Away team gets a lead (5)
I believe the answer is:
aside
'away' is the definition.
(I know that away can be written as aside)
'team gets a lead' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'team' could be 'side' (both can mean a sports team) and 'side' is located in the answer.
'a' is within the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
(Other definitions for aside that I've seen before include "I.e. sad (anag.)" , "Remark by an actor, directly to audience say" , "remark, incidentally" , "Quiet words spoken" , "kept in reserve" .)