Hwang Hee-Chan strikes early for Wolves in this Premier League battle. Leeds’ Raphinha is forced off with an ankle injury, before Rodrigo scores from the spot to earn the home team a 1-1 draw at Elland Road.
Striker Rodrigo gave Leeds United a 1-1 home draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers by scoring an injury-time penalty, to cancel out Hwang Hee-Chan’s early strike for the visitors in the English Premier League (EPL) on Saturday.
It was a poor performance by Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds outfit, who had to dig deep after an impotent performance for much of the contest. However, they rescued a point after picking up momentum in the closing stages.
Hwang was in the right place for his 10th-minute goal. He steered in a shot with the outside of his foot from close range after Nelson Semedo went clear and squared the ball to Raul Jimenez. The Mexican striker’s subsequent effort rebounded kindly to the South Korea attacker and he finished with ease.
Leeds were the better team in the first half but failed to create much in attacking areas against a well-drilled Wolves defence. Visiting goalkeeper Jose Sa smothered a Raphinha effort from long range, before Jack Harrison smashed the ball well wide from a good position inside the area.
Home goalkeeper Illan Meslier was forced into a low save from Rayan Ait Nouri’s drive shortly after half-time and Leeds struggled to create many chances before Sa repelled Joe Gelhardt’s shot with a fantastic save in the 79th minute.
Leeds’ task increased in difficulty when Raphinha had to be replaced by Crysencio Summerville after a strong challenge from Wolves defender Romain Saiss, but the hosts refused to let the injury affect a spirited comeback.
Gelhardt, who came on as a second-half substitute, capped a fine individual performance when he won the spot kick with a slaloming run which forced Semedo to pull him down. Rodrigo made no mistake in sending Sa the wrong way and netting the penalty.
Bruno Lage’s Wolves, who stretched their unbeaten league run to four games, are 10th in the EPL table on 13 points from nine games. Leeds stay 17th on seven points.
