Yeovil Town 1 Leeds United 2: Ambitions for Leeds provide common ground – McDermott

It was confirmed on Friday that controversial Italian businessman Massimo Cellino had bought a 75 per cent stake in the club, subject to him passing the Football League’s vetting procedures.

A week earlier, representatives of Cellino had sacked McDermott, only for the club to formally reinstate him.

Should Cellino’s stake be approved by the League it will raise fresh questions regarding McDermott’s long-term future at Elland Road, but for now the former Reading boss is just glad to see the Whites’ fortunes on the pitch improving, with this victory following a 5-1 defeat of Huddersfield a week earlier.

Second-half goals from Ross McCormack and Stephen Warnock earned Leeds the points in Somerset.

McDermott then revealed he will meet his prospective new boss at their match with Brighton, but is just craving some peace and quiet at the club.

“What we want to avoid now is drama off the pitch,,” he said.

“On the pitch we want drama, but if we can avoid that for the last 17 games I’ll be very happy.

“The only thing I can do is try to get a result against Brighton and nothing else. The common ground is that the new owner and myself want to take Leeds United back where they belong.

“We will see what happens in the next two weeks or so and go from there. If you win and get results, things look a lot easier.

“From what I can gather (Cellino) is coming to the game against Brighton. Hopefully we will sit down and have a conversation and maybe a meal together and see where we go from there.

“I’ve had one meeting with (Cellino) when we sat down and talked , but from his point of view he knows what an important club Leeds United is and what it is all about. We have to move away from all that now. There are still 17 games to go in this season.”

A goal down at the break scored by Ishmael Miller – it should have been two but he then missed a penalty after Sam Byram’s foul – the visitors took just 35 seconds to draw level.

McCormack grabbed his 23rd of the campaign with a stunning 25-yard effort that flew across goal and into the top corner after Stech’s goalkick was halted by the wind and fell to United’s captain. The elements also paid a big part in their winner. Left-back Warnock floated a 40-yard free-kick from the right wing into a packed goalmouth only to see his effort catch the breeze and fly over Stech who had come off his line.

Yeovil: Stech, Ayling, Webster, Duffy, McAllister, Dawson (Lawrence 83), Lundstram (Hayter 89), Edwards, Grant (Morgan 83), Miller, Moore. Unused substitutes: Foley, Lanzoni, Dunn, Nana Ofori-Twumasi.

Leeds United: Kenny, Byram, Lees, Pearce, Warnock, Murphy, Austin, Mowatt (Smith 46), Kebe, McCormack, Stewart. Unused substitutes: Peltier, Hunt, Pugh, Brown, Wootton, Cairns.

Referee: P Tierney (Lancashire).

Leeds man of the match: Ross McCormack.