Rosler off the mark with first Leeds United win

Goals from Tom Adeyemi and Chris Wood gave United a 2-1 victory and shot them up to tenth in the Sky Bet Championship.

Leeds needed to defend well in the second half to earn their three points after edging the first half and it needed a fine strike from outside the box to win it, but head coach Rosler was delighted with the way his team coped.

“Only a top performance today would have guaranteed us the three points.

“The first half was exceptional. The tempo was raised in the second half and they scored in a very good moment for them.

“The crowd supported them even more, but then we steadied the ship and pushed on for the win.

“Today we got rewarded for all the effort we’ve put in since I walked through the door.

“I’m very, very happy for the players, for the staff and for the supporters that we have something to show today.”

The Leeds side showed two changes from the previous game against Sheffield Wednesday with Lewis Cook back from suspension in place of Kalvin Phillips in midfield and Alex Mowatt returning in place of Mirco Antenucci.

United started brightly with youngsters Cook, Murphy and Sam Byram involved in a good move that ended with Wood shooting just over.

Stuart Dallas was next to shoot over before Derby finally created a chance as Chris Martin headed wide from Johnny Russell’s free-kick.

Leeds went ahead two minutes before half-time when a well worked short corner led to Stuart Dallas playing a perfect cross in, straight onto the head of Adeyemi, who made it 1-0.

Leeds finished the half with some more good football, but were happy to have their lead at the break.

It did not last long in the second half, however, as Derby looked a different team straight from the restart and Russell hit an effort over.

Silvestri made a fine save to tip Jeff Hendrick’s effort over the bar, but had no chance on 48 minutes when Martin turned past Liam Cooper on the edge of the box and fired a shot into the bottom corner of the net.

Derby could have scored more as Hendrick fired narrowly wide and Cooper did well to block Martin’s shot as he got free.

Silvestri was forced to make another decent save to keep out Russell’s half-volley.

Leeds grabbed some control back again when Luke Murphy and Mirco Antenucci came on as substitutes and the latter was straight into the action, crossing for Wood to head over a great chance from close range.

Wood was the hero two minutes from time, however, as he received the ball from the impressive Cook on the edge of the box, made a bit of space for himself and fired a superb shot in off the post for a classic winning goal.

Match facts

Derby County 1

(Martin 48)

Leeds United 2

(Adeyemi 43, Wood 88)

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Sky Bet Championship

Attendance: 29,386.

Derby: Carson, Forsyth, Keogh, Hendrick, Martin, Russell (Bent 79), Baird, Shackell, Ince, Hanson (Shotton 86), Thorne (Weimann 65).

Leeds: Silvestri, Berardi, Cooper, Bamba, Taylor, Adeyemi, Cook, Mowatt (Antenucci 75), Byram (Murphy 69), Dallas, Wood.

Referee: Darren Bond