Leeds United closed out their January run of fixtures in th Championship with a fourth straight victory, overcoming a lacklustre Norwich City 1-0 under the lights at Elland Road.
Picking up another three points to put on the board means the Whites are now only two points behind second-place occupied by Ipswich Town, with winnable games to follow to start February versus Bristol City and Rotherham United.
There were a number of standout performers in the assured win over David Wagner's uninspiring Canaries, including goalscorer Patrick Bamford who continued his goalscoring purple patch to steer Daniel Farke's men away from firing an unwanted blank and pile even more pressure onto the Tractor Boys as a result.
Patrick Bamford continues to shine
With four goals in his last five games since being reintroduced into the first team fold this year, Bamford continued to be the focal point in attack for the promotion chasers on Wednesday night.
Found in acres of space free in the box after a delightful Daniel James delivery into the danger area, Bamford had the simple task of connecting with the cross and powering a header in to give Leeds a 1-0 lead early into the first 45 minutes.
The reinvigorated number nine was also useful in his attempts to play others into the contest to try and make the lead more emphatic, registering two key passes during his excellent 90 minutes on the Elland Road turf and only misplacing three of his 26 passes.
Yet, Georginio Rutter was even more unerring in his calmness spraying the ball around the park with ease against the visitors from Norfolk and arguably stole the spotlight away from the 30-year-old centre-forward.
Georginio Rutter's performance in numbers
Not exactly endearing himself to the expectant Leeds fanbase last season as the club suffered relegation, alongside Bamford, Rutter is now a firm fan's favourite in West Yorkshire and for good reason.
The 21-year-old is oozing confidence at this moment in time when he struts onto the field of play, successful with six dribble attempts in the game as Norwich found it hard to keep tabs on the intricate Frenchman foraying forward all night.
Rutter also helped himself to two key passes in the contest, alongside two accurate long balls in a bid to push his team up the pitch and to help his side not just sit back with a precarious one-goal advantage.
Leeds did get over the line in the end – picking up their 11th clean sheet of the campaign – but they could have had more goals courtesy of their dynamic number 24.
Minutes Played
90
Touches
61
Pass Success
22/27 (81%)
Key Passes
2
Dribble Success
6/8
Duels Won
13/26
Possession Lost
21x
Tackles
4
The 21-year-old would have one on-target effort on Angus Gunn's goal in the 1-0 win, with his dogged determination to continually regain the ball also not going unnoticed.
Winning a staggering 13 duels, there's no doubt in Farke's mind that his star Frenchman will continue being a fixed presence in the first team for some time to come after such a tireless display.
Given an 8/10 post-match rating by Leeds Live journalist Beren Cross – with Cross stating that Rutter's trickery constantly 'bamboozled' a stunned Canaries back four – the Leeds number 24 arguably offered more in the win than Bamford.
Farke will want both of his star players firing on all cylinders next month, the West Yorkshire giants still very much in the automatic promotion mix.
