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Leeds United 2 - 0 Ipswich Town: McCarthy's men Stopped in their Tracks by United

An improved Ipswich Town side were no match for Leeds who returned to winning ways thanks to goals from Jerome Thomas and Paul Green.

Chris Brunskill

After last week's defeat to Derby County, Leeds fans were hoping that it was just a minor blip in what had been a good run.

Ipswich's arrival to Elland Road saw the likes of DJ Campbell and Michael Chopra strut their stuff in what promised to be a difficult encounter.

Following the Derby defeat, Neil warnock made two changes with Thomas replacing Hall and Diouf replacing Ross McCormack.

Leeds started the better of the two sides and were using the ball down the flanks to create chances for Becchio and Diouf who were thwarted by Henderson in the Ipswich goal.

With Thomas' pace and Diouf's trickery causing all sorts of problems it was only a matter of time before the Whites took the lead. Diouf's corner from the right-hand side found the head of Tom Lees, whose flick was then flicked again by the heel of Thomas to grab his first goal in his loan spell.

United pushed on to get that elusive second goal and almost got it when David Norris saw his header cleared off the line.

Despite the lack of chances on goal the visitors were looking dangerous on the counter attack and were wining every second ball in the middle of the park. Club Captain Lee Peltier was struggling to cope with Carlos Edwards and Ipswich were getting far too much space down the Leeds left flank.

The second-half started very similar to the first with Leeds pressing but unable to find the crucial two goal cushion. In the cold wind, United pushed with very little resistance from the Tractor Boys and the clock ticked by with Leeds fans sitting comfortably in their seats.

Three points looked likely when a well-worked move down the left wing was finished off by the in-form Paul Green. Norris found space to feed the ball to Thomas who's carefully weighted pass found Green on the edge of the box who placed his shot in the top corner.

In typical Leeds United fashion, they allowed the opposition to have a chance or two before the final whistle. Substitute Michael Chopra got away from Tom Lees in the box but his shot was brilliantly saved by the legs of Paddy Kenny.

A second chance then fell to Martin who had a one-on-one chance against Kenny before Sam Byram got back and calmly nudged the winger off the ball.

That ended the Ipswich resilience and the Whites picked up a vital three points in a pivotal week for the club.