Leeds outplayed a 10-man team to stay in touch with the Championship’s top two. Middlesbrough…..

Within the first seven minutes, headers from Daniel James and Crysencio Summerville of Leeds, the two shortest players on the field, overshadowed Boro’s rifled opener from Emmanuel Latte Lath.

Joel Piroe’s penalty, which Boro substitute Matt Clarke gave up a minute after coming on, put the home team ahead, but shortly before halftime, Latte Lath’s header gave the visitors a chance to rally.

Boro’s hopes of rallying were thwarted by Anfernee Dijksteel’s dismissal for a second bookable offence, though they came close to salvaging a point when substitute Samuel Silvera’s deflected strike struck the post.

Leeds is still in third place, seven points behind Ipswich in second place, who won on Saturday as well. Boro, who lost their third straight away game due to three goals conceded, dropped to 12th place but is still only three points out of the top six.

In a furious first few minutes that saw three goals and may have resulted in twice as many, both teams went for the kill right away.

When Latte Lath cut inside Archie Gray and fired a forceful finish past an astonished Illan Meslier into the roof of the net, the score was opened.

Seny Dieng of Boro stopped a Georginio Rutter shot with his legs, and James’ dinked effort was cleared off the line by Leeds quickly after. However, two quick goals turned the game around.

Three goals have been scored by Daniel James in his last four Leeds games.
James gained five inches to get above Paddy McNair and head in Sam Byram’s cross, and moments later, Summerville gained an equal amount of height to beat Dijksteel to Gray’s deflected center.

Latte Lath squandered opportunities to level the score for Boro, missing from eight yards and having Daniel Barlaser’s through ball thwarted by a deft Meslier save.

Conversely, Dieng made a great save to deny Rutter a one-on-one opportunity, but Piroe beat him on the spot after a grounded Clarke—replacing the injured McNair—tripped Rutter with his first meaningful touch.

Latte Lath, an Ivory Coast striker, then missed another good chance before making up for it with a glancing header from Barlaser’s near-post corner.

Summerville before Dijksteel, who received a warning for clipping Summerville in the first half, saw red for a thoughtless lunge at James.

Joe Rodon brilliantly blocked Morgan Rogers’ goal-bound rebound after Silvera struck the woodwork as Leeds looked for a fourth goal to secure the victory.

Daniel Farke, Leeds’ manager, stated to BBC Radio Leeds:

“We have a tough game ahead of us, and I couldn’t be more excited. Since it was our third game in eight days against a very strong team, I’m proud of the boys.

Middlesbrough, in my opinion, is among the strongest contenders for the top six, so it was critical to be bold and relentless in your pursuit of the ball; if you don’t, you risk punishment.

“We produced so many wonderful.

“This was probably a fun game for all football fans. Since I love football, I was a fan of what we did, but as a manager, I preferred the second half because that’s when we settled things down and had everything under control.

“It was a priceless three points against a very good opponent.”

Michael Carrick, the head coach of Middlesbrough, said on BBC Radio Tees:

The game featured a variety of elements. Both teams looked dangerous at times, and there was a lot of excellent attacking play on the field. In my opinion, we gave it our all.

“We were put to the test today with a mostly new back four, but the boys persevered incredibly well against a very strong team and looked extremely dangerous.”

The locker room is silent as we feel that we could have won the game and are really disappointed not to have won anything.

They have had several opportunities, but I felt we had some good ones during the game. However, [being reduced to] 10 men somewhat changes the picture, and we still had a strong penalty call that struck the post. I’m incredibly proud of the players’ efforts.”