A star is born for Sunderland as ‘totally dominant’ Leeds United beat Derby to increase Sheffield United pressure

Leeds United duo Joe Rodon and Max Wober both netted their first goals in West Yorkshire to help the Whites move above Sheffield United and back to the top of the Championship table with a victory over Derby County.

Wales international Rodon, whose loan move from Tottenham was made permanent over the summer, opened the scoring in the first half with a fine header to celebrate his 50th appearance in a Leeds United shirt.

Fellow defender Wober, who spent last season out on loan at Borussia Monchengladbach, doubled his side lead by getting on the end of a deflected cross to score a close-range tap-in before half-time.

Leeds United controlled the temp of the contest throughout the second interval and were only denied a bigger lead by Derby shot-stopper Jacob Widell Zetterstorm, who produced a host of impressive second half saves.

“Overall, we were pretty dominant.” Daniel Farke said.

The Leeds boss added: “Clean sheet, they have scored in all of their last eight games. All of their games were really tight either a draw, a win or a loss by just one goal.

“Today, I think we were all over them. Dominating the ball, could have scored perhaps a few more, but I think in terms of expected goals it was 9.9 in the first half and 9.8 in the second half.

“It was total dominance and I’m pretty happy, yes there was one or two more goals we should have scored. But overall a pretty good performance.”

The result leaves Leeds top of the table ahead of Sunday’s clash where Sheffield United have the chance to climb back to the summit if they avoid defeat against fellow promotion hopefuls West Brom.

‘A star is born’ as Sunderland edge past Stoke City

Sunderland academy graduate Tom Watson was the star of the show as the Black Cats beat Stoke City 2-1 in a result which marked the team’s first victory in seven league matches.

The hosts, who hadn’t won since 26 October, went behind after six minutes when Liverpool loanee Lewis Koumas opened the scoring for the visitors.

However, Watson, who was making just his third career start netted an equaliser just a minute later - marking the first senior goal of his career before deciding the game in the 86th minute with a deflected winner.

Sunderland Echo reporter James Copley posted after the game on X: “Thomas Watson - a star is born. Local lad and academy product scoring a brace at 18 in the Championship.

“You love to see it. That performance was a pleasure to watch today. Take a bow son!”

The victory leaves Sunderland two points adrift of the automatic promotion places in fourth position.