- Leeds enjoyed a 3-0 away win in Wales after breezing past Bluebirds
- Patrick Bamford, Dan James and Georgino Rutter all made it onto the scoresheet
- Why haven’t Arsenal made a move for Newcastle target Dominic Solanke? He will fit in in the North East – It’s All Kicking Off
Leeds United rekindled their assault on the Championship’s automatic promotion places by overwhelming a desperately poor Cardiff City.
Patrick Bamford, Dan James and Georgino Rutter scored the goals in a game that underlined this season’s unusually large gulf in class between the second tier’s upper echelon of clubs and those pursuing them.
Leeds, after a trio of league defeats away from home last month, were back to looking every inch like a side ready to retake their place in the Premier League. They remain fourth, with seven points separating them from Ipswich in second place.
Manager Daniel Farke said: ‘It was our most mature away display of the season. We were in control of the game from the first to the last second and kept them totally quiet. We should have scored more goals, but the win was never in doubt.’
Cardiff looked a million miles behind. They were flat in every department.
Georginio Rutter of Leeds United celebrates scoring with team mate Ethan Ampadu
Daniel Farke celebrates at full time after his side enjoyed a 3-0 victory over Cardiff on the road
Leeds United’s Patrick Bamford scores the opening goal
Georginio Rutter slammed the ball home in the 88th minute to finish off Leeds’ perfect match
Leeds were 2-0 ahead at half-time after strikes by forwards Bamford and James and could easily have been out of sight. Bamford might have had a hat-trick inside the opening 25 minutes.
His tap-in after a goalmouth scramble for the 13th-minute opener came in between two clear-cut opportunities to beat Cardiff goalkeeper Jak Alnwick.
Bamford’s wastefulness let the lethargic hosts off the hook, but the Bluebirds’ charmed life did not last.
Just after the half-hour, James side-footed home in acres of space after good work by Dutch winger Crysencio Summerville.
There never looked the remotest prospect of a Cardiff comeback. The Welsh club’s bluntness in attack has long been a talking point in south Wales, but boss Erol Bulut was more concerned with the extent to which his players were outfought.
‘My players respected Leeds too much, we had to show more fighting spirit,’ said Bulut.
For Leeds, this was a welcome return to dominance after jolting December defeats on the road against WBA, Preston and Sunderland.
They even had the luxury of missing a 79th-minute penalty when Alnwick saved from Summerville after Rutter had been fouled.
The reprieve proved only temporary as Rutter slammed the ball home in the 88th minute to finish off a counter-attack that was set in motion by James.
