Leeds captain shares bold theory to explain Illan Meslier's horrendous error

Leeds skipper Pascal Struijk has defended Illan Meslier in light of his howler, suggesting there was a "dent" in the pitch.

The Whites were on course for a massive three points as they travelled to the Championship leaders. Junior Firpo looked to have notched a second-half winner with Leeds defending a free-kick six minutes into added time. A hopeful ball into the box by Alan Browne looked to be routine.

However with the ball bouncing towards Meslier the Leeds goalkeeper got his angles completed wrong and totally missed the ball - allowing the Black Cats a bizarre late leveller that left the away players and fans scratching their heads. Struijk, one of Meslier's closest friends at the club, has looked to provide a reason for his stoppage time howler. The centre-half maintained the quality of the team's goalkeeper and backed him to save Leeds more points than he will cost them.

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He said: “Of course he is disappointed, he knows that these things happen in football unfortunately. I’ve looked at the pitch there, there is a massive dent there and I have a better chance of winning the lottery than it goes in a hole and then bounces to his right but we all know what a great keeper Illan is.

“He will save us, for sure, a couple of games in he will make outstanding saves] Of course it’s a reason now to be a little bit disappointed but throughout the season he will make plenty of saves.” Sunderland were poised for their first defeat of the season before their get out of jail free card. It preserves the unbeaten start of new manager Régis Le Bris, who worked with Meslier years ago when the pair were both at French outfit Lorient.

Daniel Farke is attempting to put last season's play-off final loss behind him and the team and get Leeds back in the . The ex-Norwich boss was somewhat lost for words having never encountered such an error, insisting the goalkeeper was heartbroken.

“There was no explanation," he said. "I have 30 years in professional football and lost many points in the last second but in 30 years I have not experienced this. The game was over. But it is heartbreaking, horrendous and so so sad. It is tough to take and feels like a loss. It hurt but also I am proud of how the lads delivered.

“We just need an arm around Illan’s shoulder. You don’t have to speak, no one wants to hear any words. The ball bounced and jumped in the other direction. I can’t say if that was the case, because I have not seen the footage. He is the saddest player in the dressing room and more or less in tears. He can speak about it in a few days.”

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