Harry Gray was booed as he writhed around on the turf in pain. One Bradford City supporter could be heard shouting: “Dirty Leeds!”
There was probably some symbolism in the stray boot he took to his particulars in the early stages of Tuesday’s second half at Valley Parade. This was the eighth start of the 17-year-old’s Rotherham United loan, but the painful knock, combined with a merciless home crowd, felt like a welcome to men’s football in League One.
This is not the brand of blood and thunder Leeds United had in mind for Gray’s development, but it’s all relative in the rich tapestry he is weaving. It’s eight starts in eight fixtures, 706 minutes from a possible 720, two goals and Rotherham second from bottom in 23rd.
The sound of visiting fans chanting, “We’ve had a shot” after a wayward effort from Josh Benson in the eighth minute summed up the club’s travails. By full-time, they would be outclassed by 14 shots to seven, three on target to zero and a losing 1-0.
Matt Hamshaw’s Rotherham are five points short of safety in England’s third tier with 14 games to play. You sense, if they are going to find any traction, Gray’s likely to be involved.
The teenager is raw, but his instincts, acceleration, drive and quality make him stand out, even if he did spend large periods of Tuesday’s match watching events. Gray played in a free role off the left in a 4-2-3-1, which granted him space to hurt Bradford, but also left him isolated as the team struggled to build attacks or put him in the thick of the action.
Kayden Jackson was the only outfield starter to see fewer touches than Gray, but that’s because he was substituted in the 24th minute. That, at times, peripheral role did not stop the Leeds loanee from crafting the visitors’ best move.
Gray playing for Leeds in pre-season (Linnea Rheborg/Getty Images)
Post-match, Hamshaw said: “He plays as a nine-and-a-half, a 10, an 11, he’s a good footballer, isn’t he? We start with a four today, went a little bit with a three at times and then tried to give him a bit of free license to go into those pockets and get on it.
“When he gets in those pockets and he gets on the half-turn, it’s great. There were times where I would have liked to see him come wider and there were times where I would have liked to see him go inside more.
“They’re the bits we’re trying to work with him (on) with the analysis department, getting him into areas where it can really affect the game because we need him sliding (Sam) Nombe in.
“Especially on this pitch. It’s a hard pitch to come off and get it on the half-turn. You saw exactly what he’s capable of doing in that first half.”
In the 13th minute, having dropped into the pocket behind striker Nombe, Gray traded quick passes with Benson before bursting past Matt Pennington into the home box. Gray was left of the goal, 12 yards out as he pulled his left-footed trigger, but Pennington, a former Leeds loanee of 2017-18, recovered with a sliding block.
The youngster was furious, kicking one of the advertising displays beyond the byline. That emotion is one of the other key takeaways from an evening spent watching Gray.
He may only be 17, he may only be passing through Rotherham, but this matters to him.
In a post-match interview with The Athletic, we ask him if he’s happy to take on that kind of team-leading responsibility: “Definitely. I don’t really think about it. If I lose, I’m going to try everything, no matter what. I’m not afraid of the fans or the pressure that comes with it, I want to take it upon me to get us out of the mess.”
“It was a difficult game, but I should have taken my chance in the first half. That would have changed the game.
“I should have done more and it’s my job to score. I didn’t.”
Matt Taylor, who’s overseen 340 matches as manager at Exeter City, Rotherham and Bristol Rovers, has analysed Gray’s recent games for BBC Radio Sheffield. He noted Gray’s desire to lead the team in last weekend’s loss to Doncaster Rovers, despite his young age.
He told The Athletic: “On Saturday, the thing that impressed me the most was, as the game was dwindling a little bit in terms of where Rotherham were chasing, he tried to get the game by the scruff of the neck, get on the ball and make things happen.
“He probably wasn’t close enough to goal often enough, similar to tonight, but it’s been so impressive in terms of his personality and that’s a big thing.”
Inevitably, there were other moments in Tuesday’s loss Gray is left frustrated by team-mates failing to find his runs or giving away free kicks to the opposition when Rotherham are attacking. He’s not perfect though, he knows that.
There are a couple of occasions where he tries to let the ball run across his body, but it gets away from him or a defender reads it and nicks it away. There are other moments of magic, like a series of pirouettes which leave three consecutive Bradford players trailing in his wake before he wins a throw-in.
What has Gray found to be the steepest learning curve up to now?
“Learning how to ride the game,” he said. “Moments in a game, you need to do certain things and obviously it’s not going our way at the minute, but I can only learn from it and take that into future games in my career.”
He is spent when the full-time whistle blows, sat on the turf, arms around his knees. Hamshaw goes to pick him up, but Gray gets up as he arrives.
Gray’s body language in defeat is an example of the rough edges the 44-year-old is hoping to smooth out. However, Hamshaw cannot deny what a prospect Leeds have on their hands, which is borne out in his comments and the 20-fold increase in scout requests Rotherham are now fielding.
“There were a few eyebrows raised when a 17-year-old kid (came here),” he said. “Leeds fans think a lot of him.
“I know there’s a lot of media hype around him and I also know we must get 60 scout requests every week. He’s a big talent with a big future.
“I won’t say it’s a difficult position, but the fact he’s come in at this point speaks volumes about the kid. He could well have gone somewhere else, sat on the bench and not come on.
“You see how much it means to him at the end. I just spoke to him then about not going down to the floor at the end of a game, for example.
“They’re the little bits he just needs to kind of learn, but that’s why Leeds have obviously entrusted us with his development.”