4-3 thriller at Swansea puts Leeds top of the Championship
Wilfried Gnonto slid home Leeds' winner in the first minute of stoppage time
Last updated 25th Nov 2024
Leeds boss Daniel Farke revealed the chance to go top of the Sky Bet Championship provided the motivation for their thrilling 4-3 victory at Swansea.
Substitute Wilfried Gnonto slid home Leeds' winner in the first minute of stoppage time to move them above Sunderland and Sheffield United on goal difference.
Florian Bianchini had equalised for Swansea moments earlier to seemingly deny Leeds top spot.
Farke said: "The whole team wanted to win this game because it was the first time for ages that the club had the chance to be top of the league.
"Sometimes this mentality is more important than just the tactical side of a football game.
"With my former club (Norwich) I finished top spot two times and won the league, and I'm happy when I'm in position one.
"So I said: 'come on and claim this top spot' even if we know this league is a marathon and not a sprint.
"It is good to be on top, even if it is on goal difference at the moment by the way."
Leeds twice trailed to goals from Harry Darling and Liam Cullen and were 2-1 behind at the interval.
Manor Solomon had equalised earlier with his first Leeds goal and Ben Cabango put through his own net to make it 2-2 after 10 minutes.
Solomon struck his second 17 minutes from time before Gnonto emerged as the Leeds hero - taking the Yorkshire club top of the second tier for the first time since last March.
Farke said: "In the end we deserved to win these three points. We were a bit sleepy at the start but we showed great resilience.
"We were a bit sleepy at times in the first half and the second half, but in between our game was excellent.
"We were great going forward, our pressing was spot-on, and on the counter-attacks we were excellent.
"We probably created more chances than anyone against Swansea so far this season. We scored four goals and could have scored a few more."
Swansea remain in 14th place and boss Luke Williams expressed his satisfaction at his side's performance
Williams said: "It was a very high level game, where both sides played a high level of football.
"The quality of Leeds was the difference and the reason we didn't get anything from the game.
"If you watch the replay of our third goal I don't celebrate much because of the opposition and the fact we concede a lot of late goals.
"I thought we might hold out, but Leeds made a brilliant action and punished us.
"I am pleased with all aspects of the performance but the result is difficult to accept.
"They made great actions and open us up and score goals. They caused us a lot of problems and I think we caused them a few problems also."