Leeds United U21s moved three points clear at the top of the table on Monday night, but Michal Pujdak insists they won’t be getting ahead of themselves. The Whites were comfortable victors against Derby County, seeing off the bottom of the table outfit 3-0 at the LNER Community Stadium and that was enough to put them firmly in the driving Premier League 2 Division 2 driving seat.
Sam Greenwood scored Leeds’ first of the night, with Javi Gracia watching from the stands, tapping the ball in at the back post following some fine work from Sonny Perkins. Perkins was the provider for the second goal, too, pulling the ball back to the edge of the area for Joe Snowdon to drill home in emphatic fashion.
The striker eventually got himself on the scoresheet in the final few minutes of the game, rounding the keeper to prod the ball into an empty night and stretch the club’s winning streak to three games.
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“I think we started very well,” Pujdak, who will be assisting new U21s boss Paco Gallardo, said after the game. “It was a strong start, we set our minds to be dominant tonight and we wanted to win, that was the focus.
“The two goals, the team set up in a way that we wanted them to create attacks, we knew their weaknesses so we wanted to exploit spaces down the sides and try to pull the centre-backs out wide. It was really unselfish play from Sonny, I thought he was really good tonight, to set Sam up and then Snowy scored from the edge of the box and I’m so pleased for him, he’s been working so hard to get fit and be available after the injury.
“In the second half we weren’t as good as we needed to be. The game was a little bit scrappy and we scored the third goal against the flow of the game. After that we were in total control, kept the ball and we wanted to make sure we kept the clean sheet and the boys were excellent at managing those moments and managing the game.”
The win means Leeds are now within touching distance of promotion back to the top flight of youth football with just four games remaining. United aren’t thinking much further than next Monday night’s trip to the West Midlands to play West Bromwich Albion, though.
“We’ll take it game after game,” Pujdak added. “We know what’s at stake and we know the opportunity but I think we have to focus on just the next game because otherwise we can lose sight of what’s important if we’re trying to think too far ahead.
“For someone that has worked with young players for many years, being consistently good on a daily basis is the message and our group is really good, they believe there is a chance to be successful, whatever success looks like, whether that’s progression to the first-team or being competitive in this division, they’re just very good pros and they want to better themselves every day.
“I’m quite confident with group of staff that the players will focus on recovery tonight and tomorrow on the next training session and then we look to analyse West Brom and prep the team for that game.”
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