A different kind of 1-0 win as Leeds United beat Middlesbrough in wildly entertaining scrap - Graham Smyth's Verdict

Some are routine, some are not. This was the latter.

The Reading game at the weekend felt comfortable for the most part. This game against Boro was uncomfortable, tense and too open.

The cause of that was likely the absence of Kalvin Phillips, who failed to recover from the kick he took on Saturday, and without him Leeds couldn’t maintain their usual vice-like grip on proceedings - although Marcelo Bielsa said after the game that the team had coped well without their enforcer.

But credit the struggling hosts, because they more than played their part in what was, for the neutral at least, a wildly entertaining affair, even with just a single goal.

And credit Leeds, because they didn’t fold under pressure and they dug in when they needed to, led by a rock-solid Liam Cooperat the heart of defence.

When the going got tough, particularly in the second half, Leeds were not found wanting, much to the delight of their head coach, who admitted he too was affected by the nerves that gripped the large travelling support in the final minutes.

"I think we attack very well, we adapt very well to all the different situations in the match, we resolved well the absence of Phillips," he said.

"I think we were a compact team, a tough team to play.

"Everything that happened after minute 80, you cannot change it normally. So if the difference is just one goal of course it's difficult to be calm."

The intensity with which Boro started the game was a far cry from the last meeting between the sides and it appeared to rattle the visitors, who were slow to settle.

Sloppy passes went astray, the ball was pinged out of play instead of to the feet of Jack Harrison and Helder Costa, heavy touches invited Middlesbrough to win the ball high up the pitch and put Leeds under unnecessary pressure.

For a side who showed such confidence in their last two outings, Leeds were a pale imitation of what they can be in the opening minutes.

Despite all that, they had the best early chance and should have been ahead on 14 minutes when the Whites finally built a cohesive move, from a clever turn and run by Mateusz Klich, Luke Ayling dinked the ball into the area and Patrick Bamford, all alone eight yards out, headed weakly into the hands of Aynsley Pears.

It was an effort that suggested a lack of conviction, or confidence.

But the way he tried to take his next chance, a much more difficult one, showed him in a better light, inching in front of his marker to turn a Harrison cross just past the near post.

Boro’s left winger Hayden Couslon got the better of Ayling enough times to give the home side a potent look down that flank, albeit without a telling final product or clear-cut chance.

Leeds threatened down their own left side too, mainly though Harrison, but Stuart Dallas bombed forward to good effect on 31 minutes and having linked up with Pablo Hernandez, should have scored from the middle of the area, his effort saved well by Pears.

The visitors were starting to make a fist of it. Costa had a big penalty shout turned down and Harrison drilled a shot across goal, Pears palming it out before making another good stop at his near post from Bamford.

In time added on the breakthrough finally came.

Klich intercepted a ball near halfway, dashed forward and fed Bamford who, with a defender still to beat, passed instead to Hernandez and he crashed the ball against the post.

But Leeds stayed alive to the possibility and a smart one-two with Hernandez took Klich into the area, where he blasted past Pears and into the net, via the woodwork.

The first move Leeds put together after the break gave the impression that they were keen to get this one done and dusted as soon as humanly possible, Harrison’s delightful flick setting Dallas on his way, the pair linking up again before the Ulsterman’s long-range shot was held by Pears.

But with Coulson continuing to give Ayling a torrid time, getting free to deliver a wicked cross then nutmegging the defender seconds later as Boro tried to work a shooting chance, the home side made an impression of their own.

And had Casilla not hurled himself through the air to tip George Saville’s 30-yard blast over the top, they’d have achieved parity.

Jonny Howson then swung at a knock down in the area and skied his effort.

United came back and had a spell of their own, Hernandez hammering a shot goalwards from the left corner of the box, Pears saving brilliantly, Harrison then darting into the box and getting clipped, a trip that referee Gavin Ward somehow missed.

It was as ding-dong and see-saw a Leeds United match as you’re likely to see.

Boro weathered a mini storm and pressed forward again, Coulson once again the dangerman, slipping away from a couple of defenders to tee up Marcus Tavernier, whose drive clattered the crossbar.

It was still rattling when Leeds went back down the other end, Costa slid it into the path of Ayling and his cut-back flicked off a defender, hit Bamford two yards out and Pears gratefully grabbed the loose ball.

Coulson remained a problem and Casilla had to be alert to a couple of dangerous looking near post deliveries.

The keeper proved his worth in the closing minutes too, getting down smartly to a deflected effort from Tavernier.

It was always tense but Boro never got close in time added on, Leeds managing the game well enough, even creating another chance for Bamford, who was once again wayward.

That mattered little at full-time, which signalled three 1-0 wins in a row.

They have all felt different but they all brought Leeds three points closer to the promised land.

Eleven games remain for Leeds.

Eleven 1-0 wins would do quite nicely.