Leeds United challenged by awards haul as shortlist rival's emoji betrays real feeling of top stars

Leeds United were well represented at the EFL Awards with no fewer than four players in line for recognition, stage time and a shiny new addition for their homes. In Archie Gray's case it was two shiny new additions. One to go either side of his PlayStation perhaps. He, Crysencio Summerville, Ethan Ampadu and Geoginio Rutter were dolled up to the nines to meet the black tie dress code, even if the latter's individuality did make an appearance in the form of his white trainers. Elsewhere in the room a table of club staff provided a supportive soundtrack each time Elland Road was represented on the winners' stage.

It ran late, as these things do. The despairing pleas of a stage manager for attendees to take their seats at the start of the night fell on deaf ears as League Two centre-backs mingled with ex-managers and Championship stars rubbed shoulders with pundits. By the end of the four-hour soiree Leeds had walked off with a decent haul of silverware and they were in good form. Summerville found himself being heckled by his team-mates during an interview on camera before they marked their evening's success with a group photo. Daniel Farke was not in attendance, evidently deciding that if he was not needed on stage to pick up Manager of the Season then his time could be better well spent. But Archie Gray's double, team of the season places for Ampadu, Rutter and Summerville, along with the Dutchman's main prize as Championship Player of the Season made it a good night for the Whites, 24 hours on from a truly bad day at Elland Road.

What does it matter though, the picking up of individual accolades, when you haven't won in three games and your last outing left your supporters in a world of concern and disappointment? In some ways it doesn't. Summerville said he hadn't given much thought to the winning of his prize, though it was of course nice to receive the recognition. When goals were set at the start of the season they went something like this - promotion, gametime, goals, assists. Anything on top of that would be a bonus but not a driving motiviational factor. Those awards won't make Gray any more of an exciting young talent than he already was when he walked through the Grosvenor House Hotel revolving doors. They meant something to him though because, maybe for the first time, the quake in his voice allowed us to see him outside of his comfort zone. Nerveless as he might be in front of 36,000 at Elland Road, this was unfamiliar territory, though he handled it as he does most of everything else.

And even if Summerville has travelled up and down the country this season thinking only of putting the ball in the net, he made his way to London hoping not to leave empty handed. Put any footballer in any kind of competition and they want to win it. Make no mistake, his words on fellow shortlisters Sammie Szmodics and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall were gracious but he wanted to beat them. Szmodics' shrug emoji response to a Tweet listing his achievements this season, achievements that form a solid case for him to have won Summerville's award, suggests he too wanted that win.

It's all very subjective stuff when it comes down to it, in most categories, beyond maybe Kieran McKenna as the outstanding candidate for Manager of the Year. If you're going to have Ampadu, should you not also have Joe Rodon? If goal tallies were the sole measure for Player of the Season judges then a centre forward would pick up the prize almost every year, it has to be more than that and Summerville has been vital to the Leeds cause, but comparing his importance to Daniel Farke's side, next to Szmodics' influence for Blackburn Rovers, is nigh on impossible. Rotherham United fans will argue that Viktor Johansson has been more impressive, relatively speaking, behind a far inferior team, than Team of the Season keeper Mads Hermansen, of Leicester City. Someone has to win though and watching Summerville at times this season it has been difficult to imagine a more talented footballer existing in the English second tier.

Whatever it actually means, deep down, to the young Dutchman, it does come with a challenge, because the season is not yet done. The EFL plainly decide not to take their chances on player availability post-season, not when so many might as well rock up to stadiums on the final day with their shades and suncream packed, ready to jet off as soon as the final whistle blows. So quick are they to make the most of their short down time period that the same awards ceremony would take place to a half empty room were it held in June. What that means, though, is that Summerville must now play the last three games as the officially crowned best player in the Championship.

Farke spoke last week of his preference for young players not thinking too much about what it all means. He'd rather Summerville thought solely about the next game and how he can cut inside onto his right foot to put the ball in the net, or exchange passes with Rutter to put the Frenchman in on goal. Heavy enough is the shirt they wear at Leeds, in the manager's estimation. But if you are the very best of the best in the Championship, then you want to show it. And if you are the best, you'll make things happen. That's what good players do. That's what Leeds need right now, at a time when a once so ruthless attack is failing to bare its teeth in the same way. They need Summerville to play like he's the division's main man and the unstoppable force that scored so many of the same goal, in the same way. They need Gray to finish the campaign like the very best young talent outside the Premier League. They need Rutter to return to the form that earned him consideration for that Team of the Season spot.

Awards are nice and a night out together in London was a welcome change of scenery and tempo for a group of young men who cannot live 24/7 in a bubble of expectation and a fog of promotion permutations. But to really be the best, to ensure Sunday night's individual achievements do not ring hollow, they have to prove on the pitch in the final three games of the season that they are the cream that rises to the top.