LEEDS UNITED 1 COOPER (31) BRENTFORD 0

A Liam Cooper goal gave Paul Heckingbottom his first win as Leeds United boss following a battling win over Brentford.

The defender headed home in the 31st minute as Leeds also claimed their first win of 2018 in from of more than 28,000 fans.

Brentford did have their chances to take something from the game with John Egan coming closest when his first half strike was brilliantly saved by Felix Wiedwald.

Florian Jozefzoon was also guilty of wasting a first half chance during a good spell of pressure by the Londoners.

The home side started brightly with Samu Saiz just failing to get on the end of Pierre-Michel Lasogga’s pass in the third minute.

Daniel Bentley got down well to save Eunan O’Kane 25 yards strike two minutes later.

Ollie Watkins fired wide before Kamohelo Mokotjo also failed to find the target as Brentford came into the game.

Jozefzoon shot over when he should have done better after Romaine Sawyers’ excellent pass put him through on goal.

And Liam Cooper made him pay for that miss when he headed Ezgjan Alioski’s cross into the far corner to give Leeds a 31st-minute lead.

Leeds nearly doubled their lead after 62 minutes when Lasaggo cut past a defender and went around Bentley.

But he was denied by a lastditch recovery by Ryan Woods.

The Leeds bench were fuming on 73 minutes when referee Oliver Langford failed to play advantage after Saiz was pulled back. Despite the foul he managed to play in Lasaggo through on goal only for the chance to be denied.

Alioski failed to get a good contact with Caleb Ekuban’s cross as another chance went begging. Neal Maupay fired over the bar with nine minutes to go as Brentford searched for an equaliser.

Sergi Canos sliced wide from in the final minute after Wiedwald had palmed Alan Judge’s effort into his path.