Leeds Player Ratings: Middlesbrough 0 - 1 Leeds. As with any of them now, a massive win.

Leeds United got the better of Middlesbrough to maintain their lead over the playoff pack, and drop Middlesbrough further into a relegation fight.

Poland international Mateusz Klich’s goal was enough to give Marcelo Bielsa’s side a 1-0 win. As usual Leeds missed a few chances and it got nervy towards the end, but that is three wins in a row, keeping a clean sheet in each of them.

Time now to look at each player and how they performed. As always you can tell me how wrong I am @mightywhitespod or @ThruItAllLUFC on twitter.

STARTING LINE-UP

Kiko Casilla - Good performance from the one-time Spain international. One good save, everything else handled calmly. 7.5/10

Luke Ayling - Got beaten by Hayden Coulson on too many occasions but otherwise fine defensively. Some good work in attack including almost setting up Patrick Bamford for a tap-in and a great cross which the striker should have done better with. 7/10

Gaetano Berardi - Covering at the back due to Ben White playing the “Phillips role”. Had a very solid game. A couple of instances where he over-committed but looked assured overall. 7/10

Liam Cooper - Won the ball a lot both in the air and in the tackle. Not as good with his long distribution as we have previously seen. Lead the team well defensively throughout. 7.5/10

Stuart Dallas - Should probably have scored a very good chance in the first half. All action throughout the game and provided everything you could expect. The left-back slot is his for the season unless he is needed elsewhere. 7.5/10

Ben White - Not as good in the “Phillips Role” as he was against Reading but did fine. Middlesbrough got opportunities to counter more than if Phillips was there, but he made a couple of excellent covering tackles/interceptions when it was necessary. 6.5/10

Helder Costa - As always there were bright moments where he beat his man, and he played an excellent through ball to put Ayling through. However, there were too many times when he was wasteful and he often got knocked off the ball a bit too easily. 6/10

Mateusz Klich -Excellent finish for the goal, that gets the glory but he also made a lot of tackles in the midfield - most good things Leeds did involved him in some way. 8/10

Pablo Hernandez - Wasn’t near his best. A lot of heavy touches and misplaced passes. Unlucky not to score when he hit the most and immediately got the assist for the Klich goal afterwards. Wasn’t a shock when he was substituted. 6/10

Jack Harrison - A constant thorn in the side of makeshift right-back Jonny Howson but as with Costa there was not enough end product, although he should have had a penalty for certain. Had a couple of decent efforts on goal and as always - his energy up and down the left was excellent. 6.5/10

Patrick Bamford - Missed a great chance with his head in the first half, if ever an effort showed “no conviction” this was it. Denied by an interception from a yard but you feel like an in form striker would have got there first. Didn’t give the ball away when he got it into feet. The same that has been said for a while applies again. Outside of the lack of finishing he does a very good job. 5/10

SUBSTITUTES

Jamie Shackleton (for Hernandez, 73mins) - Lots of energy but didn’t show enough composure on the ball when he got it. 5.5/10