IMPRESSIVE Leeds United slapped the brakes on runaway Sky Bet Championship leaders Leicester City with an excellent team display at the King Power Stadium.

The Foxes were bidding for a club record tenth successive win, but were beaten by Georginio Rutter’s goal on 58 minutes as the Whites cemented third place ahead of the Saturday fixtures.

The Yorkshire side’s 1-0 victory cut the gap to top spot to 11 points with more than two-thirds of the season still to go.

It was a high-quality match and, despite the result, it will be a major surprise if Leicester don’t gain automatic promotion.

But Leeds will give themselves a big chance too if they can maintain the standard they showed against City.

Leeds meant business from the off. Pressing high up the pitch they rattled Leicester into mistakes with their aggression and skill, Joel Piroe missing a good chance after only two minutes.

The visitors looked dangerous each time they zipped forward and had a couple of penalty appeals rejected after Rutter and Crysensio Summerville went down in the box.

Some of Leicester’s defending was last-ditch and it took the home side more than half an hour to get some kind of foothold in the game. They almost took the lead against the run of play thanks to a brilliant piece of play by 19-year-old Ghana international Abdul Fataun, flicking the ball over Sam Byram cutting inside and crashing a great shot against the Leeds bar.

Within seconds rapid-breaking United were down the other end and had their second penalty shout turned down leading to a caution for manager Daniel Farke for his protests.

Leeds came out of the blocks in the second half as intensely as they had in the first and got their reward from a corner. Dan James’ whipped-in delivery saw Byram’s header draw a great save from Mads Hermansen, the loose ball leaving Rutter with a tap-in from close-range.

Much has been made of Leeds’ free-flowing attack this season but as Leicester pushed for a breakthrough it was the Whites’ defence who rose to the occasion. Midfielders Glen Kamara and Etham Ampadu were everywhere while centre-backs Joe Rodon and Pascal Struijk blunted the home attack.

It took until stoppage time for Leicester to get their first effort on target, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s header brilliantly clawed away from the top left corner by Illan Meslier. The save secured a massive three points for Leeds from a game which would not have looked out of place in the Premier League.

Farke, who got his tactics spot-on, said: “To bring such a complex performance on the pitch, on the one hand to be brave and our high pressing, to be good with the ball and dominate, but when they are in possession because they are so good with the ball to stay disciplined, to stay well-structured and have the possession more or less in their own half where they can’t hurt you, I think that was definitely the key today.”