Aiming high: Delighted Garry Monk hails '˜dangerous' Leeds United

Wood’s 14th goal of the season set Leeds on their way to a 2-0 win over Reading but he had to go off not long after with a hamstring strain.

Leeds continued to impress without their target man, allowing Reading to have 76 per cent of possession - albeit with little end product - and hitting them with an injury-time second.

That came from Souleymane Doukara’s penalty, with Doukara one of a number of players having to work out of position while Monk juggles a threadbare squad.

“It’s just hamstring tightness, we won’t know for another 24 hours,” Monk said of Wood.

“It didn’t look like a bad one where I was, but we will have to wait. You can see already we can’t afford to lose any more but credit to those players, they’re digging in. Physically it’s hard for them but we don’t want to lose Woody, who has been integral to what we’re doing.”

This win over third-placed Reading allowed Leeds to bunch the play-off pack up even more, with Huddersfield and Sheffield Wednesday also winning.

It was the perfect response from a United side which failed to turn up against Brighton on Friday.

“We had to approach the game a little more tactically than we do normally, looking at Reading and the situation with the squad. We followed the plan to a ‘T’ and deserved the three points,” added Monk.

“We are at a stage of the season where it is important to grind, stick in and get the three points. We were the most dangerous team by far, had the best chances. We let them have possession but we knew it was where it couldn’t hurt us.

“We try and set the standard high and if you want to be a good team you are going to get disappointments. The best teams react straight away and we have been very consistent with that. They are a very good team and we limited them to pretty much nothing.”