Leeds United have cruised to a comfortable win over Birmingham City this afternoon, thrashing the Blues 4-0 at Elland Road.
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The hosts began the match brightly and had three good chances to break the deadlock inside the opening 13 minutes. Ross McCormack was denied twice by Darren Randolph, while Jason Pearce also nodded over from close range.
McCormack did finally get the better of Randolph in the 18th minute, lofting a shot over the stranded keeper after he had come a long way to clear the ball.
He turned provider shortly afterwards, finding Rudolph Austin unmarked inside the box, and the Jamaican midfielder made no mistake with his header.
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It was 3-0 before half time as McCormack once again proved instrumental for the hosts, seeing his shot saved by Randolph only for the rebound to fall to Matt Smith, who tucked it away.
Birmingham came within inches of pulling one back in the 69th minute when David Murphy went for goal with a free kick from 25 yards out, but his effort cannoned back off the post with Paddy Kenny beaten.
Randolph was called upon again shortly afterwards as he made a fine save to deny Smith what looked like a certain goal.
He could do nothing about the fourth moments later, however, as Smith gave him no chance this time with a thunderous header into the roof of the net.
That goal well and truly killed the game off as Leeds saw out the win to move up to 12th in the Championship table.
Barney Corkhill
