Leeds United 3 Oxford United 0: Austin shines bright as Leeds United ease past Oxford United in style

The 27-year-old, who joined Leeds last month, opened the scoring with a vicious first-half drive and impressed all over the park in a comfortable win.

Their second goal came from a wonderful close-range lob from teenager Sam Byram and their third from Tom Lees and, while Byram’s goal will be remembered for longer, it was the performance of Austin that stood out.

A tough-tackling, free-shooting brute of a midfielder, he produced the best of his five performances for the club so far, breaking up play at will and bruising his way around the pitch as well as hitting the bar, as the visitors found the step-up in class too much.

Quite whether Leeds’s performance was worthy of being soundtracked by a string of ‘oles’ is questionable, but manager Neil Warnock will just be glad to see a side sporting six changes from the weekend make it through without incident.

As a result of the changes, and Oxford’s early eagerness, the League Two leaders started the better, with debutant goalkeeper Jamie Ashdown doing well to smother at James Constable’s feet after Sean Rigg’s shot had been charged down.

Leeds rode that period out, though, and after Austin had tried his luck from distance, they rarely looked back, with the same player’s opener confirming that his side were on top.

Austin is not shy in going for goal and displayed that in the 26th minute as he drilled Aidy White’s pass into the bottom corner from 20 yards.

Goalkeeper Ryan Clarke actually did well to get a hand on it – something he could not do to Byram’s effort nine minutes later.

The rookie full-back, fresh from signing a three-year deal, ran at Sean McGinty and once in the box, from 10 yards out, stood up a chip that left Clarke backpedalling and grasping at thin air.

It was all Leeds now and El-Hadji Diouf drew a smart near-post save out of Clarke after being played in by Andy Gray, although Oxford did test Ashdown – for what turned out to be the only time – after the restart when Constable shot from inside the box.

The 18-yard line was barely in sight for Austin in the 55th minute when he wound up a drive from fully 40 yards that hit the bar, while Byram nearly scored a second when he volleyed just over..

Diouf turned provider for Leeds’s third, floating in a ball that Lees headed in and it could have been more after that as White twice went close, but the home side had done enough.

Leeds: Ashdown, Lees, Kisnorbo, Pearce, Drury, Byram (Peltier 90), Brown, Austin (Thompson 83), White, Gray, Diouf (Poleon 76). Unused substitutes: Kenny, Becchio, Varney, McCormack.

Oxford: Clarke, Batt, Raynes, Wright, McGinty, Heslop, Chapman (Boateng 86), Capaldi, Potter (Marsh 81),Constable, Rigg (Pittman 81). Unused substitutes: Brown, Evans, Craddock, Lynn.

Referee: G Sutton (Lincolnshire).