Oxford 0-1 Leeds: Daniel Farke's side close in on promotion — Mail 18/4/25
Oxford 0-1 Leeds: Daniel Farke's side close in on promotion to Premier League after Manor Solomon's first half strike
Leeds United beat Oxford United 1-0 at the Kassam Stadium on
Friday night
Daniel Farke's side need just five points from three games
to secure promotion
By AARON SUTCLIFFE
Daniel Farke insists Leeds United have become relentless in
their pursuit of achieving promotion to the Premier League after a vital win at
Oxford kept them top of the table.
A 33rd-minute strike from Manor Solomon saw Leeds stretch
their unbeaten run to seven matches and top of the table on goal difference.
The victory means Leeds need just five points from their
remaining three league matches to end their two-year absence from the top
flight.
Leeds boss Farke admits he won't allow his players to enjoy
themselves too much following the win and challenged his side to stay focused
ahead of the run-in.
Farke said: 'This league is relentless, all the upcoming
games will be difficult, you have to become relentless and this is what we are
at the moment but we have to keep going.
'We have a chance to create something really special but we need to win more points.
'We have back-to-back-to-back wins at crunch time which is
always good, we're in a good position but nothing is done yet.
'You have to keep your nerve and if you want to be
successful in this league, you have to fight for every single point in this
division.
'If we allow ourselves to enjoy ourselves too much or be too
proud then we won't have anything to cheer.
'If we keep going in this focused, concentrated and
committed when then we definitely have a good chance to have something to cheer
about in May.'
Oxford missed the chance to win back-to-back league games
for the first time since January.
The U's sit five points clear of the drop zone and boss Gary
Rowett won't allow his side to relax until his side are mathematically safe.
Rowett said: 'We just couldn't find a moment, we're proud of
the way we handled going behind.
'We still need results, we need results until it's
mathematically impossible for anyone to catch us, we have to make sure we do
our side of the job.
'What we can't do is we can't allow this result to mean we
don't have the same energy in the next game, it's all to play for still.
'We've just got to keep going and keep getting results and
treat every game like it's the most important game of our season.'
The closest Oxford came to scoring saw Cameron Brannagan
force Karl Darlow into save low down to his left inside the opening 10 minutes.
However, Leeds broke the deadlock with their first
meaningful effort on goal as Solomon turned home Jayden Bogle's low cross at
the back post from five-yards out.
The visitors looked the only team likely to score thereafter
as Junior Firpo flashed a shot over the crossbar from distance.
Moments later Firpo teed up Wilfried Gnonto on the edge of
the penalty area as the latter curled a shot just past the post.
Leeds almost wrapped up the win late on as Ao Tanaka's
driven shot hit the base of the post and rolled across the face of goal.