Leeds United 1 Derby County 0

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Wow! We have to believe now! This was the result that categorically proves this squad can achieve promotion. Blimey, even Steve McClaren was impressed!

In the run up to the game we knew we were up against one of the top teams in the Championship, a team packed full of names and a team on a decent run (a recent 3-0 blip at Norwich excepted); we also knew we were going into it without the talismanic Pontus Jansson and his back-up centre-back, Liam Cooper. It mattered not; this was the most dominant display any of us have seen from Leeds in many a long year. We have seen spells of such dominance already this season, glimpses of what might be possible, but not for a whole 90 minutes.

This was almost the perfect display – a sloppy clearance from Rob Green that on another day would have hit a nose or a chin and not a hand before going in our net and hence would have counted and a few wayward shots of our own being the only negatives. Luke Ayling was Pontus in disguise, giving a masterly display at centre back   while the rest of the team were immense. McClaren was vocal in his praise for young Ronnie Vieira who at the tender age of  just 18 exuded sheer power in midfield while Man of the Match Pablo Hernandez provided the guile. Chris Wood did his bit with his 17th goal of the season while Roofe and Doukara also looked powerful on the wings. It was so near to perfect.

Garry Monk was still not ready to say it was perfect, but also admitted it was pretty close. We have improved steadily all season and if we can continue to find small improvements throughout the rest of this season then we could well become the dominant force, the team to beat and still push one or other of Brighton and the Toon out of those automatic promotion places. Keep those seat belts fastened folks!

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