Patrick Bamford aims brilliant dig at Leeds United v Middlesbrough officials as Luke Ayling reacts
The experienced Leeds United striker should have had his first goal of the season at former club Middlesbrough.
Patrick Bamford joked it was great to cap off a Leeds United milestone with a goal last night after seeing his late finish against Middlesbrough wrongly ruled out for offside.
Bamford was handed a second appearance off the bench in four days on Tuesday as Leeds ended a run of three straight draws to beat Middlesbrough 1-0. Daniel James scored the game’s only goal inside two minutes, getting on the end of Manor Solomon’s cross before his side were made to withstand plenty of pressure from Michael Carrick’s in-form side.
But in reality, the scoreline should have been far more comfortable as Leeds twice had goals wrongly disallowed for offside. The first saw Ao Tanaka tap in a Solomon cross only for the assistant referee to raise his flag - it was later noted that was the same assistant who wrongly disallowed goals against Coventry City and Millwall over the past two months.
Substitute Bamford, making his 200th appearance for the club, then finished off a sweeping late counter-attack and once again, should have put Leeds 2-0 up only for the other assistant referee to incorrectly call for offside. The Whites were therefore made to withstand late pressure and a nervy finish but victory sent them back to the top of the Championship.
And in a post on Instagram, Bamford took a swipe at the officials for ruling out what would have been his first goal of the season. Alongside a few pictures from the night, he wrote: “A privilege to make my 200th appearance tonight @Leedsunited. Great to finish it with 3 points and a goal (rolling eyes emoji)…We keep going. #ALAW (blue heart, white heart, yellow heart)”.
Patrick Bamford and Daniel Farke take aim at officials for Leeds United call
Bamford showed plenty of encouraging signs in just his second substitute appearance since suffering a hamstring injury on New Year’s Day, having replaced the out-of-form Joel Piroe. The 31-year-old held up play, won crucial fouls and made a brilliant slide tackle challenge deep into added-time before sending Isaac Schmidt away down the right.
And the striker’s experience was clearly valued by teammates, with Junior Firpo writing in the comments: “It's just so great to have you back tbf.. (crown emoji)”. Liam Cooper also wrote ‘there he is (heart emoji)’ while Middlesbrough player Luke Ayling, who was injured for the meeting with his former side, posted three handshake emojis.
Bamford was not the only one to take aim at Tuesday night’s officiating team, with manager Farke particularly irked by Tanaka’s disallowed goal, given it was the third goal in two months to be ruled out by the same assistant. Replays showed the Japanese international was comfortably onside in getting on the end of James’ cross, as was Bamford.
"I can't do anything because right now if I would be here with a big speech then I'd probably have to watch the next game from the gantry," Farke said. "I know it's a really difficult job but I'm really struggling. Two disallowed goals. The second [Bamford's] was perhaps tight. What I don't understand, we have this rule if it's in doubt give it to the offence. It seems the assistant waves the flag that he's a bit in the spotlight.
“I'm really struggling to find proper words for having the same assistant ruling out three good goals in eight weeks for offside. If they were difficult to see I could live with this. Why do we keep sending this assistant to games for Leeds United? If he is there out of coincidence with mistakes against us, at some point you should protect him. I'm not sure why he's always the assistant for us and rules out goals that should stand. We're playing for such a big reward, going up to the Premier League, millions of pounds.”
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