Liam Rosenior praises Luke Ayling for the role he played during Leeds United penalty incident

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Leeds United secured a valuable victory against Bolton Wanderers in the Championship on Saturday.

Sky Sports pundit Liam Rosenior has praised Luke Ayling for the role he played when Leeds were awarded a penalty during their 2-1 win against Bolton on Saturday afternoon in the Championship.

Early in the first half, Pawel Olkowski hacked down Tyler Roberts in the penalty area with the youngster keen to take the spot-kick ahead of the bonafide taker Patrick Bamford.

Whilst the discussions between the two weren’t heated, it was clearly visible that Roberts wanted to take the penalty before Ayling stepped in and ushered him away from Bamford – he went on to open the scoring.

Speaking to EFL Championship on Sky Sports Football (23/02/2019), Roseinor admitted that he didn’t mind both players wanting to step up for the team, but did credit Ayling for dampening the situation.

“I really like the role Luke Ayling plays in this,” Rosenior told Sky Sports Football. “I like the fact that two players want to take the penalty. It shows that they are willing to be accountable, but at the same time, you want someone to take [control].

“But the full-back union there. ‘Go on get away, Tyler Roberts’. And it’s a great decision because Patrick Bamford tucks it away. He’s a clinical striker and he’s going to be very important for Leeds in the running.”

As mentioned, Bamford slotted home the penalty with ease to give his side the lead before Mark Beevers equalised for his team six minutes later.

Leeds then pressed for another goal as it seemed that the relegation-threatened outfit might be walking away from Elland Road with a much-needed point in their battle to stay in the division.

But Bolton goalkeeper, Remi Matthews made an error of judgment midway through the second half when Ezgjan Alioski’s left-footed cross from the right-hand side ended up lobbing the keeper and handing the home team a valuable three points.

Either way, Marcelo Bielsa and his supporters will not care how they registered the points because, during this stage of the season, any type of performance is acceptable as long as it generates points.