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Oxford 0-1 Leeds: Farke's side close in on PL promotion after Manor Solomon nets

  /  autty

Daniel Farke insists Leeds United have become relentless in their pursuit of achieving promotion to the Premier League after a vital win at Oxford kept them top of the table.

A 33rd-minute strike from Manor Solomon saw Leeds stretch their unbeaten run to seven matches and top of the table on goal difference.

The victory means Leeds need just five points from their remaining three league matches to end their two-year absence from the top flight.

Leeds boss Farke admits he won't allow his players to enjoy themselves too much following the win and challenged his side to stay focused ahead of the run-in.

Farke said: 'This league is relentless, all the upcoming games will be difficult, you have to become relentless and this is what we are at the moment but we have to keep going.

'We have a chance to create something really special but we need to win more points.

'We have back-to-back-to-back wins at crunch time which is always good, we're in a good position but nothing is done yet.

'You have to keep your nerve and if you want to be successful in this league, you have to fight for every single point in this division.

'If we allow ourselves to enjoy ourselves too much or be too proud then we won't have anything to cheer.

'If we keep going in this focused, concentrated and committed when then we definitely have a good chance to have something to cheer about in May.'

Oxford missed the chance to win back-to-back league games for the first time since January.

The U's sit five points clear of the drop zone and boss Gary Rowett won't allow his side to relax until his side are mathematically safe.

Rowett said: 'We just couldn't find a moment, we're proud of the way we handled going behind.

'We still need results, we need results until it's mathematically impossible for anyone to catch us, we have to make sure we do our side of the job.

'What we can't do is we can't allow this result to mean we don't have the same energy in the next game, it's all to play for still.

'We've just got to keep going and keep getting results and treat every game like it's the most important game of our season.'

The closest Oxford came to scoring saw Cameron Brannagan force Karl Darlow into save low down to his left inside the opening 10 minutes.

However, Leeds broke the deadlock with their first meaningful effort on goal as Solomon turned home Jayden Bogle's low cross at the back post from five-yards out.

The visitors looked the only team likely to score thereafter as Junior Firpo flashed a shot over the crossbar from distance.

Moments later Firpo teed up Wilfried Gnonto on the edge of the penalty area as the latter curled a shot just past the post.

Leeds almost wrapped up the win late on as Ao Tanaka's driven shot hit the base of the post and rolled across the face of goal.