Leeds United 3-1 Hull City: Two late goals help hosts secure second in Championship

Late goals from Crysencio Summerville and Dan James ensured Leeds United stayed in the Championship’s automatic promotion places after a 3-1 win over Hull City at Elland Road.

Leeds missed some excellent chances before the break as Hull posed a threat in the early part of the second half.

Mateo Joseph hit the Hull post with 12 minutes to go before Summerville found the net from the spot after he was fouled by Regan Slater while James sealed victory with a remarkable long range shot.

The win keeps Leeds in second place after leaders Ipswich Town’s late win over Southampton and Leicester City’s victory over Norwich earlier on Easter Monday.

Daniel Farke’s side are a point behind Ipswich and one ahead of Leicester, who have a game in hand.

Hull remain in ninth place and are six points off the play-off spots as their winless run extended to six matches.

Leeds wrapped up the win in emphatic fashion as they worked the ball to James on the counter from a Hull corner, with the Wales international then firing home from just past the halfway line to put the disappointment of missing his country’s crucial penalty in the Euro 2024 qualifying loss to Poland behind him.

Byram started and ended the move that saw him get the opener.

He dispossessed Jaden Philogene on half way before feeding Georginio Rutter, whose wonderful snaking run saw him beat four players in midfield as he sent it wide to Summerville.

Summerville’s powerful angled shot could only be parried by Ryan Allsop and Byram charged in to head his second goal of the season.

Patrick Bamford should have doubled the lead midway through the first half but he somehow managed to put James’ low cross from the left over the bar from six yards out.

Hull reasserted themselves as Philogene had an effort blocked before Liverpool loanees Tyler Morton and Carvalho combined as the former’s cross from the left was flicked in by the latter as he got across Ethan Ampaduat the near post.

Having been boosted by the goal Hull would have been behind shortly before the break had Lewie Coyle not deflected the recalled Junior Firpo’s shot over the bar before Allsop produced a fine double save from Rutter from close range in stoppage time.

Bamford failed to get on the end of an excellent Byram cross soon after the restart before Hull saw Philogene curl a shot just wide and Ozan Tufan flick a header onto the roof on the Leeds net.

Hull were in the ascendency as they spurned another good chance after an hour when Abdolkadir Omur curled an effort just wide after excellent build-up work by Morton in front of an increasingly nervous Elland Road.

But the drama was still to play out as first Joseph clipped the base of the post from six yards after Firpo had cut the ball back to the substitute from the byline.

But just as Leeds fans were thinking their side would be dropping to third place Summerville was clipped by Slater in the box as he drove down the left – and after some discussions with Piroe the Dutch forward calmly side-footed the spot kick down the middle.

Hull piled men forward to try and claim a point, and came close, but with goalkeeper Allsop upfield for the corner when Leeds broke away Wales forward James was able to curl in from the right touchline just inside the Hull half into the unguarded net.

It sealed a win that will boost the hosts’ belief and be a blow to Leicester and Ipswich who will have thought their promotion rivals had dropped points having seen their sides both come from behind to earn victories earlier in the day.

Hull City manager Liam Rosenior told BBC Radio Humberside:

“I’m devastated with the result because it wasn’t deserved.

“The way we pressed man for man, the way we kept the ball at times, the way we frustrated them, the way we opened up chances, that’s what I want this club to be about for as long as I’m at this club.

“But what we have to do is we have to take the chances we create, we have to just manage moments better and if we do that we’re onto a really good thing.

“It’s a weird feeling because I’ve got more belief in this group than I ever have before, and that sounds crazy in a game where people look at the result and say ‘you lost 3-1.’

“But what those players have to do, and what I have to do, is maintain a consistent level of performance at that level for the next seven games, and if we do that, things can change very quickly in this league.”