Thriving young Leeds United forward sends warning to rivals and vows action seeking Whites aim

Eighteen-year-old striker Max Dean helped himself to a second-half hat-trick in Monday's Premier League Two Division Two hosting of Newcastle United's under-21s who fell to a 4-2 defeat at Thorp Arch. The result left Michael Skubala's young Whites six points clear at the top of the table and Dean says his team will be ready to deal with whatever is thrown at them when action finally resumes in January.

Skubala's side remain unbeaten in the league having bagged eight wins and one draw from their nine games so far and Dean says United's youngsters will be able to "adapt" if opposing sides sit deep in a bid to stifle his side's threat.

United's under-21s will not return to action until the away trip to fifth-placed Nottingham Forest on Monday, January 9 but Dean says the hard graft will continue in the meantime in a bid to achieve this season's chief target of going up as champions.

"We know obviously that we are top of the league so teams are going to come and maybe drop a little bit against us," said Dean to LUTV, reflecting on the nature of Monday's win against the young Magpies. "We have to deal with that and adapt how we play and I thought we did it perfectly so we will move on. If another team does it we will do exactly the same."

"It was a tough start (against Newcastle). They had a good press but then we came out in the second half, we knew what we had to do and obviously I got my goals so I am happy. But most importantly it's the win for the team and staying at the top of the league. That's the overall aim."

Dean's Monday treble followed a first-minute opener from Kris Moore and the striker's hat-trick took the teenager on to four goals for the current campaign for a side who have already netted 33 times from their eight outings so far.

"I am made up," said Dean on his rapid 18-minute treble. "Obviously I couldn't do it without the team. A few of the balls that were played into me were great balls and came from pressing as well so I'm not going to take any credit when they were all put on a plate for me. You have seen when I scored and when Kris scored, everyone is made up for everyone. People give it to someone to score because we are a selfless team and we will do everything for each other."

Pondering the fact that United's youngsters now had two months without a game, Dean vowed: "When we are back in we will hit it hard. We know what the aim is, to win the league so we are just going to carry on grafting until we achieve what we can."