Kiko Casilla, Patrick Bamford's vital role and confidence in automatic promotion prospects

DECISIVE: Luke Ayling fires Leeds United into a 16th-minute lead for what proved the only goal of the game in Saturday's Championship clash against Bristol City at Elland Road. Picture by Bruce Rollinson.

AFTER seeing Leeds United move three points clear in the Championship's au tomatic promotion places, the YEP's Lee Sobot looks at a few key talking points following on from Saturday's 1-0 victory against Bristol City at Elland Road.

A one-nil whitewash

History will always show Leeds United beating Bristol City by a single goal to nil on Saturday, February 15, 2020 but the performance was about as comprehensive as you can get.

Even by Leeds' dramatic standards, it really would have been something else had Lee Johnson's side left with even a point and the Robins might well have done so had Nahki Wells not blasted into the side netting when bearing down on Kiko Casilla in the closing stages.

Therein lies the concern, United's continued habit of squandering fine chances in front of goal and it is no exaggeration to suggest that Leeds could and should have scored six or seven.

Twenty one shots at goal with six on target compared to three and one respectively for the Robins and 69 per cent of possession for the Whites tells its own tale.

But one goal was ultimately enough and the performance was probably as significant as the result in showing that United are back in excellent fettle for the final 13 games.

Kiko Casilla and the obvious importance of clean sheets

Whites head coach Marcelo Bielsa opted to stick with triple-Champions League winning custodian Kiko Casilla in the Whites net despite three costly errors in United's three previous games, even with very promising French under-20s keeper Illan Meslier waiting in the wings.

That looked a big call but United's fans joined Bielsa in giving the Spaniard their backing by singing his name in the very first minute to the Casilla and Pablo Hernandez chant, to which Casilla appreciately applauded. A moment that was nice to see.

And in the end Casilla was left with a very quiet day at the office in light of United's dominance with the Spaniard left to make just one routine save though his positioning looked decent for Wells' chance and probably led to the striker blazing wide.

There were a couple of nervy moments as one or two clearances went wayward and a moment of panic when Casilla took his time to smother the ball in the area in the first half.

But otherwise it was relatively smooth sailing and just what the doctor ordered as Leeds finally kept a clean sheet for the first time in 12 games.

Kiko Casilla, Patrick Bamford's vital role and confidence in automatic promotion prospects - Leeds United Talking Points