Leeds bring the mayhem: The four big first-half moments that propelled them to Wembley

Elland Road before kick-off should come with a trigger warning.

Leeds United put scarves on every seat, just as they did for their last Championship play-off appearance five years earlier. It looks the same and the memories of that shocking night return: Kiko Casilla and Liam Cooper on different planets, Derby County resurrected from 6 meters down, the play-offs doing what they always do to Leeds, scarves left to rot as the stadium evacuated.

The minutes before kick-off are reminiscent of this too: the massive twirl of scarves dangling above heads and then held aloft as Leeds and Norwich City emerge from the tunnel. It’s 0-0 after the first leg of their semi-final. This is where the mayhem traditionally finds Leeds. But not tonight. Or not in the way they fear.

Four big moments in the first half and Norwich are burnt. Four key moments into the first half and the fear and loathing is turning into the feeling Leeds thought they would never have: that these are the play-offs and the club loves them. Four big moments in the first half, and the final beckons.

Scarves are back, but this time it’s different (Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Seven minutes: Gruev’s ingenuity

Marcelino Nunez doesn’t need to foul Joe Rodon. Rodon’s through ball is overstruck and he rolls in for a Norwich kick. But Nunez gets to the quarterback’s flank and puts a leg over him, taking him down.

Norwich’s players look set to set up a three-man wall but their goalkeeper Angus Gunn palmes it away from Ashley Barnes. Nunez and Jonathan Rowe sit together as Gunn takes it upon himself to turn to his far post in search of a catch. Crysencio Summerville crosses the ball, leaving Ilia Gruev to shoot.

Farke’s central midfielders have not scored all season; no single purpose between them. Gruev scored just one senior goal in his entire career, in Germany’s Bundesliga 2 with Werder Bremen 25 months earlier. Leeds didn’t sign him for that. He is a midfielder who likes to patrol the grass in front of the centre-backs.

Gruev sits down and Rowe steps to his left where Summerville is on the move. There is no wall left to speak of and everyone is looking for a cross. Gruev sees the gap. Gruev attacks the near post. He has curl, he has accuracy and Gunn, a nightmare of a start to the evening, ends up curled around the woodwork, the ball into the net behind him.

Elland Road lights up. Shane Duffy gives Norwich the universal ‘calm the hell down’ signal by thrusting his palms towards the pitch. But it’s the first cut. The killer cut.

Gruev sprints in celebration as Norwich shake in their boots (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)

20 minutes: No pyro, no party

What is Joel Piroe? Is she nine or ten? Daniel Farke knows for sure? Is he?

Piroe has struggled to get fit recently, so much so that Farke left him out of Sunday’s first leg at Norwich despite an injury to Patrick Bamford. But Leeds could afford to be conservative at Carrow Road. This is Elland Road, where the crowd bounces off the walls like Minions on amphetamines. Piroe is the positive choice. And he will pay Farke back by playing a blinder.

Norwich are rattled, despite Duffy’s claim to calm down. They have no good possession and no rigid form. If David Wagner sets them up to be determined and survive cautiously, that’s not exactly the plan in Rorke’s Drift.

Gnonto comes in with the ball on the right wing. Ben Gibson doesn’t shut it down and retire properly. Gnonto’s cross is sexy, stroked through the corridor of uncertainty towards a lurking Piroe. Gunn is coming for it. And then it stops. He’s in no man’s land as Piroe parries a head kick.

Semi-final done. Close.

Piroe eases the header past Gunn (Michael Regan/Getty Images)

30 minutes: Spiderman’s hand

Any amount of time spent watching Derby win five years ago would have told Norwich that Elland Road is prone to crippling doubt; inherently paranoid about the bullet in the post and never more so than in the playoffs.

Recently, Illan Meslier, a goalkeeper with one of the biggest wingspans in football, got into shape. Some of his shots made it look like he was wearing sandals. It has been an early struggle since Leeds’ last promotion when he was 20 and people were talking about the future France number one.

The thing about Meslier, though, is that he pulls off big saves out of nowhere. And it’s there when Barnes sends a pass forward from halfway beyond Ethan Ampadu who stretches for it but doesn’t get there. Josh Sargent is out clean with only Meslier to beat.

Meslier comes out to meet him, reaching low but covering an extra base by raising his right hand high in the air. You see years of goaltending drills right there, a reaction practiced so many times and he calls it perfect. Sargent goes for the chip. Meslier’s raised hand meets hers forcefully. This was the occasion to make Elland Road tremble, but Norwich will soon be cooked.

Meslier denies the rushing Sargent (Michael Regan/Getty Images)

40 mins: Rutter’s coup de grace

The tie is 2-0. Norwich is mentally stuck on the A47. As half-time approaches, Duffy and Ben Gibson chirp at each other. A group of their players gather around their box during a break in play, not knowing what to say to each other.

They’re hopelessly vulnerable, and when they lose track of Piroe on the left, he feeds off the mess in front of Gunn.

Summerville can’t get a hold of a low delivery but Duffy gets a leg out and pushes it to Georginio Rutter, who hits a shot off the bar. Rutter who has been mediocre since hernia surgery. Rutter who kept his seat based on what he could do rather than what he did in the last month. Rutter, the cheat code at its peak.

Forty minutes were played and it was over. Farke feels it. Never seen Leeds play better. And Wagner knows it. They still have the second half to go, where Summerville will score a fourth, but from Rutter’s completion, the rest is white noise.

Rutter and game over (Michael Regan/Getty Images)

With eight minutes remaining and Norwich bleeding dry, Cooper comes off the bench. This is for him the end of 10 years of excellent service to Leeds. He will leave at the end of his contract this summer. The layout is a sweet touch.

The final whistle blows, with a final twirl of scarves beckoning. The crowd booed him, but Farke and his players keep it in the box, just because they have to. They huddle near the center circle with Cooper barking at them, telling them in no uncertain terms that promotion is not won in the semi-finals.

At the far end of the pitch, an LED billboard advertises one of Leeds’ sponsors, a North Yorkshire theme park. “Escape to a land of white-knotted walks,” it says.

Let’s call it Wembley.

(Top photo: Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)