Sam Byram scored the first brace of his professional career as Leeds United came from behind to record a 3-2 victory away at Wolverhampton Wanderers this evening.
The encounter started brightly for the hosts, who broke the deadlock courtesy of Benik Afobe's eighth goal of the campaign. However, Byram's double sandwiched a strike from Leeds winger Stuart Dallas to render Nathan Byrne's 81st-minute goal a consolation in the Black Country.
Dallas went close to breaking the deadlock in the seventh minute when his volley struck the upright, but there were no such problems for Afobe just three minutes later.
The former Arsenal man, who had scored one goal in his previous nine outings, recovered from a chance that he missed 60 seconds earlier when he got the better of Leeds goalkeeper Marco Silvestri to score his first goal at Molineux since early October.
That sparked a period of domination from the home side, yet they were unable to make it count and that was duly punished one minute before the break. Playing on the right side of midfield, Byram got the better of Danny Batth and then slotted in his first goal of the season.
Leeds striker Chris Wood spurned three separate openings early in the second half to put his side in front, but luckily for the New Zealander, Dallas was more accurate six minutes after the restart to spare his blushes. It seemed that his shot towards the near post was going to be saved by Carl Ikeme, but the Wolves keeper allowed the ball to squirm in.
Steve Evans's men were now in control and they added a third goal on the hour mark. Charlie Taylor aimed a cross towards the back post, where Byram got up above Scott Golbourne to convert his headed opportunity.
Now two goals behind, the response from Wolves was muted, although they did get back into contention when Byrne volleyed in Jordan Graham's cross with nine minutes remaining.
The 23-year-old had never been on the losing side when he had scored prior to tonight, but Leeds held on to extend their unbeaten run in the Championship to three matches.
The three points has lifted the Yorkshire outfit above their hosts and into 14th position.
Liam Apicella
