It was quite a telling moment while there are others Leeds United fans may have missed
Isaac Johnson Leeds United reporter
09:00, 22 Feb 2026
Leeds United manager Daniel Farke salutes the fans
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Leeds United manager Daniel Farke salutes the fans(Image: PA)
Leeds United were on course for their first Premier League away win since September until Tammy Abraham levelled for Aston Villa with barely a minute of regulation time left. Joe Rodon threw his hands in the air while others put hands on knees.
Hands were on heads around an hour earlier when Anton Stach left onlookers astonished with his long-range free kick. The image of Jayden Bogle in pure disbelief when congratulating Stach has done the rounds on social media and will perhaps be one of the images of the season.
So will Leeds’ feat of conceding late, their 14 goals shipped from 75 minutes onwards the most out of any side in the league. Here are some moments missed from yesterday plus another significant one that was quite telling.
Farke’s full-time reaction
Daniel Farke was booed by a few fans at full time upon loss to Aston Villa at Elland Road back in November. That was not the case at Villa Park this time.
Leeds fans - vocal throughout - gave a hearted ovation to their players after the final whistle. They cut more frustrated figures than Farke did - though the manager was indeed annoyed about the late equaliser.
But Farke’s three arm raises towards the visiting crowd, usually reserved for wins, outlined how he felt about the result in Birmingham.
Ahead of the game, Unai Emery shared some warm words with Farke on the touchline, writing in his programme notes how he had a lot of “admiration and respect” for his counterpart. Perhaps even more so now after yesterday.
In-game moments
James Justin gave a wry smile when he went down very easily trying to win a free kick inside five minutes, the officials totally not buying it.
Leeds held their back line well with a number of early offsides. One notable aspect was Farke giving permission for wide centre-halves Pascal Struijk and Justin to come into midfield to track either Emiliano Buendia or Morgan Rogers, with the other four staying back. It meant neither Villa player was allowed too much peace.
On 21 minutes, Karl Darlow’s shout for Jayden Bogle to leave a ball over the top could be heard in the press box. Bogle ignored it and tried to clear - fortunately for him, Bunedia spooned it off target. Darlow gave Bogle evils and a shacke of the head, the defender walking away with his own head bowed.
Pre-match sights
Lucas Perri showed his Brazilian flare with a round-the-world keepy-uppy during the warm-up. He then skewed a pass to a coach, not for the first time - although the coach returned the favour by putting his own pass well out of reach.
The back-up goalkeeping group then gathered to look at the flags atop of the stand, maybe to figure out which way the wind was blowing and how it would affect crosses. Meanwhile, Jaka Bijol almost did the splits when trying to trap a ball in the rondo.
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During the shooting drills, a handful of Villa fans applauded Alex Cairns’ very good stop from Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s effort. One of Bogle’s shots went so high that it evaded the pre-match safety nets behind the goal and hit the window of a hospitality box.
The staff who helped set up the pre-match placard arch - where the teams line up - had to run to shield themselves from the sprinklers that were going ten to the dozen. In the end they gave up and let it be.
With fire boxes, smoke machines and home club colour flares going off, the Leeds away end jeered ‘what the ******* hell was that?’ right on cue. They dodn;t stop singing from that point on.