Instead the veteran Scottish striker, on loan from Crystal Palace, was left to reflect on a draw that felt more like a defeat at rock-bottom Port Vale.
United led with two first-half goals by skipper Rui Marques and Freedman but what should have been a comfortable win went badly wrong when Andrew Hughes was harshly adjudged to have handled Marc Richards' header and Paul Harsley scored from the resultant penalty.
Leeds felt they should have had an earlier penalty of their own when Freedman was brought down by goalkeeper Joe Anyon and they let the second decision affect their concentration as an unmarked Danny Whitaker equalised.
Freedman must have thought he had grabbed the winner with a header from substitute Seb Carole's cross, only for Luke Rodgers to make it 3-3 in injury time.
It was a real kick in the teeth for United boss Gary McAllister, who had hoped for nine points instead of four from the last three matches against strugglers Bournemouth, Cheltenham and Port Vale.
Now Leeds have some tougher tests just around the corner and McAllister is looking for a return of the siege mentality that brought that flood of points from the season's start.
"The players are massively disappointed but we are not going to roll over and hide in a corner," said McAllister.
"The 19 or 20 players in the first-team squad have to stick together and have the mentality the club probably had at the beginning of the season when everyone was writing us off after the deduction of those 15 points.
"I can't hide from the fact that I was looking for nine points from the last three games and we got four. Now we have to get those points back from somewhere else."
McAllister added: "It feels like a defeat to come away from home, score three goals and not return to Yorkshire with all three points.
"The penalty decision was a bad one, the video shows the ball hit Andrew Hughes in the face and the Port Vale players were not asking for a penalty, but the other two goals we conceded came from poor defending.
"We had four experienced guys playing at the back and they have to do better than that."
On the credit side, McAllister was pleased with his side's effort and Freedman's contribution.
He said: "Dougie was excellent in his link-up play and took his goals well. I asked the players for a big response after losing at home to Cheltenham in midweek and their work-rate was excellent.
"Unfortunately they let the penalty decision affect them. You have to be professional and get on with it but we conceded a soft goal soon afterwards."