West Brom and Southampton share goalless draw, Leeds also draw | OneFootball

The race for a Premier League spot got underway this afternoon as the Championship play-off semi-finals kicked off.

Here’s how it all unfolded.

Southampton and West Brom share entertaining draw

Southampton travelled to the Hawthorns hoping for an advantage to take back to St Mary’s for the second leg, but were forced to settle for a draw.

It was the home side that began on the front foot, forcing a couple of early corners and pinching the ball high up the pitch to cause the Saints problems.

They couldn’t find an opening though, and Southampton began to grow into the tie, with Kyle Walker-Peters seeing a low drive deflected for a corner.

Flynn Downes then saw his effort well stopped by Alex Palmer before Adam Armstrong hit the side netting from the rebound.

On the half hour mark it was Alex McCarthy’s moment to shine, as the Saints stopper kept out a Grady Diangana header from point blank range to keep his side level heading into the half time break.

Southampton began the second half the stronger as they probed for an opening, but chances continued to come for West Brom as Daniel Furlong fired wide when well placed.

Alex Mowat fired over from a well-placed free kjck after a poor challenge from Harwood-Bellis, while Diangana forced another good save from McCarthy before Palmer once again came to West Brom’s rescue with an excellent save from a deflected effort, with the game looking increasingly unlikely to finish as a stalemate.

But despite the chances, it did indeed finish honours even, leaving it all coming down to 90 minutes at St Mary’s on Friday.

Leeds hold Norwich to goalless draw

After missing out on automatic promotion courtesy of a horrid run of form, Daniel Farke’s Leeds side will have to win at Elland Road to progress to Wembley after playing out a goalless draw with Norwich City.

The visitors dominated the ball in the early stages, and felt that they should have had a penalty when Wilfried Gnonto was felled, only for referee Josh Smith to wave away the Leeds protests.

But Norwich grew into the game, and Josh Sargent will feel though he should have done better when he headed wide from as Jack Stacey cross. They began to push for the opener, forcing a flurry of set pieces as Illan Meslier in particular looked nervy in the Leeds goal.

But Leeds rode it, and 10 minutes later thought that they had taken the lead, only for Geronimo Rutter to be ruled offside, as Daniel Farke’s side began to get their foot on the ball and slow the game down approaching the half-time mark.

The second half saw chances begin to fall for both sides; Norwich saw Gabriel Sara fire wide before Crysencio Summerville tested Angus Gunn from a tight angle.

But with neither side keen to over-extend with a second leg in mind, chances remained at a premium as the half drew on. The Canaries were dealt a blow late on when Sargent was forced off with injury.

It means that things remain all square heading back to Elland Road, which will leave Leeds feeling the more confident of the two when it comes to booking their place at Wembley, and a potential instant return to the top flight.