After the problems of the first couple of games, Leeds managed a dramatic return to form last night, with a comfortable victory over our dear neighbours Hull City.

In the absence of Gradel and Howsom, Simon Grayson was forced into a bit of a reshuffle, but the changes worked out well, with most of the players in the role to which they are best suited. Keogh came in for his debut and played alongside Mc.Cormack in a 4-4-2 formation, which is much better than leaving the smaller man up front on his own. Nunez started on the left, and with Bromby injured O’Dea moved to central defence where he seemed far more comfortable than at full-back. Aidy White replaced him at left-back.

Leeds made an impressive start, and were close to going in front on 15 minutes when a shot from Nunez came down from the underside of the bar and Mc.Cormack headed over the bar from the rebound . And a minute later we actually did find the net, when Mc. Cormack got his head to a cross from Snodgrass, and although his first effort was saved, he followed up to knock the rebound into the net.

Keogh then went close, but in the 21^st minute Hull scored a fortunate equaliser against the run of play, when Lees tried to clear a deep cross into the area but could only knock it past Lonergan into his own net.  This gave Hull a bit more confidence, and for a spell they managed to put us under a bit of pressure, but thankfully Lees made amends by scoring at the right end five minutes before the break. Gulasci’s clearance dropped kindly for him on the edge of the area, and he fired past the Hull keeper with an excellent finish.

And just after the break Snodgrass doubled our lead with an excellent free kick, chipped over the wall from the Leeds right. This time Hull reacted to the goal with a determined effort to get back into the game, and Lonergan was forced to make a fine save from Mc.Lean, but at the end Leeds still carried a threat going forward. Nunez fired one shot over the bar, but in the 69^th minute he made no mistake when he finished off a fine move by hammering a fierce shot past Gulasci.

Still Hull weren’t finished, and Fryatt and Mc.Lean went close, but for the most part our defence was looking usually solid. At the other end Snodgrass nearly increased Hull’s embarrassment with a fierce shot from the edge of the box, before an excellent move set up Clayton inside the box, only for a hesitant finish that gave a defender the chance to clear. So we didn’t quite manage to round off the evening with a fifth, but this was still an excellent result to lift us out of trouble after our disappointing start to the season.

Photo: Action Images

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