Middlesbrough 3-4 Leeds: Whites go second in Championship

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Incredibly, in December’s reverse fixture at Elland Road Leeds were also 3-2 up at half-time.

Although the teams could not match the three goals in the opening seven minutes in West Yorkshire, it was another frenetic start in this encounter.

Boro took the lead when Finn Azaz’s attempted through ball deflected into the path of Latte Lath who managed to nick the ball on to Jones and he tapped into an empty net.

Leeds had lost two of their previous three games and scored just once in that time but drew level almost immediately.

Rutter beat Dijksteel, in for the ineligible Luke Ayling, and the Dutchman brought him down in the area to allow Summerville to coolly despatch his 19th goal of the season.

Former Boro striker Bamford put Leeds in front when he turned Firpo’s cross in with his hip despite the home defence and keeper Seny Dieng appealing for offside.

Latte Lath made it 2-2 with a fabulous shot as he ran across the face of the 18-yard box but Gnonto had Leeds in front at the end of a topsy-turvy first 45 minutes with a measured finish after an incisive attack.

The second half struggled to live up to the action-packed nature of the first as Leeds were content to allow the home side to have possession and look to play on the counter.

That worked perfectly when they won the ball back on the halfway line and Firpo shifted the ball out to the superb Summerville who cut in and curled home.

Boro, who had to win to retain any hopes of keeping their play-off bid alive, were understandably deflated by that and the game seemed to be petering out before Latte Lath scored with a wonderfully improvised header from Alex Gilbert’s long ball forward.

Handed an unlikely lifeline they threw everything at trying to find another goal, with Dieng coming up for numerous late set-pieces, but Leeds held out for a first win since 1 April.

Leeds travel to QPR on Friday in their final away game of the season and could be four points clear of Ipswich before the Tractor Boys visit Hull on Saturday.

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