Norwich City and Leeds United played out a goalless draw in the first leg of their Championship playoff semi-final on Sunday afternoon.
Both teams went into the contest at Carrow Road having lost their final games of the regular season, and it came as little surprise that neither side produced their best form.
However, there was barely a notable chance for either side in a contest lacking entertainment, with former Norwich boss Daniel Farke no doubt the happier of the two managers ahead of Thursday's second leg at Elland Road.
Changes fail to instigate upturn in fortunes
Both teams made notable changes to their starting lineup. David Wagner brought Jonathan Rowe back into his XI for the first time since a lengthy injury layoff, while Joel Piroe was dropped from the Leeds side, despite scoring against Southampton last time out.
The opening stages in East Anglia were extremely open for a game of this magnitude, yet clear-cut opportunities for either team were few and far between with Josh Sargent heading the best chance wide under pressure from a defender.
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Norwich had been making most of the running as the game reached the half-hour mark, although Leeds had the ball in the net through Junior Firpo, only for a marginal offside call to prevent the visitors from taking the lead.
There was a lull heading into half time, with the only incident of note being Wilfried Gnonto collecting a yellow card for sarcastically applauding the referee after a foul, and it left both sides searching for more after the break.
Leeds improve in second half
Gabriel Sara dragged a long-range effort wide for Norwich soon after the restart, yet it was Leeds who would soon find themselves in the ascendancy.
Crysencio Summerville forced Angus Gunn into a block at his near post, before Sam Byram mis-kicked a shot from 14 yards when an effort on target would have threatened a goal.
87' Dan James makes his return from injury, as he replaces Summerville for the last few minutes of the game. 0-0 pic.twitter.com/iQbTvQf5Dx
— Leeds United (@LUFC) May 12, 2024
In warm conditions, though, there was a feeling of toil from both sides, with only one shot on target being registered by both teams heading into the final 20 minutes.
Leeds substitute Jaidon Anthony curled a tame long-range effort straight at Gunn, while Daniel James injected some pace into the attack during the closing stages.
Nevertheless, a number of fouls - a theme of the match - meant that it remained stop-start in stoppage time, with both teams having to be content with staying on level terms at half time in the tie.
Darren Plant
