Leeds United's lack of clinical edge - and Southampton - means Whites have to settle for 'almost' perfect weekend

At Bristol City's Ashton Gate on Friday, the Whites kicked off the Championship weekend with their fifth consecutive league win. The last time they did that, they were powering towards the 2020 title under Marcelo Bielsa.

It moved them into the automatic promotion places which were his natural habitat at Norwich City for the first time under Farke and although the Saints' comfortable 2-0 success at the New York Stadium knocked them out again the next day, Ipswich Town's 3-2 defeat at Preston North End means Leeds are a place higher in the table than they were this time last week.

The "almost", though, came from a lack of ruthlessness in front of goal as they failed to add to Willy Gnonto's 48th-minute opener on only his third Championship start since September.

The Italian produced a low left-footed shot from 10 yards in the 48th minute after running on to a long ball from Junior Firpo.

"The margin of victory should have been greater," reflected Farke, who takes his team to Plymouth Argyle for Tuesday's FA Cup replay knowing a fifth-round trip to Chelsea or Aston Villa is at stake.

"It was almost the perfect away performance.

“We were so dominant and created so many chances, but I have to criticise our failure to put them away.

“If we want to be celebrating in May we have to be more clinical.

“We were playing a good side and they had one very big chance to equalise, which saw our goalkeeper make a very good save.

“We were breaking with three on one situations and not getting the final pass right over three yards. That has to change. But in all other respects I am so happy with the players.

“It’s great to have gone second in the table for our players and supporters. It means nothing to me with so long to go, but it is recognition of how well we are playing.

“We are playing really well and on a good run. But I know from experience how quickly things can change.”

It was a mixture of Max O’Leary saves and some poor finishing which stopped Leeds running way with the game.

The Robins had one great second-half chance to equalise after 66 minutes when substitute Anis Mehmeti ran onto a Tommy Conway pass only to see his low shot saved at the second attempt by Illan Meslier.

But O’Leary made fine saves to deny the lively Crysencio Summerville on three occasions, as well as Georginio Rutter and Patrick Bamford.

Bristol City head coach Liam Manning described the visitors as the best team his side have faced, and therefore had no complaints about the defeat.

“First I have to give Leeds credit for being the best side we have played, but we weren’t at the level we are capable of," he reflected.

“Basic things went wrong like being caught in possession. They close space extremely well all over the pitch.

“I am frustrated because I know we can be so much better. The players seemed to tense up after making errors.

“Max O’Leary has been brilliant for us all season and he was great again in keeping us in the game.

“We had a chance to put things right at half-time and the message was to start doing the simple things well. Then we concede after a few minutes and it was a tough night for us. We have played the top sides and Leeds were the best. I expect them to sustain a promotion challenge.

“There have been a lot of games recently due to our FA Cup run, but I am not going to use that as an excuse. We have to work extra hard to bridge the gap to the top teams.

“But in fairness this was an out-of-character performance and the lads are as frustrated as I am.”

A nightmarish opening 10 minutes saw the Tractor Boys go 2-0 down at the Preston, with the final result seeing them drop out of the automatic promotion places.

“It proved to be a really difficult first half at what is a difficult place to come to,” said Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna.

“We needed to improve of course, and we did, and by the end of the game I thought we probably deserved to get something out of the game.

“By the end of the game I thought we probably deserved to get something out of the game. It’s a blow at this stage of the season, but we can only improve on that first-half. There’s still a long way to go.”