Pascal Struijk salutes very important Leeds United step despite Whites misfortune

Struijk was named on the Whites bench for Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup clash at home to Shrewsbury Town but proved the game’s matchwinner as his close-range strike from a 58th-minute corner sealed a 2-1 victory and progression to round two.

Speaking post-match to LUTV, Struijk hailed the passage to the next stage as a necessary step for Leeds to “show themselves” and praised his side for a second comeback in the space of four days, albeit rueing the repeat trait of falling behind first.

League One visitors Shrewsbury took a 1-0 lead into the interval through a deflected Taylor Perry strike only for Joe Gelhardt to equalise just six minutes before Struijk’s winner. For Leeds, the game presented a real sense of deja vu in arriving just three days after the Whites fell 2-0 down at home to opening Championship visitors Cardiff City only to rally and seal a 2-2 draw.

But Struijk highlighted the fact how Leeds had been dominant in both games and saluted the passage into the Carabao Cup’s second round for a trip to League Two side Salford City at the end of the month.

"I think it's very important for us to go through in this competition so we can show ourselves,” said Struijk. "The first half was a little bit difficult, we didn't really play out well enough. And then I think in the second half we got better control of the game and the goals came eventually."

Reflecting on similarities with Sunday’s Cardiff game, Struijk admitted “Like the weekend, we gave away two silly goals. Most of the time we controlled the game today as well and then with one chance they score a goal out of nothing really. It's just really unfortunate that we do this to ourselves for a second time! But again, it's good to pull back from it and to get the win today is good."