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The club have tried the patience of their most loyal followers in the weeks between Christmas and Easter, and such patience as there was after two wins from 10 league matches wore thin during last weekend's draw with the Brentford.

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United's support know malaise when they see it and many feared that Leeds were infected with mediocrity.

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After a victory over Tranmere Rovers which displayed Simon Grayson's squad in the most attractive of lights, the majority will choose to revise that verdict.

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Through what have been without question the hardest weeks of their season, Grayson stuck rigidly to the opinion that Leeds, in essence, were where they wanted to be – second in League One and within striking distance of the one ambition that matters to him and his club.

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With five points protecting their hold on automatic promotion and only 11 games to play, his projection looks more reasoned than ever.

Leeds have hobbled through several of their recent league fixtures but their performance at Prenton Park was drawn from something approaching the top draw; clinical in the extreme, majestic in parts and throughly unaffected by criticism of their effort against Brentford.

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If Grayson was searching for character, he found it on the Wirral and found it in spades.

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Two concessions by Tranmere in the first 16 minutes was his idea of heaven and Rovers' idea of hell.

That Tranmere reduced United's lead three minutes later was of no consequence once Luciano Becchio supplied the final touch to a fabulous exchange of passes towards the end of the first half, the type of goal that speaks of a team whose confidence is intact. It killed the game with more than a hour to play.

United have paid heavily for the loss of that ruthless streak but their finishing was exceptional last night and their attitude refreshing, devoid of the tension that seems intent on spreading through League One's leading clubs.

With parity all but restored to the division by the completion of United's game in hand, Grayson's squad are entitled to think that automatic promotion is theirs to lose. The League One title is not out of the question either. Such is the unpredictable nature of England's third division.

Leeds were originally due to fulfill last night's fixture in early January, at the height of their form and on the same weekend when Manchester United bowed to Grayson's players in humiliating fashion at Old Trafford.

Grayson might have preferred to deal with Tranmere during that productive period; he could also have done without Rovers' sublime victory over Southampton 72 hours before United's arrival at Prenton Park.

But he did not need the value of a game in hand explained to him after Saturday's draw with Brentford.

United's manager took issue with criticism directed at his players, defending their performance as passionately as he has any other this season, and his point was made by the selection of a virtually
unchanged line-up at Prenton Park.

The only change was the unanticipated return of Richard Naylor, recalled to the centre of defence and fit after the thigh strain which prevented an appearance against Brentford.

Naylor trained on Monday morning without aggravating the injury, and Grayson confounded the assumption that he would err on the side of caution with his captain.

The game's pace was thunderous from the outset, much to Leeds' satisfaction, and although Tranmere made the first attempt at drawing blood with a shot from Craig Curran which Casper Ankergren parried, United found themselves in possession of the lead after only eight minutes.

The manner of their goal was unconventional, scored by Robert Snodgrass with a free-kick intended as a cross. Luciano Becchio and Patrick Kisnorbo attacked the ball inside Tranmere's box but were unable to reach it, and Snodgrass' cross bounced past several players and buried itself tamely inside the far post of Tranmere's bemused goalkeeper Luke Daniels.

Snodgrass accepted his good fortune readily; it was, in any case, the last of three searching deliveries delivered by the Scot from the right wing, all of which found Rovers' defence struggling to protect Daniels behind them. Only by a fraction had Naylor failed to glance home his curling cross two minutes earlier.

For Rovers, the sober realisation was that Curran's shot was the most credible effort of the opening exchanges, and Ankergren had little control over a block which almost presented Marvin Sordell with a tap-in.

As it was, their evening started and finished there.

Eight minutes after Snodgrass' soft goal, Jermaine Beckford's vicious finish from the penalty space gave Leeds as much breathing space as they could have asked for with the game in its infancy.

The striker whipped his 26th goal of the season to the left of Daniels after Paul McLaren attacked Gary McSheffrey with a sliding challenge that caught the winger in full flow.

McLaren walked away with his head hanging and did not waste time arguing with referee Rob Shoebridge.

The midfielder doubtless feared that the game was up. Nevertheless, his corner three minutes later – awarded after Ankergren nudged a shot from Luke O'Neill around a post – caused enough chaos in United's box for John Welsh to poke the ball into the corner of Ankergren's net. A third goal in quick succession left the stadium breathless.

It was inevitable that the intensity of the contest would lull but neither Welsh's goal nor the placid spell which followed prevented Leeds from piecing together the finest of attacks in the 34th minute, resulting in what might come to be the club's goal of the season.

Jonathan Howson stole possession in midfield before slipping Beckford into space on the right wing, and the striker looked up to find Luciano Becchio drifting unmarked into the heart of Tranmere's box. Beckford's cross was perfectly placed; the Argentinian took his invitation and dived forward to nod the ball beyond Daniels' reach.

Becchio's mood was ruined slightly by a yellow card shown to him by Shoebridge for a dive in the centre circle, but it deserved no more than a minor footnote beneath the scoreline.

Tranmere replaced Sordell with Bas Savage at the start of the second half, substituting a redundant presence for a physical one, but his arrival was more in hope that expectation. It did not alter Rovers' ineptitude.

Beckford threatened to score a fourth goal with a volley that swerved away from Tranmere's goal and his second of the evening duly arrived in the 65th minute when he met Michael Doyle's hefty clearance with a casual chip over Daniels' head. Class is permanent, as the saying goes.

Tranmere Rovers: Daniels, O'Neill (Logan 72), Goodison, Broomes, Bakayogo, Edds (Mahon 76) McLaren, Welsh, Curran, Sordell (Savage 46), Thomas-Moore. Subs (not used): Cresswell, Collister, McCready, Barnett.

Leeds United: Ankergren, Hughes, Naylor, Kisnorbo, White, Snodgrass (Gradel 76), Doyle, Howson, McSheffrey, Becchio (Kandol 76), Beckford (Dickov 84). Subs (not used): Martin, Kilkenny, Johnson, Bromby.

Referee: R Shoebridge (Derbyshire).
Attendance: 8,346.