Former Leeds United boss Simon Grayson has tempered the Whites’ disappointment at missing out on automatic promotion in the Championship and finishing third.
With Ipswich Town beating Huddersfield Town at Portman Road, nothing Leeds did against Southampton could have pushed them into a top two spot.
Leeds though had even more of an afternoon to forget at Elland Road as they were beaten 2-1 by Southampton.
The Whites now drop into the playoffs and will take on Norwich City in the playoff semi-final.
Former Leeds boss Grayson feels the club would have taken third place at the start of the season and must now focus on the playoffs.
“You are now finishing third, you’ve got the opportunity to get into the Premier League. Would you have took that at the start of the season? Absolutely”, Grayson said on BBC Radio Leeds.
“Everybody in this stadium will be absolutely devastated how it’s ended up because they wanted automatic promotion but, this season has had plenty of highs and it can still finish on one.
“They’ve got a second opportunity and that’s got to be the message. From Daniel Farke especially.”
Playoff semi-final opponents Norwich also finished with a loss as they went down 1-0 at Birmingham City, a result which was not good enough to keep Blues up.
