Jack Harrison’s brilliant long-range strike in Leeds United’s 5-2 thumping of Newcastle at Elland Road was nothing short of a ‘wonder-goal’, Magpies boss Steve Bruce told the Chronicle.
As anyone in West Yorkshire will tell you, this kind of performance had been coming ever since the Premier League season kicked off three months ago.
Only Liverpool have produced more shots across 2020/21 than Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds (199 in total; 15 per game on average).
And, after being made to pay for their profligacy against the likes of West Ham, Arsenal and Chelsea as they slipped down the table, the division’s most intoxicating team finally made their dominance count as Newcastle arrived at Elland Road.
Patrick Bamford, Rodrigo Moreno, Stuart Dallas and Gianni Alioski all found the net. But it was Harrison’s 88th-minute clincher that will live longest in the memory.
Not that the nature of the goal, fizzed into the top corner from outside the box after a brutal counter-attack, raised a smile from a Newcastle boss left fuming about his side’s dramatic collapse in the final stages.
“You could say the fifth we conceded a wonder-goal or whatever you want to analyse it. But from our perspective it’s bad goals and at this level you get punished,” said Bruce, whose side conceded three times in the final stages.
“I think simply we’ve given three poor goals away in the last ten minutes. I know Leeds caused us problems all evening but we showed a certain resilience and for me always looked a threat the other way.
“Unfortunately we’ve not defended well enough.”
Mark Viduka, Ian Harte, Alan Smith and Harry Kewell all scored the last time Leeds hit five or more in a Premier League clash; a 6-1 thrashing of neighbours Bradford way back in 2001.
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