LEEDS: Patrick Bamford strengthened his case for an England call-up ahead of the European Championship by scoring his 13th goal of the season in Leeds United’s 3-0 win over struggling Southampton that took them into the top half of the Premier League on Tuesday.

Bamford squeezed a low, angled shot into the corner from the edge of the area in the 47th minute to put Leeds ahead and move level with Harry Kane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin as the leading English scorers this campaign.

Only Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah and Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes have scored more.

Bamford has been one of the teams shining lights as he starts to dispel his reputation as a wasteful finisher that he picked up mostly in stints in the second division.

The 27-year-old striker has played for England’s youth teams but never for the country’s senior team.

Left back Stuart Dallas provided an outside-of-the-foot finish at the end of a breakaway in the 78th for Leeds second goal and Brazilian winger Raphinha wrapped up the victory with a curling free kick from 20 metres as South­amptons winless run extended to eight games.

The margin of victory flattered Leeds, according to their manager, Marcelo Bielsa.

“Throughout the game, it was difficult to establish differences between the two teams,” Bielsa said through a translator. “When the games are so close, the team that scores first gets the advantage. It is not definitive but has weight.”

The win brought to an end a two-game losing run for Leeds and lifted them to 10th place in the table on 35 points and to within five points of sixth-placed Liverpool, while Southampton remain 14th on 30 points, eight points above the relegation places.

Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl branded his side’s second-half performance a disaster.

“First half good, second half a disaster,” said Hasenhuttl. “It was deserved, they killed us in the second half. In the first half we showed we can compete as a team. The second half, balls in behind was causing us problems and that is too easy.”

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2021