Lee Bowyer got George Graham’s young Leeds United out of jail in one of the club’s greatest ever Premier League comebacks on this day in 1997.
In the week that Mark Viduka celebrated the 25th anniversary of his four goals in a 4-3 win over Liverpool, Leeds United celebrated the anniversary of another famous seven-goal thriller.
The green shoots of the side that would challenge for the title under David O’Leary began to poke through for Leeds in the 1997/98 Premier League season.
Leeds would go on to finish fifth in the table under George Graham, securing qualification for the UEFA Cup thanks in no small part to 16 goals from Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink.
Harry Kewell, Ian Harte and Lee Bowyer all began to feature regularly in the Leeds first team that season, and the Whites had Bowyer to thank as they mounted a famous comeback against Derby County at Elland Road on this day in 1997.
Lee Bowyer scored the winner in thrilling Leeds United comeback
Leeds had hit a rich vein of form when they welcomed Derby County to Elland Road in early November 1997. Four defeats in the opening seven games of the season left the Whites with ground to make up.
However, the issues that had blighted the opening weeks of the season appeared to be resurfacing as the visitors raced into a seemingly unassailable lead in the game.
Dean Sturridge gave Derby the lead after two minutes when Bruno Ribeiro gave Nigel Martyn a hospital pass to deal with, looping a header back towards goal, which Martyn could only drop at the feet of the forward.
Sturridge added his second just minutes later, beating Martyn to a ball over the top and putting the ball past him into the empty net. When Aljosa Asanovic added Derby’s third from the penalty spot after 33 minutes, Leeds looked dead and buried.
However, Rod Wallace gave Leeds hope when he deflected a speculative shot from Ribeiro into the net. That hope snowballed when Harry Kewell volleyed home before half-time to bring Leeds back within one goal.
The expectant Elland Road crowd was made to wait until the 82nd minute for the equaliser, when Hasselbaink nervelessly slotted home from the penalty spot to pull Leeds level.
Then the brilliant denouement finally arrived in stoppage time, when Bowyer made one of his trademark late runs into the box, rifling home with his left foot to send the Leeds crowd into a state of delirium.
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Leeds United earn revenge for Derby comeback the previous season
There was a moment of poetic justice in Bowyer scoring the winner against the Rams, having been denied his moment of glory the season before.
Leeds travelled to Pride Park in August 1996 and appeared on course for an early-season victory when an own goal from Jacob Laursen and an Ian Harte strike put Leeds 2-0 up with less than 20 minutes left to play.
Derby had other ideas, however, and goals from Sturridge and Paul Simpson pulled them level in a dramatic turnaround.
Bowyer appeared to have won the game for Leeds when he put them back in the lead with five minutes left to play in his Premier League debut.
However, Sturridge scored three minutes later to temporarily deny the young Leeds hero his moment of glory.
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