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
45+5 mins: Unconvincing from Meslier but he flaps the ball clear from the corner.
Leeds 0-1 Southampton
45+4 mins: Nice work by Downes who skips past a couple fo sliding challenges and slips in Armstrong. His shot is blocked for a corner - last chance before the break
Leeds 0-1 Southampton
45+3 mins: Another dangerous cross from Smallbone and Rodon does well to intercept and lash clear. Leeds holding on for half-time here.
SAVE! Leeds 0-1 Southampton
45 mins: Smallbone whips a free-kick in from out on the right and it’s very clever as Armstrong nips towards the front post, takes a touch and fires across the goalkeeper. Meslier does brilliantly to get down to his right and push the ball away. Leeds then hack the second ball clear when a Southampton player should have been attacking the rebound.
Ryan Fraser booked as he kicks the ball away after a foul to stop Leeds counter-attacking. Silly yellow really.
Five minutes of added time to be played.
Leeds 0-1 Southampton
43 mins: Over-eager from Summerville and he gets the second yellow card of the day. He lunges in on Harwood-Bellis in the Southampton box but is slightly over the top of the ball and he catches the Saints centre-back. Yellow card the correct call.
Leeds 0-1 Southampton
42 mins: Better from Leeds in the closing stages of this first half as they have sustained possession in the Southampton half and pu a couple of speculative balls into the box.
OOOOF! Gruev and Downes both crunch in for a 50-50 ball and you can hear the ferocity of the collision. Almost feel sorry for the ball, the way it was smashed from both sides there.
Leeds 0-1 Southampton
40 mins: Summerville forces a corner when his cross is blocked by Walker-Peters, who has largely kept the Dutchman quiet so far.
Summerville takes the corner himself and McCarthy is able to punch to the edge of the box before Southampton win a free-kick when Piroe is called for handball as the ball gets played back into the mixer.
Leeds 0-1 Southampton
39 mins: First yellow card of the day is then quickly shown to Jan Bednarek. The Southampton centre-back cleans out Gnonto by going through the back of him and referee John Brooks has no choice but to book him.
Leeds 0-1 Southampton
38 mins: Leeds haven’t really settled since that Southampton goal. They need to collect themselves and establish a proper foothold again as quickly as possible.
Downes clatters into Gray to concede a free-kick. The West Ham loanee is playing the enforcer role for Southampton so far today.
Leeds 0-1 Southampton
34 mins: Ah, you hate to see it. David Brooks can’t move freely with that left shoulder injury, he’s holding his arm gingerly, and he has to be subbed off.
He looks absolutely distraught, covers his face with his shirt and is then in tears as he exits the field. Samuel Edozie comes on in his place.
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