Blackburn Rovers 0 Leeds United 2: Winger impact, injury return and youngster run as gap closes

Leeds United maintained their brilliant recent run as a 2-0 victory at Saturday's Championship hosts Blackburn Rovers closed the gap on the top two.

Leeds went ahead in the 27th minute through winger Dan James who drilled home a low finish into the bottom left corner following Georginio Rutter's pass into the box after Rutter had surged forward down the opposite side of the pitch.

The Whites took their 1-0 advantage into the break, after which they survived Blackburn's appeals for a penalty for a possible Pascal Struijk handball.

Whites boss Daniel Farke made a double change with 20 minutes left as Djed Spence and Willy Gnonto replaced Sam Byram and goalscorer James respectively, Spence appearing for the first time since recovering from his knee injury.

Gnonto was then denied a combination of Rovers keeper Leopold Wahlstedt and the crossbar as the Whites looked for a second goal which arrived moments later through winger Crysencio Summerville.

The Dutch winger netted after a neat one two involving Archie Gray who played in Summerville to dink home a lovely finish to double the Whites advantage.

Jaidon Anthony, Ilia Gruev and young forward Mateo Joseph were then all introduced from the bench as the Whites left Ewood Park with a 2-0 success.

The victory left third-placed Leeds four points behind second-placed Ipswich Town and five points behind leaders Leicester City who were both in action in Saturday 3pm kick-offs.