Jack Harrison reveals crucial Jesse Marsch message and hails team mate after big Watford win - YEP 9/4/22

Jack Harrison said Leeds United and had fulfilled boss Jesse Marsch's brief on two fronts in Saturday's crucial 3-0 win at Watford.

By Lee Sobot

The Whites and Hornets are among the sides scrapping it out in a bid to avoid relegation at the foot of the Premier League and Leeds left Saturday's clash at Vicarage Road with a hugely important 3-0 victory.

Raphinha fired Leeds ahead in the 21st minute and after surviving some second-half Watford pressure, Rodrigo doubled the United advantage with 17 minutes left after pressuring Watford's back line into a mix up.

The strike knocked the Hornets flat and Leeds then bagged a third in the 85th minute through a rocket of a strike from Harrison after substitute Sam Greenwood's through ball.

The win took fifth-bottom Leeds nine points clear of the drop zone, albeit third-bottom Burnley have three games in hand, and Harrison saluted both the importance of the victory and the advice of his head coach.

"We knew how crucial it was coming into the game," said Harrison to LUTV.

"We have been training hard and preparing well all week.

"We were ready for a big game and that's exactly what we got.

"It was a tough game in the first half but once it started to open up a little bit more for us in the second we were good enough to get the result.

"It was tough. When everything is on the line in a game like that it is always hard to remain composed and reduce the amount of errors.

"It was a tough game for both sides but fortunately enough we came out with the result."

Harrison - who has now netted in his last three games - said Marsch had specifically outlined importance of Leeds scoring first in games and also said United's second goal was a fine example of what the American boss has been working Leeds on in training.

Pressed on the importance of scoring the first goal - and Rodrigo then killing the game off with the second - Harrison said: "Jesse has made a big point on that, scoring the first goal and how crucial it is for any team really.

"The stats show that.

"We were really pushing in that first half to get the first goal.

"We knew they needed points as well so we knew that they were going to come after us too so we were just wary of that but making sure that we did everything we could to score first.

"We struggled a little bit at times in the second half and they had some chances which we need to be more careful of in the future but fortunately for us they didn't go in and then we capitalised on that, scoring the second goal with Rodrigo.

"It was great pressure, it was what we have been working on since Jesse has arrived and he did exactly that and he deserved the goal."