It took a while to get the breakthrough, but second half goals from Beckford and Prutton earned Leeds a well deserved victory.

Leeds fielded an unchanged starting eleven for this game, and the division’s highest crowd of the season produced a great atmosphere right from the start.

Throughout the game Leeds were the better side in every department, with Hughes particularly impressive as he covered every blade of grass in midfield.  But with Swansea content to sit deep and try to catch us on the break we didn’t manage to create many chances, and in fact the Swans had the first shot on goal with a long range effort from Bodde, but Casper got right behind it and saved without too much trouble. That was about as good as it got for the visitors, apart from a free kick hammered just over the bar after the ref had harshly booked Rui for a tackle when he had clearly played the ball. 

Kandol was repeatedly clattered during the first half, leading to a series of free kicks of varying quality. One of them led to our best chance so far, as Carole played the ball to Hughes 25 yards out, which Hughes steadied with his left foot and then hammered with his right, but the ball was always rising and went just over the bar. And towards the end of a frustrating half, Leeds had could have scored twice in a frantic period of 60 seconds.  

First Prutton went past a couple of defenders on a good run into the area from the right, but took a fresh air shot as he went down, claiming he had been fouled. But the ref waved away the penalty claims, and the ball was cleared as far as Scotland on the halfway line. But Swansea’s top scorer was also tackled, and as the ball came back into the area, Kandol was played through on the left, but his shot came back off the post before being hacked to safety. 

Leeds came out for the second half in determined mood, and upped the tempo, with De Vries having to be alert to tip a clever flick from Beckford over the bar. With our strikers in the form they have shown so far this season you always have the feeling that sooner or later a spell of pressure will be converted into goals, and we finally broke the deadlock in the 62^nd. minute.  

Douglas chased a long ball into their half and when a defender started to pull his shirt just outside the area the ref played the advantage even though Douglas was heading away from goal. Our man was finally pulled over by the touchline and the Swans expected the free kick to be taken from there, and were aggrieved that the ref placed the ball in the spot where the foul was first committed, just outside the box. Carole took the kick and found Beckford twelve yards out, and the main man flicked the ball up with his right foot hand hammered it home with his left through a crowd of players. 

The second arrived five minutes when a defender failed to control a through ball as he was closed down by Beckford, and the ball ran away from the pair of them it fell invitingly into Prutton’s path, and he accepted the invitiation to hammer it home from 25 yards.

Swansea used their two remaining substitutions soon after to try to get back in the game, and managed to put us under a bit of pressure in the closing stages, with Feeney forcing Casper into a good save. 

 But they never really looked like scoring and we held on comfortably enough to equal the record with that seventh successive victory and move out of the relegation zone. Onwards and upwards!

Photo: Action Images

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