Leeds United boss Daniel Farke reveals unseen complications and Hull penalty row thoughts

Leeds made life difficult for themselves with an underwhelming performance and yet their quality eventually showed as they pulled away from the visitors late on to win 3-1 at Elland Road.. Sam Byram opened the scoring with an early back-post header, with Liverpool loanee Fabio Carvalho's flick giving Hull deserved parity.

In the second half both sides had their moments - Leeds hitting the post through Mateo Joseph - but it was decided by a penalty. Crysencio Summerville got the better of Regan Slater to earn the spot-kick and then, after winning an argument with Joel Piroe, stroked the ball straight down the middle to make it 2-1. And with Hull chasing an equaliser in stoppage time, Leeds took advantage of goalkeeper Ryan Allsop leaving his net empty to attack a set-piece, Daniel James curling home from fully 45 yards.

Leeds were without Ilia Gruev, Willy Gnonto and Connor Roberts, but that was not the full extent of the problems Farke was facing as he picked a team to take on the Tigers.

"I think there's no doubt it was a well deserved win," he said. "We had six times the amount of expected goals they had, but it was complicated due to many reasons. It was the third game in six days for many of my players, with a relentless schedule, then we had many players with problems on the pitch. Glen Kamara played more or less ill but I wanted him to go through this game. Cree Summerville had some problems, we had a short morning session and Joe Rodon played with painkillers - he had some back spasms. Sam Byram told me at half-time he couldn't sprint anymore. Thank God Jamie Shackleton is back but he's more or less without game rhythm for ages and I wanted to have Sam with his maturity and strength and set-pieces on the pitch for as long as possible."

The biggest complication, according to Farke, was the quality of the opposition. Hull City made life hard for their hosts and enjoyed plenty of the ball in the first half especially. It took an important block from Rodon to keep Hull out in stoppage time as they pressed for a leveller, and Leeds then went on to score the third and add daylight. "We played a really good side, really good possession side," said Farke. "Their results against the top sides [of late], they never lose, they're either with a win or a draw because they have many good footballers. They set traps and if you go and press them too much they can hurt you by attacking the space in behind with lots of quality. It's a really good side and we didn't want to go into this trap. We allowed them a bit more possession, in areas where they couldn't hurt us, but we were a bit too poor in possession ourselves. You can lose nerves but we stayed mentally strong. It was important in the second half to play a bit more aggressive. We put more and more pressure on them, could have and should have scored and then thank God with the penalty and the third goal we earned the win. In a pretty tight game I'm pleased with this."

Farke was quizzed on the penalty row that ensued when, with Piroe having already spotted the ball, Summerville entered the penalty area to lift it and take over. Leeds skipper Ethan Ampadu got involved to usher Piroe away and the Dutchman was visibly unimpressed until his compatriot found the net.

"We wanted to score and everyone wanted to make sure we scored," said Farke. "It was difficult. Cree was our taker on the team sheet. Today we didn't have many natural born takers on the pitch and our second taker, thank God he didn't have to. Normally when I subsitute Joel in he's the first man but I don't like you to take a penalty when you're on for 30 seconds, you need to have a few touches. There was some confusion. It was definitely the right decision for Cree to take it and thank God he scored. Joel was there with an assist for the third, so pretty pleased for both of them."

Leeds end the Easter weekend in second place in the Championship table, a point behind leaders Ipswich Town and a point ahead of third-placed Leicester City, who have a game in hand over the top two. Southampton, in fourth, have two games in hand and they sit 12 points behind Leeds.