Leeds United vs Aston Villa. Sky Bet Championship.
Elland RoadAttendance32,648.
Saturday 3 December 2016 23:15, UK
Kemar Roofe and Chris Wood scored in the second half as Leeds United saw off Aston Villa 2-0 at Elland Road on Saturday evening to go fourth in the Sky Bet Championship.
Souleymane Doukara whipped in a dangerous ball and former Oxford striker Roofe - who moved to the club for £3m in the summer - reacted bravely to head past Pierluigi Gollini and break the deadlock in the 68th minute, scoring his first goal for the club in the process.
Then, in stoppage time, the dangerous Hadi Sacko broke clear; his effort was saved, but trickled beneath Gollini - and Wood was on hand to slide in for his 10th of the season.
The win is sweet revenge for Leeds, who have not faced Villa since the two met in the Premier League 12 years ago. On that day, Villa emerged victorious and Leeds were relegated from the top flight.
That result also means Villa lose their unbeaten run under manager Steve Bruce and are 15th in the Championship table, having not lost since Preston put two past them at the beginning of October.
This time around, it was a match of few chances from either side in the opening 45 minutes, with both racking up a number of fouls, leading to set pieces which failed to materialise into anything meaningful.
Albert Adomah was lively for Villa and can count himself unlucky not to have been awarded a penalty when he was bought down by Robert Green after some miscommunication in the home defence.
Pontus Jansson should have put Leeds ahead on the half-hour mark but, after being left unmarked, he could only send his header well over the bar.
Gary Gardner had an excellent opportunity to fire the visitors in front, but a heavy first touch let him down and Jansson was able to slide in and prevent any further danger.
Into the second-half and the crowd were forced to wait for the action to pick up, as play was momentarily halted, after a pitch invader came onto the field, before being taken out by security.
The dangerous Adomah made a brilliant, darting run at the heart of the Leeds' defence and after beating Jansson, but failed to get his effort past the on-rushing Green, who spread himself well and pushed the effort away.
Moments later, Rudy Gestede's knockdown fell into the path of Ashley Westwood and he blasted a snapshot straight into the palms of the former England international.
Jack Grealish was introduced by Bruce, as he sought to get the breakthrough, but it was Leeds who went ahead shortly after.
Souleymane Doukara broke down the right and his brilliant cross curled beyond the defence and Roofe was there to head it home, much to his and Leeds' relief for the opening goal of the game.
That goal injected new life into Leeds and Bruce again turned to his substitute's bench, bringing on Gabriel Agbonlahor and Jordan Ayew in the hope of an immediate response.
However, it did not go the way the former Hull manager would have wanted, as Ayew was booked for a shove on Luke Ayling and Sacko broke clear of the tiring Villa backline, but when his initial effort was saved, Wood was on hand like any good striker to tuck in the follow up and send Leeds home with the win.
Leeds United manager Gary Monk
"We didn't play at our best to be honest with you, It has been a very difficult week, so it is hard to be critical, great character from the lads. I think we deserved the win and I can't really remember Aston Villa having a shot on our goal."
Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce
"We certainly had the best opportunities, a really good opportunity in the first-half and two in the second-half. If you come to a place like this, you need to score when you get them chances and in this division if you make a mistake it will cost you and they punished us."
