,” said James. “If you aren’t there, then you don’t score.
“I have tried to head it. I have gone up and he (Mings) has jumped up with me. I think his push kind of hit my head on the way down, so I would take that all day.”
Following his move from Manchester United in the summer, that was perhaps James’ standout performance since signing on the dotted line for the Yorkshire club.
With Patrick Bamford out injured, the Welsh winger is filling in as a striker and he did remarkably well last night.
There seems no end to Bamford’s foot injury, so James might just have to fill that role for a little longer yet.
And whilst he does that, he is seemingly growing into that role and becoming a key player for Marcelo Bielsa.
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