Late goals from Crysencio Summerville and Dan James – with a 40-yard finish – ensured Leeds United stayed in the Championship’s automatic promotion places after beating Hull City at Elland Road.
Sam Byram headed Leeds ahead after Summerville’s shot had been saved, but Hull drew level thanks to an excellent Fabio Carvalho finish.
Leeds missed some great chances before the break, while Hull posed a threat in the early part of the second half.
Mateo Joseph hit the Hull post with 12 minutes to go, but Leeds rallied and Summerville scored from the spot after he was fouled by Regan Slater – and following a disagreement with Joel Piroe about who should take the spot-kick.
James sealed victory in added time with a remarkable shot from just inside the Hull half after visiting keeper Ryan Allsop had gone upfield for a corner and his net was left unguarded.
It was an uplifting moment for the Wales forward after the disappointment of missing the match-deciding penalty in the shootout loss to Poland that meant his country failed to qualify for this summer’s Euros.
The win kept Leeds in second place after leaders Ipswich Town’s late win over Southampton and Leicester City’s victory over Norwich earlier on Easter Monday.
Daniel Farke’s side are a point behind Ipswich and one ahead of Leicester, who have a game in hand.
Hull remain in ninth and six points off the play-off spots as their winless run extended to six matches.
Relive Easter Monday’s Championship action
Leeds got off to the perfect start when Byram started and ended the ninth-minute move that saw him get the opener.
He dispossessed Jaden Philogene on halfway before feeding Georginio Rutter, whose wonderful snaking run saw him beat four players in midfield before sending it wide to Summerville.
The Dutchman’s powerful angled shot could only be parried by Allsop and Byram charged in at the back post to head in his second goal of the season.
Patrick Bamford should have doubled the lead midway through the first half but somehow managed to put James’ low left-wing cross over from six yards.
Hull reasserted themselves as Philogene had an effort blocked before Liverpool loanees Tyler Morton and Carvalho combined. The former’s cross from the left was flicked in by Carvalho for his fifth Hull goal as he got across Ethan Ampadu at the near post.
Hull, though, would have been behind shortly before the break had Lewie Coyle not deflected the recalled Junior Firpo’s shot over, while Allsop produced a fine double save from Rutter from close range in stoppage time.
Bamford failed to get on the end of an excellent Byram cross soon after the restart, before Hull saw Philogene curl a shot just wide and Ozan Tufan flick a header on to the roof on the Leeds net.
Hull spurned another good chance after an hour when Abdulkadir Omur curled an effort just wide after excellent build-up work by Morton.
As the tension grew inside Elland Road, the drama was still to play out as Joseph clipped the base of the post from six yards after a Firpo cutback.
But just as Leeds fans feared their side would drop to third place, Summerville raced into the box and was clipped by Slater.
As Piroe stepped up take the penalty, Summerville took the ball off his compatriot and calmly side-footed a finish down the middle two minutes from time.
Hull pressed in search of another equaliser, and came close. But with keeper Allsop joining their attack, they were caught out in the closing seconds as Leeds broke with Piroe who found James and, having passed halfway, he curled in a spectacular effort from the right touchline.
Leeds United manager Daniel Farke told BBC Radio Leeds:
“There was no doubt this was a well-deserved win. I think we had six times the amount of expected goals that they had, but it was a complicated game for us.
“For many of my players it was their third game in six days because they’ve played on Tuesday or Wednesday on international duty.
“We had many problems, but the biggest problem was we played a really good side here, they are a really good possession side.
“If you analyse their results against the top sides they never lose because they have many, many good footballers and they set traps, and if you go into those traps and press them too much they can hurt you by attacking the space in behind with lots of pace and individual quality.”
Hull City manager Liam Rosenior told BBC Radio Humberside:
“I’m devastated with the result because it wasn’t deserved.
“The way we pressed man for man, the way we kept the ball at times, the way we frustrated them, the way we opened up chances, that’s what I want this club to be about for as long as I’m at this club.
“But what we have to do is we have to take the chances we create, we have to just manage moments better and if we do that we’re on to a really good thing.
“It’s a weird feeling because I’ve got more belief in this group than I ever have before, and that sounds crazy in a game where people look at the result and say ‘you lost 3-1’.
“But what those players have to do, and what I have to do, is maintain a consistent level of performance at that level for the next seven games. If we do that, things can change very quickly in this league.”
Line-ups
Leeds
Formation 4-2-3-1
1Meslier
25Byram14Rodon4Ampadu3Firpo
22Gray8Kamara
20James24Rutter10Summerville
9Bamford
1Meslier25ByramSubstituted forShackletonat 90+5’minutes14Rodon4Ampadu3FirpoBooked at 27mins22Gray8KamaraSubstituted forPiroeat 84’minutes20James24Rutter10SummervilleBooked at 89minsSubstituted forAnthonyat 90+4’minutes9BamfordSubstituted forJosephat 72’minutesSubstitutes5Cresswell6Cooper7Piroe12Anthony17Shackleton28Darlow30Gelhardt49Joseph50Crew
Hull
Formation 4-4-2
17Allsop
27Slater2Coyle5Jones3Giles
50Ömür15Morton24Seri23Philogene
45Carvalho7Tufan
17Allsop27Slater2CoyleSubstituted forChristieat 82’minutes5Jones3GilesSubstituted forJacobat 58’minutes50Ömür15Morton24SeriBooked at 70mins23Philogene45Carvalho7TufanBooked at 54minsSubstituted forZarouryat 73’minutesSubstitutes6McLoughlin9Ohio10Traoré12Sharp29Jacob30Pandur33Christie44Connolly47Zaroury
Referee:Josh Smith
Attendance:36,747
Live Text
Match ends, Leeds United 3, Hull City 1.
Second Half ends, Leeds United 3, Hull City 1.
Attempt saved. Jean Seri (Hull City) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Goal! Leeds United 3, Hull City 1. Daniel James (Leeds United) right footed shot from more than 40 yards on the right wing to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Joël Piroe following a fast break.
Attempt blocked. Anass Zaroury (Hull City) right footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked.
Corner, Hull City. Conceded by Ethan Ampadu.
Substitution, Leeds United. Jamie Shackleton replaces Sam Byram.
Substitution, Leeds United. Jaidon Anthony replaces Crysencio Summerville.
Anass Zaroury (Hull City) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Sam Byram (Leeds United).
Fábio Carvalho (Hull City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Joe Rodon (Leeds United).
Foul by Abdülkadir Ömür (Hull City).
Ethan Ampadu (Leeds United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Crysencio Summerville (Leeds United) is shown the yellow card for excessive celebration.
Goal! Leeds United 2, Hull City 1. Crysencio Summerville (Leeds United) converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the centre of the goal.
Penalty conceded by Regan Slater (Hull City) after a foul in the penalty area.
Penalty Leeds United. Crysencio Summerville draws a foul in the penalty area.
Foul by Cyrus Christie (Hull City).
Mateo Joseph (Leeds United) wins a free kick on the right wing.
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