Fulham 0 Leeds 3: United stage smash and grab in London

Leeds United's Mirco Antenucci (centre) celebrates scoring his sides third goal of the game with teammates Souleymane Bamba, (left) and Gaetano Berardi, (right)

Remarkably, the visitors scored with their only three genuine chances of the match while Fulham missed a host of opportunities, with their former Leeds strike duo of Ross McCormack and Matt Smith the chief culprits.

McCormack and Smith plundered 42 goals between them for Leeds last season, but little has gone to play this term with Fulham lying only six points above the Sky Bet Championship drop zone.

They also had defender Konstantinos Stafylidis sent off for collecting two bookings in the space of a minute on another frustrating evening for under-pressure Symons.

McCormack, signed for £11m from Elland Road in the summer, should have fired Fulham ahead after just six minutes when he latched on to Smith’s knock-down and raced through on goal.

But Leeds goalkeeper Marco Silvestri guessed correctly as the Scotland striker attempted to slide the ball across him.

It was a miss which set the tone for the rest of the first half, with McCormack twice finding Smith with crosses in the six-yard box and Smith twice heading off target.

In a rare foray forward five minutes before the break, Leeds took a shock lead.

Gaetano Berardi crossed from the left and Byram was left all alone to nod the opener past Marcus Bettinelli.

The hosts’ defending let them down again three minutes after the interval when they allowed Alex Mowatt’s corner to bounce through the area before Bamba headed in at the far post.

And Fulham’s evening took a turn for the even worse moments later when Stafylidis had his minute of madness. Still Fulham piled forward, with Ryan Tunnicliffe sidefooting wide and Shaun Hutchinson heading against a post.

And their misery was complete two minutes from time when Byram’s cross was palmed out by Bettinelli to the feet of substitute Antenucci, who volleyed the ball into the ground and watched it loop into the net.

Fulham: Bettinelli, Richards, Hutchinson, Turner, Stafylidis, Parker, Hoogland, Tunnicliffe, Ruiz (Kacaniklic 63), McCormack (Fofana 83), Smith. Unused substitutes: Kiraly, Bodurov, Woodrow, Rodallega, Kavanagh.

Leeds: Silvestri, Wootton, Bamba, Bellusci, Berardi, Cook, Murphy, Byram, Mowatt (Antenucci 83), C Taylor, Sharp (Morison 67). Unused substitutes: Cani, S Taylor, Doukara, Cooper, Sloth

Referee: C Kavanagh (Lancashire).