Leeds United boss hails Whites 'Rolls-Royce', impact of duo and extra bonus

First team players Patrick Bamford, Liam Cooper, Luke Ayling and Junior Firpo all started as the quartet work their way back from injury troubles and all four played at least 76 minutes.

Whites no 9 Bamford helped himself to a hat-trick and Skubala had particular praise for the Whites forward and also the leadership qualities of Ayling and Cooper.

United’s youngsters also excelled as Sonny Perkins and Crysencio Summerville both netted on a night when Cooper also struck in completing the full 90 minutes.

Asked about Bamford’s hat-trick on LUTV, Skubala beamed: “Really good.

"He's like a Rolls Royce.

"I think he's superb.

"He leads from the front and they were great finishes.

"He could have got more but he's cool, calm, collected and it's just great to have him involved.

"His leadership skills are brilliant and with the young lads, working with Mateo (Joseph), you can see him talking to the lads about different things so perfect."

Reflecting on the overall influence of United’s first teamers, Skubala highlighted the bonus of those players bagging minutes but ‘good minutes’.

"They were amazing,” said Skubala.

"Coops is a great leader, Luke is a great leader and they play well and do the right things, ask for the right attitude and then the young lads around them like Darko (Gyabi) and Archie (Gray) can learn from that.

"But really it's a game so they come out to win and it's important that they lead that and what was amazing was that they kept going and they were doing the right things.

"They got minutes but they also need good minutes so it's a great game for them to come into and because of the disjointedness of playing it's been brilliant."