LEEDS UNITED 2 Pearce (17), Alioski (50) BARNSLEY 1 O’Connor (og, 36)

Paul Heckingbottom helped push his old club closer to relegation as his Leeds side beat Barnsley at Elland Road.

Heckingbottom left Oakwell under a cloud in February and he did his hometown club no favours on Saturday, with the defeat leaving the Reds two points from safety.

Barnsley, who earned a late draw against relegation rivals Bolton last time out, began the Yorkshire derby like a side with a point to prove, but it was Leeds who threatened first.

Ezgjan Alioski dispossessed Matt Mills inside the Barnsley box to leave himself one-on- one with goalkeeper Adam Davies, but he could only lift his shot well wide.

But there would be no escape for the visitors after 17 minutes when Brad Potts gave the ball away and Tom Pearce punished him by driving forward before unleashing a left-footed strike into the bottom corner.

Young United goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell did well to claw the ball away after Pontus Jansson opted to leave Adam Hammill’s low cross.

Leeds did not heed the warnings, though, and were pegged back in the 37th minute when Jansson failed to deal with Ezekiel Fryers’ left-wing cross and Paudie O’Connor sliced a split-second attempted clearance beyond Peacock-Farrell.

Barnsley were all over Leeds in the closing stages of the half and would have gone into the break ahead, but for a brilliant save by Peacock-Farrell from Connor Mahoney’s low stoppage-time effort.

Half-time allowed the hosts to regroup and they were back in front five minutes after the restart as Kemar Roofe got in behind Mills and kept his composure on the byline to provide Alioski with an easy finish from his centre.

The visitors rarely threatened as the game entered the closing stages, and when a golden opportunity did present itself to substitute Kieffer Moore, he failed to tap into an empty net.