Patrick Bamford admitted he had to wear rugby studs in the second half of Leeds United’s victory over Crystal Palace. The Whites cruised to victory on Monday night as they exacted revenge on the Eagles with a 2-0 win at Elland Road. Jack Harrison opened the scoring after three minutes and Bamford added a second to secure the win with his 100th career goal. However, the Leeds striker admitted that the players are struggling on their new pitch. The club invested in a new hybrid pitch as a short-term solution following poor weather over January, that had left their old surface almost unplayable, highlighted in their 1-0 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion. However, despite the measures taken to improve the conditions at Elland Road, Bamford admitted to wearing rugby studs in the second half as he was struggling to stand up on the new surface.
Patrick Bamford said: “Yeah, to be honest, the most important thing is getting the three points. It’s nice to hit 100, it’s probably long overdue, but it’s nice to get there. I think it’s important to try and make your home ground like a fortress, it’s kind of difficult with our pitch at the minute. We almost suit playing away better, but we had to concentrate to the maximum tonight. We were relentless, we didn’t give up and we saw it through to the end so it was well deserved. It’s better (the pitch), it’s hard to stand up, that’s all I’ll say,” he said with a smile on his face. “I’m still wearing studs, but I had to basically put rugby studs in at half time.”
