Telegraph 4/1/11
Cardiff City 2 Leeds United 1: match report
By Graham Clutton
Michael Chopra lifted the pressure from the shoulders of manager Dave Jones as Cardiff City won for only the third time in 11 matches.
The diminutive striker struck his sixth goal of the season, 11 minutes from time, to lever the Bluebirds back into an automatic promotion place and send Leeds United spinning to a first defeat in 13 games.
A spectacular strike from Robert Snodgrass, 14 minutes into the second half, suggested that Leeds would extend their impressive run that dates back to their 4-0 home defeat at the hands of Cardiff.
However, Chopra added to Craig Bellamy's fifth goal of the season, after 11 minutes of the first half, to secure a vital victory for Jones.
Chopra said: "We have tried to put the recent criticism to the back of our minds, but yes, to get a win tonight is great for all of us. People might have thought that after what has happened to us over the past few weeks that our heads would have dropped when they got the equaliser.
"But there is a good spirit in the side and we kept going and got the winning goal. With the players we have in this side we should be challenging for a place at the top, so this was an important win."
Cardiff took barely a dozen minutes to put behind them Saturday's humiliating performance in the Severnside derby at Bristol City. Bellamy, who was conspicuous by his absence at Ashton Gate, could have scored twice before beating Kasper Schmeichel with a rasping drive from close range.
Peter Whittingham, Chris Burke and Chopra were all denied by Schmeichel's heroics as Cardiff threatened a repeat of the resounding victory at Elland Road.
Leeds, who left leading scorer Luciano Becchio on the bench, found their feet in the 15 minutes before half time and might have levelled when Billy Paynter deflected a Snodgrass corner over Tom Heaton's crossbar.
Mark Hudson's inexplicable miss, five minutes into the second half, ensued another period of domination from Cardiff, but once more, they were careless in the final third and wasteful in front of goal.
They were made to pay a significant prize for that when the excellent Snodgrass beat Heaton with a dipping shot from 25 yards.
Buoyed by that, Leeds went in search of a winner that, on the balance of play, might have been a touch undeserved. However, such was the ambition shown by manager Simon Grayson as he threw on Becchio and Sanchez Watt, that Cardiff could have had few complaints had they have left empty handed.
However, when Chopra escaped the clutches of Neill Collins, it was Leeds who were to leave with nothing to show for their considerable effort.

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