Pascal Struijk uses two words to describe Leeds United draw v Portsmouth with Whites admission

Leeds made a flying start to their Saturday lunchtime Championship opener against newly-promoted Pompey and hit the crossbar three times before Struijk calmly stroked home a tenth-minute penalty to put Daniel Farke’s side ahead.

Leeds continued to dominate yet found themselves 2-1 down at the break as Elias Sorensen finished off a neat move before Callum Lang thumped home a powerful drive from the edge of the box.

Farke’s side then drew level just one minute into the second-half through a cool Willy Gnonto finish and then created another host of chances but without making any further breakthrough. The game appeared to be heading for a 2-2 draw yet Portsmouth were then awarded a stoppage time penalty for Jayden Bogle’s foul and Lang converted to put the visitors 3-2 up.

There was, though, to be two more dramatic final twists, substitute Brenden Aaronson firing home a 95th-minute equaliser before squandering a golden chance to win the game for Leeds when sending a one-on-one wide.

Instead, a rollercoaster affair which Leeds dominated ended in a 3-3 draw and Struijk said two words could explain it all – ‘the Championship’. Declaring that the game was typical of the division, the defender also admitted his side paid the price for only scoring once in the opening exchanges when they were well on top.

Speaking post-match to LUTV, Struijk was asked to explain what just happened out there and said: “I'm going to say it's the Championship. Sometimes you can dominate the game and then still lose or draw.

"This is, I would say, like a typical Championship game where everything can happen. We knew it was going to be difficult because it’s against a newly-promoted side, look at Ipswich last season, they come full of confidence so we knew it was going to be tough.

"But at the beginning we had a lot of chances, we only scored one and then they score two goals and then you have to chase the game a little bit."

Reflecting on the late penalty, Struijk admitted: “Of course, when you concede a penalty at this time in the game it's very tough. But I think the lads showed real character to turn it around still and get a point out of this game."