Leeds United vs Ipswich Town. Sky Bet Championship.
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Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Leeds United and Ipswich Town at Elland Road on Saturday | Pascal Struijk, Crysencio Summerville and Joel Piroe on target as Daniel Farke's men romp to statement win
Saturday 23 December 2023 17:22, UK
Leeds emphatically narrowed the gap between themselves and the automatic promotion places to seven points with a crushing 4-0 win over Ipswich.
Pascal Struijk put the hosts in front with a simple header, and ex-Leeds defender Leif Davis turned a Crysencio Summerville cross into the back of his own net to double the lead with less than half an hour gone.
Summerville then won and converted a penalty before the break, with Joel Piroe ending a four-game barren spell shortly after it to add the gloss.
Leeds' first win in three games sees them move to 45 points at the halfway point of the season, seven behind Ipswich, but still 13 behind leaders Leicester.
The stakes were high ahead of this mouthwatering pre-Christmas encounter. Leeds could inch that bit closer to the top two with a win, but Ipswich could shut that door - perhaps completely - if they succeeded. Within minutes, it was clear which way things were going to go.
A fast start from Leeds has become commonplace - and they were ahead after just eight minutes when Struijk headed in from a yard or two out after Vaclav Hladky had saved Piroe's connection on a flat, pacey corner from the left.
It was two with less than half an hour played. Summerville's run from halfway saw him ease past several Ipswich defenders, with his square ball finding Davis - who left for Portman Road in July 2022 - with a touch inadvertently diverting the ball into the back of his own net.
Conor Chaplin's stinging drive seconds after the restart cannoned off the outside of the post as Ipswich looked for an instant equaliser, but the league's top scorers reached the end of the half without mustering a single shot on target.
That left the door open for Leeds to add a third before the break, courtesy of Summerville's emphatic penalty, after Davis' foul on the Dutchman.
Momentum did not wane at the break. Piroe drifted in off the right and crashed a shot off the underside of the crossbar within two minutes of the restart before getting in on the act with two neat touches and a clinical finish after a rapid counter.
Georginio Rutter came close to capping a brilliant performance with a goal of his own when his effort hit Massimo Luongo and bounced off the top of the bar, but, by that point, it did not matter - the job was done.
Leeds' Daniel Farke:
"It is not possible to be perfect in football, but that was our most mature performance of the season. We played one of the top sides of this level and fully deserved the 4-0 win. There were two half-chances for them, but the second half xG was zero for them - I cannot recall that in one half of football.
"That was the second home game without giving away a corner. In all phases, we were outstanding. Balanced and mature. After 80 minutes, we are 4-0 up and still did not want to give any chance away. The most impressive topic of the game was the clean sheet."
Ipswich's Kieran McKenna:
"Of course it was a disappointing game that didn't got the way we wanted it to go.
The first goal is a really important moment, we know that. We're really disappointed with how we defended the corner, having said that I thought there was a crystal clear foul (on Conor Chaplin) in the build-up to the corner which was unmissable really because it was so close to the referee.
"But of course we own our bit of it as well. That turned what was already a very difficult game into a very, very difficult game.
"It certainly wasn't an enjoyable experience, but over the course of a long season you're going to have days that don't go your way and today was one of them. We'll learn from it and move on really, really quickly."
Both teams are back in action, live on Sky Sports Football, on Boxing Day.
Leeds travel to Deepdale to face Preston at 12.30pm, with Ipswich hosting current leaders Leicester at Portman Road at 7.45pm.
