Phil Hay's verdict: Middlesbrough 3 Leeds United 0 - Bamford's treble leaves play-off hopes in tatters

The club’s season has long been hanging by a thread and last night’s defeat on Teesside might have finally dropped it into the dark.

These, as Paul Heckingbottom said, are big games, defining fixtures, but there has been little in this unforgiving period to suggest that United’s players see themselves as peers of the clubs who are likely to climb out of the Championship. Boro have a taste of the play-offs and Patrick Bamford put Leeds to bed with a hat-trick in 38 minutes either side of half-time.

There was nothing special about any of his finishes but plenty about them that Leeds are sick off: an unassuring goalkeeper and players in front of Felix Wiedwald who seem to lack confidence in him or themselves. Bamford cushioned in a simple effort after the half-hour and scored again six minutes later with a low shot which flew under Wiedwald’s left arm in a way that a keeper would not with to revisit. His third, on 68 minutes, came from an offside position but was depressingly simple all the same. Boro probed but not with spectacular vigour until the game was done.

The problem, which Heckingbottom has already alluded to, is that special is not needed against this Leeds squad. Persistence will do and even that is sometimes over-exaggerated.

The play-off places might drift further into the distance this afternoon but Leeds can no longer have tunnel vision in their fanciful chase of the top six.

They have pushed their luck since Christmas and despite a helpful swing in the Championship last weekend, they are pushing it too far. Their win over Brentford seven days ago is a solitary road post sticking above the snow.

Boro have themselves been meandering since Christmas but there was a glint in their eye and a purpose to their football which said the squad under Tony Pulis still quietly fancy themselves. Adama Traore was available after the Football Association surprisingly overturned a red card shown to him last Saturday and his skill and pace told at the right times for Boro. There was no-one in Heckingbottom’s line-up, not even Samuel Saiz, able to wreak the same havoc. There was no chance of the weather helping out either.

A break in the snow and 48 hours of pitch-clearing by Boro’s diligent groundstaff kept the grass at The Riverside pristine and the fixture in business, to the pre-match satisfaction of both Heckingbottom and Pulis.

There was no advantage in a postponement for either camp, particularly once Boro overturned a four-match ban imposed on the lightning quick Traore, and the weather temporarily obscured the value of the points on offer. It was not long before Heckingbottom was rueing the decision to play.

There was an unavoidable sense that Teesside, in temperatures below freezing, was a perfect playground for Pulis’ football but Heckingbottom did not flinch with his team, keeping faith with what had worked for him against Brentford last weekend. Adam Forshaw, the new father in Leeds’ ranks, was denied a recall and left to watch from the bench against the club who sold him for £3m in January. The first half needed his composure and Heckingbottom sent him on at the start of the second.

Traore was set against Vurnon Anita, the most fragile point in United’s outfield set-up, but there was an obvious appetite amongst both sets of players to cut loose quickly. Leeds simply lacked the nous to fuel theirs. Wiedwald kept a cross from Ryan Shotton away Stewart Downing in the sixth minute, flapping at it and nudging it beyond the winger’s outstretched leg. The goalkeeper then stood up to a low effort from Bamford, knocking it clear with his knee as Boro pressed from a corner. As the game settled down, the impetus swung increasingly towards the players in red.

Samuel Saiz, though, let Boro off with a shot over the crossbar after Gjanni Alioski carried the ball into the centre of Pulis’ defence and Boro were initially prone to inviting counter-attacks by losing possession around the halfway line. Leeds were alive to the gaps but loose at the crucial moments, failing to force Darren Randolph into a save before half-time. Wiedwald was pleased to avoid one when Ben Gibson stooped to head Downing’s 20th-minute corner wide from eight yards.

Pontus Jansson missed a similar chance soon after, set up by Dallas’ delivery but put off by the attention of Daniel Ayala, and the match descended into a succession of corners, most of them at Wiedwald’s end of the pitch. One threw up an opportunity for Ayala which he met with an overhead kick and sent wide, with all the expected grace of a centre-back, but the pressure of digging in got to Leeds in the 31st minute.

Jansson prevented Downing from meeting a hanging cross from Shotton but when the resulting corner worked its way to Downing on the right wing, Cooper missed his cross and Bamford was waiting to side-foot the ball neatly past Wiedwald. Boro’s control had been convincing enough to merit a goal.

Five minutes later Bamford struck for a second time, sliding a shot under Wiedwald from an angle after Traore danced past three Leeds players and fed a pass out wide. Traore might have been halted earlier but Wiedwald was guilty of allowing the ball to beat him easily. Bamford, whose second spell with Middlesbrough has been less than stellar, was happy to take whatever he could get.

The prospect of a fightback, Leeds’ habitual routine in the past two months, felt less relevant than first negating a battering, especially after Stuart Dallas passed up a rare chance to plant a cross onto the head of Pierre-Michel Lasogga.

Gibson should have claimed a third goal before the break when he nodded another Downing corner past Wiedwald’s near post.

Forshaw came forth at the break, along with Ronaldo Vieira, and a 4-3-3 was Heckingbottom’s answer to the trouble his team were in.

Anita, who had already been booked, switched to right-back to escape the pace of Traore.

Jansson twice headed inviting corners from Stuart Dallas over early in the second half as Boro dug in but the game soon found a familiar pattern and Wiedwald’s anxiety became more palpable.

Bamford shot wide after the German allowed a long throw to slip from his hands and every cross into the box caused jitters, raising jeers from the away end when Wiedwald caught a high ball on 65 minutes.

It begs the question of whether Heckingbottom can avoid a change of keeper against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Wednesday.

Wiedwald, through no fault of his own, was beaten for a third time on 68 minutes when Traore’s shot deflected to Bamford who was marginally offside but got the benefit of the doubt and slotted home.

At a higher level of the English league VAR would have had its say but defeat was coming regardless.

And the good news is that Wolves are next.