After Leeds United’s 2-2 draw with Watford, manager Daniel Farke expressed his happiness, saying that he will accept the point “all day long” despite the “worst possible moment,” “bad luck” that occurred during the game, and fresh injuries for the Whites.

Following the March international break, Leeds began their Championship promotion campaign at Vicarage Road on Friday night. A victory for the Whites would have moved United back into top place, three points ahead of Leicester City.

Rather, the match finished in a 2-2 stalemate, and it wasn’t until Mateo Joseph, a substitute, scored a late equalizer. Leeds started the match rather slowly, and Watford took the lead shortly after the half-hour mark through Vakoun Bayo, who scored a beautiful first-time finish after Illan Meslier had parried the ball into his path after saving from Emmanuel Dennis.
Six minutes later, Crysencio Summerville, cutting in from the left flank and then hitting a beautiful curler into the opposite corner, gave the Whites a spectacular equalizer.

But Watford answered right away, and Dennis gave them a second lead in the 44th minute when he cut in from the right, danced past Liam Cooper, and then hammered a low shot into the bottom left corner.

The Dennis goal appeared to secure the Hornets all three points despite United’s best efforts to rally after the break. However, youthful striker Joseph came off the substitute to score an equalizer with his first touches of the game in the 85th minute.

Leeds, however, made a strong late drive for the win, and another substitute, Jaidon Anthony, was only kept out of the game by an incredible save from Daniel Bachmann; had Bachmann made the save, Farke claims that Anthony would have been “dancing on the table” for the first time this season.

Farke stated, “I tell you what, I will take this point all day long, really, really happy and proud of the boys,” after outlining a long list of conditions that were stacked against the Whites. I refrained from discussing this subject prior to the game to avoid giving the wrong impression. However, this game was played at the worst conceivable time.

“Watford, first of all, is always the same; a new manager arrives, instills fresh optimism, and the team wins its first game in a while. After that, it’s like their old friend and former colleague is in control.

They are aware that he is well acquainted with the players and consistently inspires confidence in them. As a result, they play with assurance and get off to a terrific start.

“And the international break was the worst thing that could have happened to us. Willy Gnonto, Connor Roberts, and Ilia Gruev are the three players who returned from injury; they are all out of commission for tonight due to extreme heat.

“The Welsh boys, for instance, were denied entry to the Euros after playing 120 minutes over the course of two and a half days in what was likely the biggest game of the season. It was also an unfortunate consequence for Daniel James.

“Junior Firpo flew back to South America without getting any sleep and continued to perform on Wednesday morning. He was late coming here with us yesterday.

Nine days after surgery, Georginio Rutter was seen by us today. The game had to begin with him.

Additionally, I always hope that Liam Cooper makes his Scotland debut, but not two and a half days ago. Given his history of injuries, you would think that he wouldn’t have to start for ninety minutes twice in three days.

We didn’t have a single team training session. Throughout the whole international break, six members of the first team were accessible to us.

“It’s encouraging because it shows that our players’ national team management values them. It indicates that we are not without quality. However, you skip the team’s training session because yesterday it was impossible to have a load for Junior Firpo, Liam, or the Welsh players.

We didn’t have a team practice to prepare for this, so we had to play the game like we were supposed to. This was evident in the first half, as we weren’t playing at our best or rhythm, and we also had some bad luck when it came to giving up goals.

“But when you play an unleashed side that is playing with confidence and has, for the first time this season, more or less the positivity and they still have individual quality, it’s then so so difficult to turn the game and get something from it.” We don’t need to discuss this. They are far superior than their league standing thanks to their talented roster.

“After having such a poor second half, we managed to level the score and, thanks to Jaidon Anthony’s heroics, we almost won the match. If we had scored at that precise moment, I would have danced on the table for the first time this season.

“I tell you what, I take this point all day long and I am so, so proud of the lads, pretty happy with the outcome tonight.”