Leeds duly went back to the top of the table with a fairly routine victory over Luton Town, but Daniel Farke thought the win should have been even more emphatic when he spoke to the BBC after the game.

"To show such a dominant performance, to create many chances, to score three goals and score more or less in the perfect moments, I'm pretty happy with our performance. At the moment we're showing great consistency in performances and also results, but efficiency to convert the chances - we've had this problem also in one or two away games where we haven't come home with three points.

"And although we were that dominant we allowed them a few chances. Three or four times, Illan had to be there switched on and Pascal was also there with a great clearance so there's always something to improve. But I don't want to be too critical because it was very close to a big performance." And I don’t want to be too critical either, but I can see what he means.

A comfortable victory was expected, seeing as we came into the match with a run of five successive home wins, while our visitors had lost all of their last four away games. While it rarely looked as though either run would come to an end last night, we had a couple of nervous moments at the back and failed to punish a poor Luton side as severely as we might have done.

On Tuesday night three other teams sneaked above us in the table, but that didn’t really count while we had a game in hand, and once again we kicked off knowing that a victory would take us to the top of the table. There was one change to the starting line-up as Gnonto came in to give Dan James’ dodgy hamstrings a bit of a rest.

At the start it looked like we were in for yet another match when Leeds have to break down for a ‘low block’, but that only lasted for the ten minutes it took us to take the lead. Sam Byram reminded everyone that although he is currently filling in on the left, he is actually right-footed, as he reacted to his first shot being blocked by jumping in the air to ensure that his subsequent volley didn’t go over the bar, and managed to guide the shot into the far corner of the net.

In the 11th minute the crowd began to applaud and broke out into a chant about the late Gary Speed, on the anniversary of his very sad passing.

The goal forced Luton to come out and play, while we were content to build our attacks slowly from deep inside our own half. I don’t mind that so much when we’re winning. Yet Luton came close to snatching an equaliser with their first decent attack of the game. Meslier seemed to dither as he came out too late and allowed Moses to chip the ball over him, but he was bailed out by Struijk’s acrobatic goal-line clearance.

That woke Leeds up, as a reminder that the game was a long way from being won, so we started to build up the pressure again. Kaminski had to get down for a few shots, but none had the power to really trouble him. Perhaps the best chance during this spell came from Gnonto, who tried to use the pace on a cross from Solomon to guide the ball into the corner of the net, but didn’t quite get the direction right, so the Luton keeper was able to make the save.

But then Luton had another presentable chance as the ball came to the unmarked Burke just beyond the far post, but he was kind enough to send a poor header well wide. At that stage you could say that despite all our pressure, Luton had created the two best opportunities of the game apart from the goal. Clearly we needed a second to make the game secure, and just before half time it arrived from that most unlikely of sources. A corner.

Struijk is possibly our most effective weapon at set pieces, and he sent a firm header towards the corner, which Kaminski could do nothing with other than palm the ball straight out in front of him. Where Piroe reacted faster than any of the Luton defenders, and guided the ball into the net from close range.

The game continued in a similar vein after the break, with another good chance falling to Piroe, but his shot was blocked after his turn towards goal, so he might have been better off pulling the ball back to Gnonto. From the hour mark onwards Farke started to make substitutions, no doubt with an eye to keeping everyone fairly fresh, as Saturday’s trip to Blackburn will be our third game in just less than six days.

And with ten minutes remaining one of these subs scored the third goal that put the win beyond any doubt. Bogle played a long ball down the right, safe in the knowledge that Dan James was always going to outpace their defender, so all he had to do was send it ahead of the pair of them and James was sure to be the one who got to the ball first.

The ball was bouncing as James caught up with it, but the Welshman used that to his advantage as the keeper came out, sending a perfectly judged chip over Kaminski’s head to drop into the back of the net. There were still a few moments to endure so we could keep a clean sheet, with Adebayo heading over from close range and forcing Meslier into a couple of decent saves.

At the other end Joseph was unlucky to have a shot deflected wide, and once again I had reason to curse Bogle for shooting from a narrow angle instead of crossing to a better placed colleague. A few of these type of chances will need to be taken against better opponents, but this performance was more than good enough against the hapless Hatters.

It’s already certain that we have been displaced at the top again before the next game, with Sheffield United and Sunderland playing each other on Friday night. But if we can keep it a little bit tighter at the back and take a few more chances, our overall form is certainly good enough for us to finish the next round of fixtures where we will start it. Top top top top top of the league!

Reuters

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