Under pressure Leeds United can get hit hard and keep moving forward - Graham Smyth's Verdict

Patrick Bamford was hit hard and often all week on social media but within 10 minutes against the Cottagers had moved forward onto a Helder Costa pass to score a crucial goal.

By that time Ben White had already been hit by a hard elbow from Aleksandar Mitrovic, but repeatedly as the game wore on he moved forward with awareness and speed to keep the Fulham dangerman as quiet as a mouse.

The Whites' 3-0 win at Elland Road, over a side fixated on catching and overhauling them in the Championship run-in, was pure character.

Marcelo Bielsa spoke about it in the days before the game, insisting the character of his side was on display each and every time they play.

It has been questioned, however.

Their mid-season wobble, particularly that dismal February defeat at the City Ground, brought an inquest that provoked Bielsa to address what he saw as a 'lack of faith' among supporters.

They went to Brentford a couple of days later, with the pressure really on, and put in a performance worthy of three points, while securing one.

That was the precursor to a five-game winning streak that didn't bring a single goal against.

And yet when the restart at Cardiff City brought disappointment and defeat, a large dent was put in the confidence of the fanbase.

The pressure has never been off this team, but as they arrived at an almost entirely empty Elland Road to play in front of 15,000 'crowdies' instead of real supporters, it wasn't tension in the air but hypertension.

A Fulham win would have cut Leeds' cushion to four points and prompted a meltdown of epic proportions.

The Whites, with Pablo Hernandez deemed fit enough only for a place on the bench, might easily have lost their heads, particularly when Mitrovic levelled White with a challenge that should have brought a red card in the second minute.

They took the hit and kept moving forward.

Costa ran onto an errant pass, refused to be knocked off his stride and pulled the ball back perfectly for Bamford to provide a finish of real composure.

One small misstep for Fulham, one giant leap for Leeds United.

Artificial crowd noise burst into the empty stadium for the first time, but the joy in the directors' box was real, Victor Orta getting lost in the moment, as is his way.

Pressure? What pressure. Actually, that's when it really began to be turned up.

The visitors began to claw their way back into it, gaining ground inch by inch and playing pretty passes around Leeds' press until they had territory, momentum and possession to work with.

Anthony Knockaert was waspish on Fulham's right. He kept coming, undeterred as a number of efforts from distance failed to find the net.

Fulham's football was as relentless as their penalty claims. The Cottagers wanted a spot-kick when Mitrovic headed against White at the back post. They wanted one when Bamford, who had given away the ball in the middle, tracked back to deny Bobby Decordova-Reid six yards out. On 34 minutes they wanted two penalties, first for the attention paid to Mitrovic as a set-piece was delivered, then when the ball bounced up and struck Tyler Roberts' arm.

The last one brought the most vehement protests, referee Tony Harrington finding personal space at a premium until he eventually had to show the yellow card to Knockaert.

On and on came Fulham, dominating Leeds in a manner most unfamiliar to Bielsa's Whites, but for all the time on the ball, in the home side's half, they rarely had Illan Meslier in any discomfort.

What the goalkeeper did struggle with was finding an outlet. Bamford struggled to give them any respite by holding the ball up and Leeds just couldn't play their football.

The half-time whistle was somewhat of a saviour, but no sooner had it sounded than Bielsa's intervention began.

Fitness coach Benoit Delaval sprinted in the direction of substitutes Gjanni Alioski and Hernandez, stopping them from heading into the changing room and leading them out onto the pitch to prepare for action.

When Leeds emerged from the break, Bamford and Costa were absent, their places filled by the aforementioned replacements.

With Hernandez' composure, positioning and pass-picking, Leeds suddenly found relief from the pressure.

They had possession, time and just enough space to break forward.

A Kalvin Phillips ball released Roberts on the right, his cut back found Jack Harrison and the winger shot just past the post, close enough for the artificial crowd noise operator to get a bit overexcited and press the button.

Yet as the Whites found more and more joy, Mateusz Klich found himself in the game finally and Phillips found room to manoeuvre, having spent the first half glued to Tom Cairney.

On 56 minutes the crowdies were treated to another perfect example of counter attacking football and the fake noise was back.

Klich eased a pass down the right into the path of Harrison whose low cross into the area found Alioski, the mercurial North Macedonian a picture of serenity as he stroked the ball past Marek Rodák.

The Leeds who had been pinned and trapped in the first half suddenly had a key, in the shape of a Spanish playmaker, with which to unlock Fulham's press. They did so with ease and enough regularity to take the sting out of the visitors completely.

With 19 left on the clock, 19 did it again.

Hernandez threw his arms in the air as Luke Ayling got the ball outside the Leeds box and when the ball came his way swung a perfectly weighted invite for Harrison to run in behind. The winger did the pass the justice it deserved, holding off Joe Bryan and sneaking the ball home at the near post.

Pressure valve open, game over. And Fulham knew it.

Their frustration told in the body language and strong language of Mitrovic and in the sending off, for two yellows, of substitute Neeskens Kebano.

As rain of biblical proportions fell in LS11, the man who parted the red sea trotted off, Bielsa saving Hernandez for another day.

The Argentine kept his players at it to the end, but they coasted to victory, the wind taken from Fulham's sails completely.

There may be more pressure and more questions to come for this Leeds United side, but this win proved once again that they can take it on the chin and come up with the answers.