White power lifts Leeds

Leeds United 2

Speed 3, White 88

Aston Villa 0

Attendance:35,086

A HEADER two minutes from time by the substitute David White made sure of Leeds United's third successive win to start the season in a match that never quite lived up to its billing but took them clear at the top of the Premiership table yesterday. Aston Villa, a goal down after only two minutes, had plenty of the ball but lacked the sharpness to pierce the home side's well-organised cover.

After two victories inspired by Tony Yeboah the mood at Leeds had gone from cautiously optimistic to wildly hopeful, and the visit of Villa was a further opportunity to discover the extent of their championship potential against another of the early- season form teams.

The discovery did not take long and was an unpleasant one for Villa. In the third minute Leeds won their first corner. Gary McAllister played it low to Gary Kelly and, as the Villa defence moved out, the angle for his cross suddenly became much more effective. Kelly whipped the ball in and David Wetherall made a splendid sight as he towered above everyone at the far post to head into the opposite corner. Just as the ball was about to cross the line, Gary Speed stuck out a boot to give it some help it did not seem to need But there was beauty in the move's simplicity, a goal straight out of the training ground.

The obligation to attack was now all with Villa, and for the rest of the first half they had much more of the territorial advantage, but little to show for it. The mainspring for most of their forward movement was Mark Draper, who was always adept at finding space. The best chance he created was for himself after 19 minutes when, with Savo Milosevic and Dwight Yorke pulling their markers wide, he ran through the gap and hit a shot which John Lukic in the Leeds goal was extremely lucky to see bounce safely over the bar via his left forearm.

With Leeds playing a counter-attacking game, Yeboah was a figure who lurked rather than took over proceedings. But an indication of how much more than a scorer of spectacular goals he is came in the 30th minute, when he began and ended a lovely move up the right that also involved Carlton Palmer and Brian Deane. When Deane's cross came in, Yeboah stumbled over it slightly and the ball ran away harmlessly for a goal-kick.

Milosevic, a big man with a languid air, had already been guilty of dwelling on the ball from Yorke's cross to the edge of the six-yard box when, with 65 minutes gone, Draper sent him clear up the left. But before Milosevic could press home the advantage, John Pemberton was across to close him down.

A game which had promised so much was now in a state of slow decline. A dipping shot from Speed brought the crowd momentarily to their feet. There were a couple of exquisite touches from Yeboah - a cushioned pass to Rod Wallace and a deft header down to McAllister - but in general moves from both teams were breaking down early. For Leeds, it hardly mattered. They had already got the job done even before White rose to head in Deane's cross, two minutes from time.