Leeds United's 'control' at Sheffield Wednesday delights Daniel Farke as Danny Rohl takes positives

And although his team lost 2-0 to end their four-match winning streak, Owls manager Danny Rohl could not be too downbeat either.

His side had marginally the better first half but Leeds stopped it being the sort of intense game they would have wanted with a classic away performance. In time added to first-half added time, Patrick Bamford got a yard on Akin Famewo to convert Junior Firpo's excellent cross.

Ex-striker Farke felt in its own way it was as good as Bamford's far more eye-catching FA Cup goal at Peterborough United in January.

From there, Leeds were able to take the initiative, adding a second goal through Willy Gnonto, although the hosts kept fighting and it needed a clearance from the outstanding Ethan Ampadu to stop substitute Michael Smith scoring.

"It's tiring to play so many games and the pitch was not so easy to keep the ball on but we spoke before the game about how everyone expected a difficult night for us with the intensity – no, no, we wanted to be in control and we did this, especially in the first half," said manager Farke.

"In the second half they had to open up a bit more and we could concentrate on good defending of the counter-attacks. But it was key to be in that much control of the ball."

After four games in 10 days, Leeds’ final match before the international break is on Sunday, against Millwall.

Sign up to our new Sports Editor’s TeamTalk newsletter available this week

"The last weeks were a bit crazy and so much load," said Farke. “We had so many miles so it's important to enjoy ourselves for a few days, which at my age means recovering on the sofa, looking forward to having some sleep and not too much movement or thinking about football – sofa, cake, coffee.”

The need to keep fresh also explained why Dan James was on the bench after scoring the only goal against Stoke City in midweek.

"It was his first game back in the starting line-up for the whole 90 minutes, he put an unbelievable shift in and we had two day between the games so a recovered Willy Gnonto was a really good option,” explained Farke.

"It was a bit the same with Connor Roberts. You have to make sure everyone stays fit and sharp and in a good mood.”

Wednesday missed the chance to move out of the bottom three for the first time since August but it was only their second defeat in seven games (winning the rest) – both to the current top two.

"We conceded a second goal 13 minutes into the second half but compared to other games we did not lose our head," reflected Rohl. "There was still a chance to come back but we didn't score.

"Against such an opponent when you open up and take more and more risks with their speed up front, it could be dangerous.

"We have a good goalkeeper and he made some good saves but we needed momentum. We had a big chance for (Djeidi) Gassama in the first half and some good moments where we did not have good finishing or the last pass was not there.

"In some moments it was about the balance between being calm and finding solutions and being too hectic, this is something we can improve but it's a normal thing when you play against such a strong side.

"I cannot say anything against my players."

Leeds were helped by defeat for Ipswich Town and a draw for leaders Leicester City on Saturday.

Stoke won to move out of the bottom three, and Blackburn Rovers drew with Plymouth Argyle.