Jesse Marsch refuses to claim vindication as Leeds United get the job done in the FA Cup

The Whites lost 2-1 at Villa Park yet their manager was adamant if they continued in the same vein their poor run of form would turn.

It did, with a 5-2 win over Cardiff City in an FA Cup third-round replay. But Marsch refused to go overboard about a comfortable victory over a managerless, out-of-form, relegation-threatened Championship side.

"It was an important moment for us but it's just another moment in the development we're trying to create – an important moment but hard to say validation because we still have so much to do," said the coach. "There's still half a season to play for.

"I'm glad we're still in the cup and we can hopefully give our fans a bit of a cup run but our focus has to remain totally on development.

"Since the (World Cup) break I think in every game there's been moments where we've done things well in games and now we've put two complete performances together. Now the key will be to do that again against a team that's very confident."

Leeds host Brentford in the Premier League on Sunday.

Leeds led inside half a minute through a spectacular volley from man of the match Willy Gnonto. He ended the game with two goals, as did Patrick Bamford, with Rodrigo scoring the other. Leeds were 5-0 up before they gifted Cardiff a first goal and a dubious VAR penalty decision allowed Callum Robinson to score his own brace.

Albeit against weak opposition, the quality of some of the Whites' football was excellent in the first FA Cup tie at Elland Road since 2016.

"I was really happy," said Marsch. "I felt really strongly before the game we were ready for a strong performance, I told the team that.

"You can't ask for a better start.

"There were a lot of good individual performances on the night and a collective understanding of what we wanted to achieve.

"I said after the Villa game we took that as a big positive and if we play like that we're going to do well.

"It's a game we should win but that doesn't mean you're always going to but we performed well and got the deserved result.

"It's about trying to demand we do the things we want to do and achieve the tactical things we want to achieve at the highest level and that creates confidence within the group because they understand the connections with each other.

"That is coming together and the commitment to do that over and over again is getting better and better.

"I know I've taken a lot of criticism, in some ways rightfully so, but I've felt we've been moving in the right direction."

Bamford has scored three goals in two games since his overdue return from ankle surgery.

"When he was out it took longer for him to recover from the surgery than everyone had planned and you could see he was suffering," said Marsch.

"I had one conversation with him where he was feeling a little bit stressed that he wasn't perfect, he wasn't starting al the time, that he wasn't scoring all the goals, and I tried to see if I could clear his head and just have him get back to loving playing football again.

"I've seen that now from Patrick for two weeks in training and the last two games. He has a smile on his face a lot and I think that's the way he has to play."

Marsch revealed Max Wober is hopeful the injury that took him off in the second half is not too serious, and added Pascal Struijk had a minor knee problem. Fellow centre-backs Robin Koch and Liam Cooper also had knocks, but Luis Sinisterra came off the bench for his first game since October.

With the replay between Boreham Wood and Accrington Stanley postponed because of a frozen pitch, Leeds will have to wait until next week to find where they will play their fourth-round tie.