Saturday 3 December 2016 21:54, UK
Leeds manager Gary Monk felt his side did not perform to their best despite seeing off Aston Villa with two second-half goals at Elland Road on Saturday.
Kemar Roofe headed Leeds in front with his first goal for the club, and Chris Wood pounced on a Hadi Sacko effort to tap over the line for his 10th goal of the season to complete the 2-0 victory.
But Monk, who watched his team move up to fourth in the Sky Bet Championship table following the win, believed his players under performed, but showed great character following a difficult week, which included an away defeat in the EFL Cup to Premier League side Liverpool
"We didn't play at our best to be honest with you," Monk said. "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.
"Fantastic effort, great spirit, great character. Like I said, we weren't at our best today but we done enough to win the game.
"I think when the first goal come, that's when we started to play better. We have a real busy period coming up at Christmas and we know we will have to play a lot better than we did today.
"Like I said, a very difficult week, a local derby, Liverpool away and then to play against Aston Villa at home, never easy so fantastic effort from this young squad.
"We are taking each game at a time, it is very important for this group of young players not to get caught up in anything and just fight for the three points that are ahead of us."
It has been a difficult start to life in a Leeds shirt for Roofe, who has had to wait until now for his first goal, since he signed for £3million and former Swansea manager Monk praised his forward.
"He deserved that a long time before this," Monk said. "We just said to him it's about the team first and he is a team player, the most important thing is they contribute to the team and he has been doing that fantastically over the last few weeks.
"That goal will make him have an easier night's sleep."
It was a first defeat for Steve Bruce since he took over at Aston Villa and he felt they had the best opportunities overall, but now it is all about how they respond from their defeat.
"We certainly had the best opportunities, a really good opportunity in the first half and two in the second," Bruce said. "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."
"It's all about the reaction, we haven't done to badly today and we made a poor mistake and when we chased it we became a little ragged and that is normal when you are trying to chase a game and how we recover now is crucial."
