Leeds United opened up an 11-point cushion over seventh place with a Friday night victory away at Birmingham City.
The Blues started on the front foot and went close through Che Adams, but it was Leeds who took the lead just before the quarter of an hour mark.It was their top scorer, Chris Wood, who opened the scoring, racing onto Luke Ayling’s through ball and brilliantly chipping over the stranded Tomas Kuszczak.
The hosts responded well with Adams forcing Rob Green into action and Robert Tesche striking a fierce long-range effort off the crossbar. However, Leeds maintained their lead into the break.
Gianfranco Zola's side started the second half brightly too, and Kyle Bartley had to clear an Adams header off the line as the pressure continued. Eventually it told, when Craig Gardner found the bottom corner from 25 yards to level the scores.
Leeds were not pegged back for long though, and it was Wood again, this time tapping home from close range following good work from Souleymane Doukara and Kalvin Phillips. That was Wood’s 25th goal of the season, and it was soon followed by Alfonso Pedraza’s first.
The Spaniard was played in by fellow countryman Pablo Hernandez, and he drilled his low left-footed effort into the far corner to wrap up all three points.