Daniel Farke hailed Leeds’s “top level” forwards after the emphatic 4-0 win at Watford increased their lead at the Championship summit to five points. Dan James opened the scoring in the 20th minute after latching on to a misplaced pass from Edo Kayembe. The Wales winger made it 2-0 eight minutes later when Watford were caught out by a swift counterattack. Manor Solomon saw a shot deflected in for the third before half-time, with Joël Piroe slotting in the fourth midway through the second period after Watford were undone with some quick passing in tight spaces.
The result meant Leeds have scored 13 times without reply in their past three league outings. Farke said: “We were excellent on the counterattack and the way we scored the goals. I’m pretty happy with the scoreline and the clean sheet. “The fourth goal was poetry in motion I would say. The individual performance of the players up front was of the top level. All the topics that were important for this game we have delivered. The way we scored the goals was fantastic.”.
Preston moved to within five points of the playoff places as they recorded a hard-fought 1-0 win against Norwich at Carrow Road. An early effort from the striker Milutin Osmajic proved enough to see off a below-par home side and the well-drilled visitors could easily have won by a bigger margin, with a number of chances going begging. Norwich, who would have moved into the top six had they won, barely created a decent opportunity all night and could have few complaints about the result.
Frank Lampard’s Coventry scored in stoppage-time to secure a fifth win in six matches with a 1-0 victory against QPR. Jack Rudoni’s corner was turned in by Bobby Thomas to help them bounce back from their defeat against Leeds in their last league outing. Portsmouth edged past Cardiff 2-1 to boost their survival chances. Colby Bishop and Conor Shaughnessy put Pompey two goals up after 17 minutes at Fratton Park as the hosts made a flying start. Callum O’Dowda pulled a goal back for the visitors but they were unable to avoid a defeat which saw them leapfrogged by Pompey.
