How Sheffield Wednesday's Garry Monk frustrated old club Leeds United again

“You can't quieten the crowd,” Garry Monk had said of the Leeds United faithful before Saturday's derby, but you can frustrate them.

His Sheffield Wednesday side did just that to claim a 2-0 victory.

Their first half was about dogged defending, in the second they became more adventurous. It was the gameplan Hull City tried at Elland Road in December, but Grant McCann's side ended up on the other end of a 2-0 scoreline.

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Substitute Atdhe Nuhiu scored the first and made the second as former Leeds manager Monk recorded his third win in four unbeaten matches against Marcelo Bielsa.

Sheffield Wednesday's Julian Borner challenges Helder Costa of  Leeds United for the ballSheffield Wednesday's Julian Borner challenges Helder Costa of  Leeds United for the ball
Sheffield Wednesday's Julian Borner challenges Helder Costa of Leeds United for the ball

For all the deserved pats Leeds took on the back on Monday, it was a fifth time in six matches they had failed to win, with poor first-half finishing to blame again. The storyline repeated itself here when they were on top of the Owls.

Leeds started the brighter, though Helder Costa wasted two early chances, his first shot weak after cutting onto his left foot, his second off target after popping up in the middle.

It was the opposite winger, Jack Harrison who was the most impressive performer of the opening 45 minutes.

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He and Patrick Bamford ganged up on Dominic Iorfa, but the centre-forward's shot was weak.

Harrison ought to have hit the target when he got on the end of a deep free-kick after 19 minutes.

It was his beautiful piece of skill and pass which allowed Mateusz Klich to pick out Bamford but by the time the header found the net, the offside flag had been raised. Minutes later Harrison forced a good, low stretching save from Cameron Dawson, whose shot-stopping was far more assured than his kicking.

The game slumped into a stupor with the Owls' defensive discipline frustrating their hosts until a Leeds flurry late in the half.

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With England manager Gareth Southgate watching in the stands, Ben White played a beautiful ball down the channel for Bamford, only for his shot to deflect wide for a corner, and when Harrison cut the ball back for Costa in added time, his fellow winger failed to get his head over the ball.

The Owls' first chance of note came in the tenth minute, but Massimo Luongo hit his shot 17 yards wide at a corner. Julian Borner's 33rd-minute shot when a Barry Bannan free-kick was cleared to him was equally wayward.

Jacob Murphy, playing on the right of a 4-1-4-1 formation mirroring Leeds's, was unable to make anything of a cross from the other side after Liam Cooper got a faint touch, and the centre-back cut out an Adam Reach cross-shot late in the first half which lacked venom.

Monk's side showed far more intent in the second half, as the Whites slipped into the shadows.

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From having been the dominant figure, Harrison had to watch his marker, Wednesday's 19-year-old right-back Osaze Urhoghide - retaining his place after an encouraging and uplifting debut in the FA Cup - take on that role with some rampaging runs.

The best chances all fell to Sam Winnall, but he was no more ruthless than Bamford had been.

It was Bamford who had the first chance, an excellent ball down the line from Luke Ayling and an even better touch from Costa, who cross the striker ran onto and shot over.

Winnall could not quite stretch to Murphy's cross a minute later. Preferred again to Jordan Rhodes and Nuhiu in the absence of Steven Fletcher, Winnall had his head in his hands after volleying over at a corner.

He made way for the brute force of Nuhiu after 68 minutes.

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Leeds's frustration grew when substitute Ezgjan Alioski ran across the path of Kiko Casilla, stopping the goalkeeper making a routine catch to the annoyance of him and the crowd.

The hosts finally got a foothold late in the second half, but it would be their undoing.

Harrison reappeared in the 80th minute to head an Ayling cross so far wide it was returned to sender, Alioski had a shot blocked and Bamford headed over at a corner, though he was furious at the way he was being held.

Opening up only left more gaps for the Owls to exploit and Nuhiu released Murphy into space and the winger beat Casilla rather too easily to claim victory.

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They confirmed it in the fourth added minute, when Adam Reach broke down the left and pulled the ball back for Nuhiu to find the net.

“Leeds are falling apart,” chanted the away fans, predictably.

Time will tell, but they are certainly wobbling at a bad moment. For Wednesday, their Christmas struggles and Fletcher's two-month injury were forgotten for the night

Leeds United: Casilla; Ayling, Cooper, White, Douglas (Alioski 56); Phillips; Costa (Stevens 74), Dallas, Klich (Hernandez 66), Harrison; Bamford.

Unused substitutes: Meslier, Berardi, Shackleton, Casey.

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Sheffield Wednesday: Dawson; Urhoghide (Hutchinson 84), Iorfa, Borner, Fox; Reach, Lee, Bannan, Luongo (Pelupessy 78), Murphy; Winnall (Nuhiu 68).

Unused substitutes: Rhodes, Harris, Wildsmith, Hughes.

Referee: O Langford.