Daniel Farke admitted his players were tired at the end, but thought they were outstanding for 80 minutes in their vital 3-1 victory over Nottingham Forest at Elland Road.
The Whites came into the game level on points with their opponents, but gave their hopes of staying in the Premier League a big boost with two first half goals from Jayden Bogle and Noah Okafor and a third early in the second period by top scorer Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Although giant striker Lorenzo Lucca pulled one back late on for Forest to make it a slightly nervy finish it was a good night that went a long way to demolishing the negative thoughts brought about by last weekend's 4-0 defeat to Arsenal.
It also took United nine points clear of the relegation places and allowed them to catch the two teams just above them, Crystal Palace and Tottenham, ahead of the weekend's matches.
Jayden Bogle jumps for joy after opening the scoring for Leeds United against Nottingham Forest.placeholder image
Jayden Bogle jumps for joy after opening the scoring for Leeds United against Nottingham Forest.
“I'm proud of my players especially after a defeat,” said manager Farke.
“For 80 minutes it was an outstanding performance, we scored three goals and perhaps could have had more.
“This was a complicated game for us. We lost the last game, it was still Arsenal but a loss always does something with the confidence and belief. This made it a difficult game.
“It was a game where there was a bit more on the line, sometimes there's a game that feels just a bit more important than others.
Celebration time for Leeds United against Nottingham Forest.placeholder image
Celebration time for Leeds United against Nottingham Forest.
“You could feel we have invested so much mentally and physically into this game, that we were exhausted and out of a sudden, out of nothing, they scored and then for the last moments you are even a bit nervous.
“But also then to show in the last minute the steel and this desire to bring it over the line and to reward ourselves, for me it is sometimes even more perfect.
“It will do a lot with our confidence and belief. It's a massive performance and a massive win."
Farke was full of praise for the performance of midfielder Ilia Gruev who came up with two assists to justify his selection ahead of Sean Longstaff and Ao Tanaka.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored his tenth goal of the season for Leeds United.placeholder image
Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored his tenth goal of the season for Leeds United.
He added: “The training week, Ilia looked unbelievably sharp. But I would say all his performances, he's so reliable, you always get a 7 out of 10, today it was pretty close to a 10 out of 10.
“We spoke about what we wanted to see a bit more. The left half space with his left foot to explore the weaknesses we have perhaps seen.
“We encouraged him to play more forward-thinking passes from this position. He looked like a mix of Hristo Stoichkov and Lothar Matthäus. He was everywhere, won every duel, set a genius left foot, two assists.
“I think he was our best player. He embodies what we are all about, so much fight and so much desire.”
Noah Okafor turns to celebrate his goal against Nottingham Forest.placeholder image
Noah Okafor turns to celebrate his goal against Nottingham Forest.
Leeds made a lively start as they were straight onto the front foot and Brenden Aaronson tried a clever back flick to a low cross in the second minute only to see his effort well defended.
Gabriel Gudmundsson then went on a strong run to get in behind the Forest defence and his cross was almost turned into his own goal by visiting defender Zach Abbott.
But Forest also looked sharp after some improved recent results and caught the hosts on the break twice in a minute with Callum Hudson-Odoi's shot being comfortably saved by Karl Darlow and Nicolas Domiguez having a better effort well tipped wide by the Leeds keeper.
Darlow had to save again as Igor Jesus got a header in from a corner and it was a real test for the Whites at this stage.
Jesus had a great chance for Forest with another header from a cross by England midfield Elliot Anderson, but put his effort wide and within nine minutes his team found themselves two down.
And it could have been three as Calvert-Lewin also hit the crossbar from a James Justin corner before the first of the goals.
The opening goal did come in the 26th minute when Bogle made a great run from right to left to get in behind the Forest defence to meet Ilia Gruev's terrific pass over the top and finished calmly past the visitors' newly acquired keeper Stefan Ortega.
It was quickly 2-0 with Aaronson cleverly playing Justin in to shoot. Ortega parried his effort, but it came back to Justin who simply rolled the ball across for Okafor to score his third goal for the club.
Shellshocked Forest took some time to recover their composure, although they did test Darlow just before the break with a Morgan Gibbs-White shot before going in two down.
It had been a much closer contest than the score suggested, but Leeds came out to dominate the first 20 minutes of the second half.
Their first intent was shown by an Okafor shot from the edge of the box which was blocked by teammate Bogle.
The pressure was maintained and Gruev found himself with time and space on the edge of the box to get a shot in that was curling for the far post. Before it could get there, however, Calvert-Lewin instinctively threw himself at the ball and chested it into the net with the keeper wrong footed.
Now the Whites turned on the style. Justin sent a near post flick wide from a Gruev free-kick and Pascal Struijk saw a header from a corner saved at point blank range by Ortega.
The ball came back out and Gruev went for a header, but was caught in the face by Ortega, who left the home player on the deck, needing lengthy treatment for a nose injury.
There was no VAR involvement and referee Peter Bankes did not stop the game, allowing Forest to put the ball in the United box twice before a foul gave him chance to check on Gruev who was still down.
He was able to continue after a long stoppage and the delay seemed to knock Leeds out of their stride.
It was more about game management for them to the finish of the game and after Morato sent a header just wide Forest pulled a goal back when their new striker Lucca headed on from close range after Darlow had hesitated in whether to come out for the cross.
Darlow did make a fine save deep into stoppage time to tip an Ibrahim Sangare shot over and the Whites were home for their important victory.
(Bogle 26, Okafor 30, Calvert-Lewin 49)
(Lucca 86)
Friday, February 6, 2026
Premier League
Attendance: 36,835
Leeds: Darlow; Justin, Rodon, Struijk; Bogle (Bornauw 90+5), Ampadu, Gruev, Gudmundsson; Aaronson (James 78), Okafor (Longstaff 81); Calvert-Lewin.
Forest: Ortega; Abbott (Netz 76), Milenkovic, Morato, Aina; Anderson, Sangare; Dominguez (Hutchinson 54), Gibbs-White (Yates 67), Hudson-Odoi (Ndoye 67); Jesus (Lucca 54).
Referee: Peter Bankes
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