Daniel Farke said he gave Brenden Aaronson a hug after he missed a golden chance to snatch victory for Leeds in a 3-3 draw against newly-promoted Portsmouth.
Aaronson, back at Leeds after a spell on loan at Union Berlin last season and a second-half substitute for Willy Gnonto, had already equalised in stoppage time when he dragged another effort wide from in front of goal just moments later.
Leeds dominated their opening game of the season – they hit the woodwork three times inside the first seven minutes – but had to settle for a point in a six-goal thriller.
Farke said of the USA forward: “He just got a hug from myself because no words are needed. It’s more like I told him to hold his head up.
“He was probably the most disappointed lad in the dressing room, but he doesn’t have to be because coming back after a difficult season, out on loan, he wants to prove his worth.
“He had a difficult start, one or two mistakes, but he showed great character to fight his way back into this game with lots of effort and scored a fantastic equaliser.
“He could have been the hero then with the second chance because normally a player of his quality scores such a goal.
“He would have sat on the shoulders of his team-mates and everyone would sing his name. But football is like life, it’s never easy.”
Gnonto, Mateo Joseph and Ilia Gruev all struck the woodwork before Pascal Struijk’s 10th-minute penalty put Leeds ahead.
Pompey levelled with their first attempt through summer signing Elias Sorensen and Callum Lang’s 25-yard stunner put them 2-1 up at the break.
Gnonto made it 2-2 a minute after the restart and Pompey appeared to have snatched the win through Lang’s stoppage-time penalty before Aaronson raised the roof with his equaliser in the fifth minute of added time.
Farke added: “I’m not angry, it’s the Championship. Yes, of course we’re disappointed we didn’t win this game.
“After, in many spells, a pretty dominant performance. But it’s also a sign in this league, you always have to be switched on in the small situations, which can change the whole game.
“This is the reason why we didn’t win this game. We started so much on the front foot, probably one of the best 20 minutes here at Elland Road I’ve ever seen.
“We hit the crossbar three times in the first 10 minutes, the game should have been buried.
“But you can’t play that dominant over 90 minutes, otherwise you would win the game 22-0 and this never happens.
“So for that you have to be a bit smarter in the periods when the game calms down and we lost a bit of our awareness.
“I wouldn’t say we were arrogant, but we gave unnecessary set-pieces away.”
Portsmouth boss John Mousinho expressed his relief at Aaronson’s late miss, admitting his side “got away with one”.
He said: “I thought it was going to nestle in the back of the net. I was really relieved.
“Having said that if we had lost it wouldn’t have changed the performance. I was grateful it went wide, we got away with one there.”
After guiding the south-coast club to the League One title in his first full season in charge the former Oxford and Wycombe midfielder was delighted by his side’s display in their first second-tier game in 12 years.
Mousinho added: “I am happy. Both sides will come off disappointed with the result.
“Leeds had the better chances and I’m guessing the takeaways (are they have) got to defend a bit better and put the ball in the back of the net.
“Leeds have some really good athletes, multi-million pound players who may go in the next few weeks. If I’m a Premier League manager, I’m definitely snapping up one or two of them after today.”
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