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Leeds United handed Premier League promotion boost as Sheffield United slip up

Matt Crooks celebrates giving Hull City an early lead at Sheffield United
-Credit:Getty Images


Leeds United remain top of the Championship on Friday evening after Sheffield United suffered a heavy 3-0 defeat to Hull City at Bramall Lane.

Chris Wilder's side headed into the fixture this evening with the opportunity to pile the pressure on their Championship promotion rivals. The Blades knew a victory would be enough to move two points clear at the top of the division before the Whites faced fellow promotion rivals Burnley on Monday night.

However, the South Yorkshire club started slowly and were made to pay as Matt Crooks fired home expertly on six minutes to give the Tigers the lead. Such was the disappointment in the home end, supporters jeered their team off the pitch at half-time.

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Tyrese Campbell thought he had equalised ten minutes after the restart but the offside flag was incorrectly raised to keep Hull in front. This would prove costly on 63 minutes when substitute Matty Jacob prodded home inside the area.

The hosts could not recover and the victory was sealed late on as Joao Pedro's cross was turned into his own goal by Harrison Burrows. For Leeds this was the ideal way to kickstart their weekend ahead of a tough test on Monday night at Turf Moor.

Speaking pre-match, manager Daniel Farke was full of praise for Scott Parker's side. "Credit to them, it is outstanding what they have done," he explained, "to concede such a small amount of goals.

"We are still ambitious and have scored an incredible amount of goals. It is difficult to create chances against Burnley, our offensive players have to be firing on all cylinders on Monday.

"If it is not possible to have the least conceded goals it is still possible to be there with most clean sheets." Victory for Leeds would see them move four points clear of the Blades at the top of the Championship.