Paul Heckingbottom makes his feelings clear about Caleb Ekuban’s miss for Leeds United

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Leeds United lost 2-0 away at Fulham on Tuesday night.

Leeds United manager Paul Heckingbottom has told Leeds Live that he won’t blame striker Caleb Ekuban after his miss in the 2-0 defeat at Fulham.

Having beaten Bolton Wanderers 2-1 on Friday afternoon, Leeds were hoping to produce a shock at in-form Fulham on Tuesday night, but fell to another defeat.

Kevin McDonald inadvertently put Fulham into a first-half lead, deflecting the ball into the back of the net without much knowledge, before Aleksandar Mitrovic hit the second after the break.

Fulham now move to 18 games unbeaten in the Championship as they continue to push for promotion to the Premier League, but Leeds were left to wonder what might have been.

At 1-0 down, striker Caleb Ekuban – who scored the opener against Bolton on Friday – was played in on goal, but he couldn’t take the chance as he fired a left-footed effort straight at Marcus Bettinelli.

Ekuban was therefore denied just a second league goal for Leeds, and his profligacy in front of goal has received criticism from fans this season, with more coming his way after his latest miss.

However, manager Paul Heckingbottom has told Leeds Live that he isn’t blaming Ekuban at all, making it clear that Leeds win and lose as a team – and after suggesting that Ekuban’s chances are all falling on his weaker left foot, he noted that Leeds missed an even easier chance later in the game when Jay-Roy Grot headed over the crossbar.

“In his defence, they all seem to be falling on his left foot, leaning away from goal, but we win as a team, we lose as a team. That’s it,” said Heckingbottom. “The other moments. We had another chance, maybe even easier. It’s the same when we concede goals. We concede as a team. Three or four big moments we were in control of, scoring goals, conceding goals went against us,” he added.