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Had little to do but commanded his area well when the Royals found themselves under some pressure in the second half. Much improved display from recent weeks
Chris Gunter: 8 (My MOTM)
Excellent performance from the right back who has become the mainstay of the Royals defence. He defended well and linked up as usual going forward with first McCleary and then Blackman and his run forward to create a late chance helped us see the game out
Alex Pearce: 7
Won most of his headers and rarely looked troubled. The Leeds strike force of Ross McCormack and Connor Wickham had very few chances of note in the whole game as Pearce marshalled both of them well
Kaspars Gorrks: 7
Restored to the starting line-up, controversially some might say, at the expense of young Michael Hector but gave a solid performance and also rarely looked troubled
Jordan Obita: 7
Didn't see as much as normal from him going forward but defended well for the majority of the game and is really growing into the left back position
Danny Guthrie: 7
Away from home, when you need to keep possession of the football Guthrie is exactly what you need. He pulled the strings in the middle of the park and also battled hard, as well as putting in a superb cross for Nick Blackman's goal
Hope Akpan: 6
Busy. Hurried and hassled well but passing let him down on occasions going forward
Scored the opening goal and was a constant menace to the Leeds defence before injury forced him off in the first half
There is no doubt that Drenthe's best position is in that number 10 role where there is very limited expectation on him to defend and he can focus on what he does well going forward. He worked incredibly hard for the team though and capped a brilliant display with a wonderful free kick
Jobi McAnuff: 7
Captain was restored to the side and lead by example on the left hand side.
Hal Robson Kanu: 8
I admit, you will be hard pressed to find a bigger critic of Robson Kanu than me but his performance was superb. He has talked for a long time about being a striker and not a winger but has rarely done anything to prove it but this game was different. Held the ball well, got in behind the Leeds defence on numerous occasions and capped it all with a goal.
Subs
Nick Blackman: 7
Picked up where Garath McCleary left off and was a constant threat down the right. Scored the third goal with a neat back post header
Michael Hector: 6
Will feel hard done by to be left out of the team but did well when coming on as a third centre back late on
Not much time to impress but the late sub did everything asked of him