Aston Villa kept their faint hopes of automatic promotion from the Championship alive courtesy of a 1-0 home win over Leeds United this evening.
Lewis Grabban's first-half header proved enough to hand Steve Bruce's charges all three points at Villa Park for the second time this week in a contest that the hosts should have won by a greater margin in the Midlands.
The victory temporarily lifts Villa into second spot in the standings ahead of Cardiff City and Fulham's respective fixtures on Saturday, as the race for a top-two finish becomes evermore intriguing.
Villa's second win at home in a matter of days also means that the club are now guaranteed to finish in the playoff spots come the end of the 46-game campaign.
It was Leeds who were able to muster the game's first chance when Ezgjan Alioski drifted inside to evade Neil Taylor, before seeing his driven effort tipped over by Sam Johnstone inside the first few minutes.
The early shot was to be more of an outlier for United, however, as Villa soon took control of the first half and they might have taken the lead when Robert Snodgrass came in off the flank, before seeing his bending effort saved by Bailey Peacock-Farrell.
Villa's intensity proved too much for Paul Heckingbottom's side, the hosts almost scoring again when Ahmed Elmohamady turned in a delivery from the right, although Paudie O'Connor did well to head clear under pressure from Jonathan Kodjia.
Bruce's charges took a deserved lead in the 29th minute thanks to some slack defending. Jack Grealish crossed from the left into the box, where Grabban was left to slip away from Matthew Pennington and head back across goal into the far corner.
The Villans continued to dominate before the break, Kodjia unlucky not to win a penalty after seemingly being shoved in the back by O'Connor when trying to meet a cross from Grealish at the near post.
Leeds were much improved after the break and at times they geared up towards causing a few scares, but it was Villa who had another clear chance to extend their lead, Grabban beating the offside trap and seeing his prodded effort kept out by Peacock-Farrell.
Approaching 70 minutes the scoreline still had the potential to cause nerves to jangle for the hosts, who would have put the game to bed had James Chester opted to gamble when Josh Onomah delivered beyond the last man.
In the end the hosts' profligacy was not to matter as Villa saw out a fairly tame close, in turn claiming another three crucial points to build from Tuesday's win over Neil Warnock's Cardiff and add more thrust to the club's late push for automatic promotion.
ASTON VILLA (4-5-1): Johnstone; El Mohamady, Chester, Jedinak, Neil Taylor; Snodgrass, Whelan, Onomah (Samba 85'), Grealish, Grabban (Hogan 78'); Kodjia (Adomah 67')
LEEDS UNITED (4-5-1): Peacock-Farrell; Pearce, Pennington, O'Connor, Dallas; Vieira, Phillips, Alioski (Grot 66'), Hernandez, Roofe (Lassoga 78'); Ekuban (Saiz 46')
Christopher Dodd
