the championship

CHRIS WOOD’S 26th and 27th goals of his most prolific season to date kept the automatic promotion race alive as Leeds beat Brighton.

Albion knew an Elland Road victory would put them two points clear of Newcastle at the top and nine points clear of thirdplaced Huddersfield.

But home boss Garry Monk – who rolled the dice by leaving out lynchpin defender Pontus Jansson – got his gameplan spot on and saw his men return to fourth.

The Whites were happy to play at a pedestrian pace for much of the first half but in Wood have the league’s most lethal marksman and he struck twice in the second period, once from the spot.

As a consequence, Huddersfield, Leeds and Reading will all feel one of the top-two berths can still be theirs as the season enters its closing stages.

It took 23 minutes for the first effort from either side, an off-target header from Leeds’ Kyle Bartley and that proved the spark the game needed. Wood – the division’s leading scorer – could not get his feet right as a loose ball fell near him in the box, while the striker was poised to nod in a Pablo Hernandez cross until Uwe Hunemeier cleared from under his own bar.

Leeds – despite grievances over a Liam Rosenior tackle on Hadi Sacko – headed in at half-time relatively happy, but were given more to ponder as Brighton upped the ante after the restart.

Wood opened the scoring in the 63rd minute when Ronaldo Vieira won Leeds the ball with some tenacious play, Charlie Taylor stood up a fine cross and Wood looped a terrific header home. Wood then cracked in a penalty after Fikayo Tomori chopped down Souleymane Doukara.