Leeds United missed out on a seventh win in eight Championship matches as they were held to a 1-1 draw by managerless Rotherham United.
Crysencio Summerville cut in from the left to curl in an early opener for Leeds but, in a dominant first-half display, they failed to extend their lead further.
Against the run of play in first-half stoppage time, Hakeem Odoffin found the bottom corner from 12 yards to equalise for third-from-bottom Rotherham in their first game since Matt Taylor was sacked on 13 November.
Leeds thought they had won it in the 90th minute, but Jaidon Anthony’s close-range finish was ruled out for offside against fellow substitute Patrick Bamford.
Third-placed Leeds are seven points behind Leicester and Ipswich, who are both on 39 points and return to Championship action on Saturday.
An impressive run of results before the international break pushed Daniel Farke’s side to the front of the chasing pack and their momentum showed no signs of being halted when Georginio Rutter set up Summerville for his sixth goal in his past eight appearances.
Joel Piroe had already headed over before Summerville’s sixth-minute opener and Summerville was denied a second by Rotherham goalkeeper Viktor Johansson, while Daniel James and Glen Kamara shot off target at the end of swift Leeds counter attacks.
As well as Anthony’s disallowed effort, substitutes Bamford, Wilfried Gnonto and Pascal Struijk all went close to scoring a late winner for the visitors.
Rotherham, who barely threatened before Odoffin fired in their leveller, had opportunities of their own after half-time to emerge victorious.
Leeds captain Liam Cooper was on hand to clear away Sam Nombe’s effort with Illan Meslier beaten, while the Leeds goalkeeper made a smothering stop to deny Fred Onyedinma in the closing stages.
Rotherham interim manager Wayne Carlisle told BBC Radio Sheffield:
“If you’d told us before the game that we’d get a point, I’d have taken it. On the second half, I’d probably be a little bit disappointed that we didn’t come away with a bit more to be honest.
“I enjoyed it [being in caretaker charge]. I was comfortable going into the game, I thought we had prepared as best as we could. During the game there wasn’t anything that I was looking at and thinking ‘I’m not sure what’s going on here’.
“I have no idea [about the managerial situation]. All I can do is do what the chairman asks me to do, do my job to the best of my ability and everything else will take care of itself.”
Leeds manager Daniel Farke told BBC Radio Leeds:
“The first emotion is definitely disappointment because we played in many periods [that were] that dominant that it should be normally enough to win all three points.
“Performance wise, it was a fantastic first half, but it’s football. You have to bury the game when you have chances. We scored a fantastic goal and had chances to bury the game in the first half.
“My feeling was that we enjoyed our dominance a bit too much and lacked the last 2-3% to be really on it and focused in order to bury this game. If you’re not doing this, this can happen in this league.”
Line-ups
Rotherham
Formation 4-4-1-1
- 1Johansson
- 21Peltier
- 23Morrison
- 4Ayala
- 3Bramall
- 14Onyedinma
- 22Odoffin
- 27Tea
- 28RevanSubstituted forLembikisaat 72′minutes
- 18RathboneSubstituted forLindsayat 90+4′minutes
- 29No oneSubstituted forHugillat 72′minutes
Substitutes
- 2Lembikisa
- 9Eaves
- 10Hugill
- 12Kelly
- 16Lindsay
- 20Hall
- 26Phillips
- 30Appiah
- 35McGuckin
Leeds
Formation 4-2-3-1
- 1Meslier
- 22Gray
- 14round
- 6CooperSubstituted forStruijkat 80′minutes
- 3FirpoSubstituted forGnontoat 70′minutes
- 4Ampadu
- 8KamaraSubstituted forPovedaat 70′minutes
- 20JamesSubstituted forAnthonyat 85′minutes
- 7Piroe
- 10Summerville
- 24RutterSubstituted forBamfordat 70′minutes
Substitutes
- 2Ayling
- 9Bamford
- 12Anthony
- 21Struijk
- 25Byram
- 27Poveda
- 28Darlow
- 29Gnonto
- 44Gruev
- Referee:
- Oliver Langford
- Attendance:
- 11,471
Live Text
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Match ends, Rotherham United 1, Leeds United 1.
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Second Half ends, Rotherham United 1, Leeds United 1.
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Foul by Archie Gray (Leeds United).
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Fred Onyedinma (Rotherham United) wins a free kick on the left wing.
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Attempt saved. Crysencio Summerville (Leeds United) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
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Ethan Ampadu (Leeds United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
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Foul by Jordan Hugill (Rotherham United).
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Substitution, Rotherham United. Jamie Lindsay replaces Oliver Rathbone.
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Attempt missed. Crysencio Summerville (Leeds United) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right from a direct free kick.
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Wilfried Gnonto (Leeds United) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
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Foul by Cohen Bramall (Rotherham United).
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Offside, Leeds United. Wilfried Gnonto tries a through ball, but Patrick Bamford is caught offside.
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Attempt missed. Sean Morrison (Rotherham United) header from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Oliver Rathbone with a cross following a corner.
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Corner, Rotherham United. Conceded by Archie Gray.
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Corner, Rotherham United. Conceded by Wilfried Gnonto.
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Substitution, Leeds United. Jaidon Anthony replaces Daniel James.
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Attempt missed. Pascal Struijk (Leeds United) header from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Daniel James with a cross following a corner.
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Corner, Leeds United. Conceded by Christ Tiéhi.
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Attempt blocked. Daniel James (Leeds United) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Crysencio Summerville.
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Archie Gray (Leeds United) wins a free kick on the right wing.