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Alex Harris at Daily Star |
Fulham (0) 0-3 (1) Leeds
Leeds punished Fulham for their wasteful finishing at Craven Cottage to keep Kit Symons' men nervously looking over their shoulders.
Sam Byram, Sol Bamba and Mirco Antenucci struck for United to take their unbeaten run to four games.
But the Cottagers were left to rue a combination of superb goalkeeping by Leeds stopper Marco Silvestri and a lack of composure in front of goal to stay just six points above the relegation zone.
Fulham started the brighter of the two sides and were foiled repeatedly by Italian in the opening 10 minutes.
Former United striker Ross McCormack was denied by Silvestri from inside the box before Bryan Ruiz and Kostas Stafylidis both saw long-range efforts well saved.
Symons' side continued to push for the opening goal and giant striker Matt Smith, a £500K summer signing from Leeds, was next to be frustrated by Silvestri.
McCormack dropped deep with 17 minutes gone and whipped in a teasing ball for Smith but his glancing header was pushed wide.
But the hosts were made to pay for failing to make their dominance count when Leeds opened the scoring with their first effort on target.
Gaetano Berardi robbed Ruiz on the edge of the Fulham box and floated the ball into Sam Byram's path for the wide-man to nod past Marcus Bettinelli.
Neil Redfearn's men doubled their lead just three minutes into the second-half when Alex Mowatt found Sol Bamba unmarked from a corner for the Ivorian to head home.
Things quickly went from bad to worse for Fulham when Stafylidis picked up two yellow cards within a matter of seconds for dissent and a late tackle on Luke Murphy.
Ryan Tunnicliffe nearly grabbed one back but he was foiled by Silvestri with the goal gaping while Shaun Hutchinson hit the post with a header.
Antenucci added a late third when Bettinelli pushed a cross into his path allowing him to drill the ball over the Fulham defence and into the net.
Leeds climb to the top-half of the Championship table while Fulham drop to 21st.
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