Leeds move back into contention

Manchester United, among others, will be interested to learn that as the season steps smartly towards a potentially intriguing crescendo Leeds have at last begun to appreciate that work-rate and end product are not always necessarily connected.

So much of the success enjoyed by David O'Leary's players these past few months has been a byproduct of their youthful enthusiasm - relentless running and prodigious effort.

But, titles are won as much in the mind as with the feet and yesterday at Elland Road Coventry City were strolled to death.

A measured and composed performance moved the Yorkshire side back on to United's coat-tails at the top of the Premiership, just four points adrift with 11 games apiece to play.

"We must just keep plugging away," said O'Leary. "We'll try and win our remaining games and see where that takes us. We played wonderful football; there was only one team out there today." Leeds's furious early pressure had its reward with a little gem of a goal, Harry Kewell arrowing a gorgeous drive into the bottom corner.

Kewell's marvellous strike came after just five minutes but the potency and precision of Leeds' football, particularly in central midfield, was such that it was actually overdue.

One could only feel sympathy for Colin Hendry upon his return to English football, for containing the ebullient Kewell has constantly proved to be a thankless task for fleet-footed Premiership defenders 10 years his junior.

To be fair, the 34-year-old Hendry did well enough even if the lack of support afforded to him by his full backs David Burrows and Barry Quinn too often saw him standing in splendid isolation with his finger jammed in the dam.

If Leeds sensed early that Coventry's resistance would be token and that here was a game for the taking, their attempts to remove any doubt about the outcome were a little laboured.

After Noel Whelan had squandered Coventry's one, half-decent chance of the opening half, Leeds struck for a second time to send a almost tangible sigh of relief rolling around the stadium.

This time Kewell was the provider, surgically slicing open the Coventry defence with a nicely weighted pass which sent Michael Bridges skipping clear down the centre. There was still work to be done, however, something Bridges accomplished with a neat shimmy which took him around Magnus Hedman.

Leeds guarded possession so jealously and were so comfortable on the ball that they seemed capable of scoring at any moment of their choosing.

Strange, then, that they chose to add just one more goal, Jason Wilcox steering home a cross from the substitute Darren Huckerby with five minutes remaining.

Perhaps they were preserving strength for the greater tests which lie ahead.

Leeds's title odds have been cut from 7 to 1 to 5 to 1 second favourites by William Hill, who make United 3 to 10 favourites.

Leeds UTD: Martyn, Kelly, Radebe, Woodgate (Haaland 46), Harte, Bowyer (Jones 89), Bakke, McPhail, Wilcox, Bridges (Huckerby 80), Kewell. Subs Not Used: Smith, Robinson. Goals: Kewell 5, Bridges 42, Wilcox 85.

Coventry: Hedman, Quinn (Shaw 46), Breen, Hendry, Burrows, Chippo, Eustace, McAllister, Whelan, Roussel, Zuniga (Normann 60). Subs Not Used: Konjic, Pead, Hyldgaard.

Referee: J Winter (Stockton-on-Tees).