Leeds United building a buffer, says Jack Harrison

On loan Manchester City winger Harrison netted an 87th-minute winner in Tuesday night’s game at Reading as a 1-0 victory sent the Whites top and five points clear of third ahead of last night’s games.

Marcelo Bielsa’s men have won four games in a row – taking 17 points out of 21 by going unbeaten in seven – and United’s next two games come against sides in the bottom six in Saturday’s visitors Middlesbrough and the following Saturday’s hosts Huddersfield Town.

Harrison admits building a big buffer back to third through the winter could be hugely advantageous come the end of the season in May but the winger believes obsessing over the table could cause problems and says the Whites will take their automatic promotion bid one step at a time.

Assessing the importance of being ruthless and extending the gap back to third, Harrison said: “If we can create some separation that would definitely help us out a lot but that just comes down to taking it game by game I think.

“When you start adding the pressure of thinking about too many things and where everyone else is in the table, I think that really starts to affect the squad a little bit so we’ve just got to stay focused and take it game by game.

“We’re in a great position but it’s important not to get complacent and too far ahead of ourselves and start thinking ‘we are at the top of the league’ or whatever.

“It’s important to just take it game by game and not get too ahead of ourselves.

“We know what we need to do as a team and we need to stick to our goals and stay focused on each and every game.”

Mark Bowen, who forged a four-match unbeaten run after becoming the new Reading manager last month, said: “That was a very tough one to take.

“We had a game-plan, we’d done a lot of homework and preparation on Leeds. They are a team that creates a lot of chances and dominate play.

“Although they had a fair bit of possession, I don’t think our keeper had a real shot to save. So, that’s a tick in one box. But I’m a little bit bitter about how it ended.”