Leeds United hold their nerve after 'ridiculous' start to leave manager Daniel Farke happy

Once again they could have made the night easier for themselves with several chances going begging, but they did enough to earn another three points to close the gap a little on leaders Leicester.

And this despite conceding a first minute goal to a neat footballing team who offered a threat in the first half only to fade away after the break.

"I have to give many compliments to my lads. The start was ridiculous,” said manager Farke.

“I felt in the last home games the game was buried at half-time. Today we went into this game and got the lead early. Happy days. Thirty seconds later disallowed and we conceded out of nothing.

“Swansea are a good side, they play with confidence, good on the counter. I thought it could be a long day in the office. But compliments to my lads, we did not lose our nerve.

“There were no chances given away. They caused us some problems in our pressing, but we turned it at half-time and the second half was more impressive.

“We spoke about details on pressing against the ball and won the ball higher.

“The only thing I could criticise was our efficiency. We had seven or eight times the XG of Swansea.

“In the second half we had everything in control. The only thing missing was the fourth, fifth and sixth goal.

"We should have scored a few more, but I would take a 3-1 win.”

An all-action start saw two goals and one disallowed in the first four minutes.

Leeds thought they had opened the scoring within 40 seconds as Georginio Rutter's low cross was put in by Dan James, but an offside flag denied him a goal against his former team and it was certainly a tight call.

Within 20 seconds the ball was in the other net after Swansea took their free-kick quickly and looked to catch the hosts out with a long pass.

Pascal Struijk got there first, but his header back lacked power and Jamie Paterson latched onto the ball to beat Illan Meslier with a perfect lob.

If United were stunned they did not show it as they were level in the fourth minute after Crysencio Summerville's run and perfect through ball sent Joel Piroe through to calmly score against the club he left in the summer.

It could have been 2-1 soon after when Summerville got in behind the visitors' defence, but saw his angled shot just kept out by keeper Carl Rushworth's feet.

The game then went flat for a spell with Swansea finding space in midfield, but unable to trouble home keeper Meslier, who was well protected by his back four.

James did offer a threat when he cut in from his right wing only to see his shot from the edge of the box comfortably saved.

At the other end Josh Key sent a shot over from the edge of the area.

Summerville saw his shot from the edge of the box deflected over while Struijk's header from a corner was easily saved.

Crucially Leeds did manage to edge ahead in first half injury-time when Rutter superbly brought down Ethan Ampadu's ball over the top and raced into the box to score his long overdue first goal at Elland Road.

The second half was more one-sided as Leeds' pressing game kicked in and they came close to further goals as Piroe had a shot saved after his free-kick was blocked by the defensive wall then Summerville was found in space in the area by Rutter only to fire over.

James had a low shot saved after winning the ball for himself on the edge of the box, but three minutes later he was celebrating after making it 3-1.

Sam Byram won the ball with a brilliant tackle and Rutter quickly put James through to score with a powerful finish with his left foot.

From this point on it was a comfortable night and more goals could have come, especially for substitutes Patrick Bamford and Jaidon Anthony.

Bamford was teed up by Summerville only to see his near post flick go wide while Anthony headed wide from close in following Archie Gray's cross.

Joe Rodon almost made it a hat-trick of ex-Swansea players to score when he met a corner, but his flick was cleared off the line.

It did not matter in the end as United were home and hosed for another three points and are now unbeaten in their first nine league games at Elland Road.

Leeds United 3

(Piroe 4, Rutter 45+3, James 61)

Swansea City 1

(Paterson 1)

Sky Bet Championship

Attendance: 34,905

Leeds: Meslier; Gray, Rodon, Struijk (Cooper 88), Byram (Firpo 80); Ampadu, Kamara; James (Gnonto 70), Piroe, Summerville (Anthony 80); Rutter (Bamford 70).

Swansea: Rushworth; Key (Darling 70), Cabango, Humphries, Tymon; Grimes, Fulton (Cullen 70); Cooper (Patino 70), Paterson (Bolassie 79), Lowe; Yates (Walsh 79).

Referee: Sam Allison