Wolves 2-3 Leeds United: Days of Ayling
Some players get a moment like this once in a career. Most right-backs get them never. But Leeds United's return to the top has been punctuated by days of Ayling dragging us there.
One important moment in this match of moments, in a sport of moments being taken to ridiculous extremes by Leeds United this season, happened just as the post-cartwheel euphoria of Luke Ayling's winner was dying down, on the pitch if not in the stands. As the scrum of celebrating players dispersed, Ayling stayed locked in an embrace with Stuart Dallas that was more than a well done for scoring a big goal. It was a hug between friends, going back years, a private moment in a public place, deep and true, turning to delight when Ayling realised Kalvin Phillips was there with them. Luke's reaction to him was a 'What are you doing here?!' to an unexpected wedding guest flown in from the other side of the world, or sprinted from the other side of the pitch, either way, someone beloved who shouldn't have been there but who made everything better by making the effort.
The story of this ludicrous comeback win goes way back that way, into ancient history from long before United's bright start in Wolverhampton, Rodrigo and Pat Bamford's early missed chances, the accumulation of casualties and two goals conceded, a second yellow for Raul Jimenez that hobbled Illan Meslier but gave Leeds a chance to fight back. Stuart Dallas joined Leeds in summer 2015. Kalvin Phillips was already there, a nineteen year old struggling to emulate Lewis Cook or Ronaldo Vieira. Luke Ayling joined a year later in summer 2016. It's nearly six years since those three found each other at Thorp Arch, and how much they've changed is best described by looking at Luke Ayling's hair: it's still exactly the same. Hashtag Team Manbun until the end.
I still don't know when that end might be. This season has felt like the end of a lot: Marcelo Bielsa, our three year rise, our cultural insulation from the Premier League's worst excesses, the post-promotion survival planning, maybe even the ownership. Because football doesn't stop, all those ends mean new beginnings, but that doesn't lessen the grief of watching Bielsa leave with tears in his eyes. Or the hurt of watching Stuart Dallas and Luke Ayling in recent weeks, even for Wolves' opening goal in this game, and thinking, we're going to have to move on soon.
This game took us back to feeling like soon can wait. Leeds are 16th in the Premier League, not safe from relegation, but this win revived the Manchester City beating days of last spring when it felt like this team might end up winning the Champions League. Get Phillips fit again and it still might, why not? This Leeds United team's great gift to us over the last four years, apart from a promotion we waited sixteen years for, has been the sort of dream inspiring absurdity none of us could have ever hoped to live through but in retrospect can't imagine being without. Imagine if Leeds United were normal. Leeds United. Normal. No.
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