'Very bad' - Leicester City boss reacts to Leeds United defeat in 'unbelievable' Elland Road atmosphere

The Foxes' head coach was powerless as he watched his league leaders concede three late goals at Elland Road on Friday night. Wout Faes' opener was cancelled out by second half substitute Connor Roberts with ten minutes or so remaining, before Archie Gray's deflected effort gave Leeds the advantage minutes later.

Patrick Bamford - via a Daniel James free-kick - added a third in stoppage time, sticking his knee out to divert the ball beyond Mads Hermansen and clinch a vital victory for the home side in their bid to secure automatic promotion this season.

Holding court with reporters after his side's second consecutive defeat, Maresca said: "I think until the goal, for 80 minutes we were in control, we dominated, created many chances.

"In the last 10 minutes in this kind of game, in this stadium, it's easy when you concede the goal that you drop a little bit or mentally they are better than us. After we conceded they were better than us in terms of mentality."

Leeds' unbeaten home record was under threat heading into the final stretch but was salvaged courtesy of their three late strikes. United's win over Leicester is their ninth in-a-row in the Championship this season and their 19th consecutive home match across all competitions without defeat.

"It's football, it can happen that we score, that we concede," Maresca added. "I don't think tonight mentally we were weak because we controlled and dominated. In this stadium it's easy that mentally they feel better than us after we concede. We have been able to decrease the environment but for the last 10 minutes it was unbelievable.

"They [the players] feel exactly the same way I feel, very bad because we lost."

The Whites cut Leicester's lead at the top of the table to six points with their victory on Friday night. Chasers Southampton and Ipswich Town both play at 3pm on Saturday afternoon.