Leeds cured their away-day blues in the Sky Bet Championship with a polished 3-0 win at Cardiff.
Patrick Bamford and Daniel James scored first-half goals and Georginio Rutter added a late third with Leeds’ control over the 90 minutes almost absolute.
Leeds even had the luxury of missing a 79th-minute penalty as Crysencio Summerville, who had an off-day in front of goal, sent his effort against a post.
It was a welcome victory for Leeds – who remain fourth in the table – after costly league defeats at Sunderland, Preston and West Brom over the past month.
Cardiff entered the contest on the fringes of the play-off race and desperate to stay in the mix over the second half of the season.
But, just as against leaders Leicester in their last home game, the Bluebirds never looked like bridging the gap against opponents playing in the Premier League this time last year.
Cardiff have now won only one of their last six home games and appear in need of a strong January transfer window to revive their fortunes.
Ethan Ampadu swept over an early Summerville corner before the Wales midfielder, deployed at the back on familiar soil due to injuries, played a delightful ball into Bamford’s path.
Bamford took his time, perhaps too much, and fired wide from an angle.
Leeds did not have to wait long to break the deadlock as Summerville found space down the left after 13 minutes.
The Dutchman’s cross did not find its intended target but the ball bobbled back towards Bamford, who prodded home while on the floor for his third goal in as many games.
Leeds had chances to double that advantage as, much to their manager Daniel Farke’s annoyance, Cardiff goalkeeper Jak Alnwick denied Summerville and Bamford.
Cardiff briefly stirred as Kion Etete failed to chip the ball over the head of Illan Meslier with the Leeds goalkeeper out of his penalty area.
Karlan Grant’s drive from distance also lacked composure, but home hopes of some sort of recovery was soon snuffed out.
Glen Kamara dispossessed Manolis Siopis after 31 minutes and drove forward towards the Cardiff box.
Kamara slipped in Summerville and his deflected shot fell to James, who had the easy task of tapping home into an empty net.
Alnwick made another smart from Rutter and Cardiff’s growing frustration was reflected by Perry Ng’s boking for a wild challenge on Summerville.
It was more of the same at the start of the second period as Summerville twice drove wide and James looped a shot onto the Cardiff crossbar.
Alnwick pushed Rutter’s chip over the top and Summerville missed from 12 yards after Mark McGuinness had bundled over Rutter.
But Leeds added a third two minutes from time from a rapid breakaway as Rutter hammered home.
Al-Nassr 3-1 Al-Khaleej: Ronaldo nets twice and passes up penalty in cup semi-final
Cristiano Ronaldo returned to the scoresheet with two goals as Al-Nassr beat Al-Khaleej 3-1 to reach the final of the King Cup of Champions on Wednesday.
Ronaldo scored either side of half-time as Al-Nassr teed up a final clash with Saudi Pro League leaders Al-Hilal, who beat Al-Ittihad 2-1 in the other semi-final on Tuesday.
The former Real Madrid and Manchester United star took advantage of an error from opposing goalkeeper Ibrahim Sehic to open the scoring 17 minutes in, then tapped home at the second attempt to make it a double shortly before the hour mark.
That goal could have made it a hat-trick for the Portugal star, but he passed up the chance to take a first-half penalty after Ivo Rodrigues handled in the area, Sadio Mane instead stepping up to blast his kick into the top corner.
Fawaz Al Terais was on target late on for Al-Khaleej, but that proved a mere consolation in a one-sided affair which saw Al-Nassr rack up 21 shots and 3.78 expected goals (xG), with their opponents managing just nine shots totalling 1.37 xG.
Data Debrief: Ronaldo's mini drought over
Ronaldo was frustrated against Al-Khaleej in the Saudi Pro League on Saturday, but he was back on song against the same opponents on Wednesday to end his mini drought of two games.
While Ronaldo's 43 touches were the fewest of any outfielder to start for Al-Nassr, he managed seven shots, five shots from inside the area and four dribbles – all game-high figures.
Coventry City 1-2 Ipswich Town: Burgess puts Tractor Boys on brink of promotion
Ipswich Town took a huge step to Premier League promotion after Cameron Burgess snatched a second-half winner in Tuesday's 2-1 victory over Coventry City.
Kieran McKenna's side require just one point from their final Championship game against League One-bound Huddersfield Town to go up, after a decisive victory at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
Kieffer Moore blasted in an eighth-minute opener for the visitors after Wes Burns' crafty cutback pass, easing the pressure on Ipswich and dampening the top-two hopes of third-placed Leeds United.
Haji Wright levelled in the second half, only for Burgess to squeeze a winning goal past Bradley Collins five minutes later, putting Ipswich on the brink of top-flight football for the first time since their relegation in 2002.
A draw against Huddersfield, who are 23rd and three points adrift of safety, would secure promotion at Portman Road, marking just the fourth instance of back-to-back promotions in the Premier League era.
Having managed to climb out of League One, McKenna's entertaining side would join Watford, rivals Norwich City and Southampton as the only sides to achieve the feat.
Data Debrief: Ipswich end winless run at perfect time
Prior to this game, only five teams had won fewer points in the Championship than Ipswich's six since the beginning of April (W1 D3 L1).
Yet McKenna's men refused to let their top-flight push derail as the Tractor Boys ended a four-game winless run to move within touching distance of history.
Al Ittihad 1-2 Al Hilal: Holders into King's Cup final
Al Hilal overcame Sergej Milinkovic-Savic's red card as Saud Abdulhamid's late goal sealed a 2-1 victory over Al Ittihad in the King's Cup semi-finals.
Without Karim Benzema, Al Ittihad ultimately lacked the firepower to make their numerical advantage count in Tuesday's clash.
Former Lazio midfielder, who joined Al Hilal as part of their spending spree last year, received a straight red card in the 42nd minute.
Al Ittihad's Abderrazzaq Hamed-Allah cancelled out Micheal's opener, but Abdulhamid popped up with the winner in the 81st minute.
Al Hilal are 10-time King's Cup winners, having won their 10th title last season.
The Saudi Pro League leaders, who are still without the injured Neymar, will now face either Al Khaleej or Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr in the final at the end of May.
Data Debrief: Malcom in the middle
Al Hilal might be missing their star Brazilian Neymar, but his compatriot Malcom is delivering when it comes to playmaking.
The former Zenit attacker set up both of Al Hilal's goals, creating three chances in total and registering a pass accuracy of 92.6 per cent, better than any of his team-mates.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
