Frustration for Marcelo Bielsa as Leeds star Jack Clarke plays 120 minutes for U23 team with play-offs looming

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Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa took the decision to leave Jack Clarke on the bench for last weekend’s ill-tempered draw with Aston Villa.

And as usual, he released his unused substitutes to play for the U23 team. On Monday night, Clarke was included in Leeds U23’s starting line-up against Coventry City.

It was the semi-final of the Professional Development League trophy. And it was an unnecessarily gruelling encounter for Clarke to be a part of.

The 18-year-old played the full 120 minutes as Leeds eventually edged the Sky Blues out with a 3-2 win after extra time.

With play-offs looming for Leeds, they would have ideally been hoping for an easy path through to the final on Monday night.

But Coventry twice levelled the scores, including right at the death in normal time, before Leeds ended up winning.

Leeds’ first-team missed out on automatic promotion and Clarke has been used as an impact substitute since returning from a virus.

But Bielsa would have wanted him to ease his way through Monday night’s test to keep his fitness levels up.

Playing 120 minutes right before a mentally and physically challenging play-off campaign is not ideal preparation for Clarke.

But Bielsa will be hoping his talented teenager can bounce back and help to guide Leeds to promotion via the play-offs.