Leeds v Southampton LIVE: Championship play-off final result and reaction as Saints dramatically promoted
Leeds 0-1 Southampton: Adam Armstrong’s first-half goal enough to send the Saints back into the Premier League
Southampton won promotion back to the Premier League after beating Leeds 1-0 in the Championship play-off final at Wembley, earning an immediate return to the top tier following relegation last May.
Adam Armstrong was the Southampton matchwinner as his first-half goal was enough to see off a Leeds side that struggled to muster a meaningful response, with substitute Daniel James coming closest after his shot thundered against the bar late in the second half.
Southampton will join Leicester and Ipswich in the Premier League next season, the latter being promoted after a 22-year absence from the top flight, while the Foxes also returned at the first attempt after relegation last year.
Meanwhile, Leeds, whose ownership group contains major-winning golfers Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, suffered more play-off heartache as they failed to go up via the route for a sixth time. After winning only one of their last six regular-season games to miss out on automatic promotion, questions will also be raised about the future of manager Daniel Farke.
Relive the clash with our blog below:
Leeds 0-1 Southampton
90+6 mins: McCarthy hasn’t been overly tested today but that could be the save that sends Southampton back to the Premier League. Still time for Leeds though as they throw men forward again.
McCarthy comes and claims a ball over the top.
SAVE! Leeds 0-1 Southampton
90+4 mins: Goalscorer Armstrong does his defensive duty, wins the ball back out wide and lashes clear. It’s 11 men behind the ball time for the Saints.
Leeds come again and James lets fly from distance. It’s low to McCarthy’s right and he sprawls to push it away! Leeds pressing for the equaliser.
Leeds 0-1 Southampton
90+3 mins: Joseph does brilliantly down the right, cutting inside defenders and squaring the ball into the Southampton box but no Leeds player is there and it’s cleared.
Leeds 0-1 Southampton
90+2 mins: After a protracted period, both James and Walker-Peters have their heads strapped up and will try to play on. We’ll resume with a drop ball
Leeds 0-1 Southampton
90 mins: A nasty clash of heads between Dan James and Kyle Walker-Peters, with both men receiving lengthy treatment on the pitch.
Nine minutes of injury-time signalled but it may be more after this spell.
WATCH: Dan James thumps the crossbar
Millimetres away. Here was that James effort that absolutely clattered the bar for Leeds.
Leeds 0-1 Southampton
86 mins: James now fouled at the other end of the pitch by Downes, who finally gets a yellow card. It’s faintly remarkable that he hasn’t been booked yet in this game.
Leeds then come forward, Joseph cuts inside and feeds Rutter whose shit flies well over. That was a half-decent position squandered.
CROSSBAR! Leeds 0-1 Southampton
84 mins: OH MY WORD! THAT IS UNBELIEVABLE.
A lovely one-two on the edge of the box and the ball sits up for James to absolutely hammer the ball at goal. It flies past McCarthy and thunders off the underside of the crossbar but somehow stays out! Head in hands from Farke and the fans as Southampton scramble clear.
You can’t come closer than that!
Leeds 0-1 Southampton
82 mins: Bodies all over the pitch now as Ampadu the latest man to go down. He’s slow to get up but does so without treatment needed.
20-year-old attacker Mateo Joseph thrown on by Daniel Farke now as left-back Junior Firpo comes off. For Southampton, Edozie (who came on for the injured Brooks in the first half) is subbed off for Ryan Manning. We’re entering the endgame now.
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