Leeds United 0-1 Wolves

Nouha Dicko’s 38th minute strike gave Wolves a hard fought but deserved win over promotion chasing Leeds United at Elland Road.

Danny Batth and Ivan Cavaleiro were ruled out by injury whilst Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and Kortney Hause were named as substitutes. Into the side came Richard Stearman, Mike Williamson, Dicko and George Saville.

There was little to choose between the sides in the opening moments and when the first corner went the way of the visitors, Romain Saiss’s kick was headed clear as was a curling cross from Ben Marshall a few seconds later.

Saville was wide with a header after another Marshall cross and, at the other end, Andy Lonergan did well to cut out a short driven cross from Kalvin Phillips.

Liam Bridcutt’s centre-circle challenge on Saville left the Wolves man in need of treatment and led to the Leeds skipper being yellow carded.

In the 22nd minute Conor Coady was tripped by Phillips to the right of the home box. Marshall’s free-kick was nodded down by Williamson and Dave Edwards swivelled to get in a shot that Robert Green turned around the post.

A great piece of work along the right flank involving Coady and Andi Weimann ended with a square ball that Saville charged onto but his 25-yard drive struck a defender and was cleared.

There was a physical aspect to Leeds’ game and Kyle Bartlet was booked after leaving Dicko in a heap on the floor.

Dicko was inches away from giving Wolves the lead on the half-hour when he took a short pass from Marshall and curled a shot just wide of the far post from the 18-yard line.

But the striker wasn’t to be denied and he gave Wanderers the lead in the 38th minute. Matt Doherty pushed the ball to Marshall and his superb through pass found Dicko who calmly rolled the ball past Green from just inside the area.

When another bad challenge on Dicko went unpunished, Saville’s frustrations got the better of him and he went onto the book for a late tackle on Bridcutt.

Half-Time: Leeds 0 Wolves 1

Lonergan’s clearance from a back pass struck Chris Wood but the ball bounced to safety and then Kemar Roofe fired over the bar with a shot from distance.

Wood’s driven centre hit Stearman at close range prompting loud home appeals for a penalty for hands but the referee, who was right up with play, was having none of it.

Leeds sent Hadi Sacko on for Bridcutt and, after Pontus Jansson had headed over from a Pablo Hernandez cross, Charlie Taylor replaced Gaetano Berardi.

Then it was the turn of Paul Lambert to ring the changes with Bodvarsson and Lee Evans replacing Dicko and Saville respectively midway through the half.

Evans was soon involved with a powerful shot from fully 35-yards out that went straight at Green before a final home change saw Souleymane Doukara going on in place of Alfonso Pedraza.

It took an athletic save from Lonergan to keep out a close range header from Doukara. Stearman took a blow to the head in the incident and had to receive treatment before he could carry on.

Bodvarsson was yellow carded for tripping Luke Ayling before Hause took the field for the closing stages in place of Marshall.

And it was Hause that came to the rescue in the 89th minute as he cleared Roofe’s header off the line from underneath the crossbar. 

The closest that Leeds came to levelling in the five minutes of added time came when Wood headed narrowly over following a Hernandez cross. But it was the 1,100 that had made the trip north that were celebrating the final whistle just a couple of moments later.

Middlesbrough Under 23s 0 Wolves 1 (Ennis)