Burnley’s Scott Parker discusses tracking Leeds United, promotional contenders

Leeds United marked their return from the international break with a crucial 2-0 win over Sheffield United at Elland Road on Friday night, a key result against a promotion rival. Nonetheless, their efforts weren’t enough to keep them in second place following this weekend’s action.

After a goalless first half, Leeds picked up the pace in the second. Pascal Struijk broke the deadlock in the 69th minute, and Mateo Joseph sealed the win with a late strike in the 90th, securing all three points.

The win temporarily put the Whites in second place heading into Saturday’s matches. Some teams could leap over Daniel Farke and his team with a victory, and one squad that jumped ahead of them was Burnley with their 2-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday.

Scott Parker isn’t watching Leeds and other promotional rivals

Burnley was the only side that jumped ahead of Leeds, so the Yorkshire side are in third place. With such a tight race, many supporters will be watching the table and keeping track of how other clubs vying for the top two automatic promotion spots to the Premier League next season.

Parker believes the table doesn’t hold much significance at this point and prefers to focus on Burnley’s performance instead.

“I’m really pleased overall,” Parker said (h/t Leeds Live). “This is a difficult place to come and I thought we started the game very well. I’m pleased with the general play but taking the three points is massive for us. Going forward we looked a real threat and we had some real opportunities to put the game away.

“We were positionally very good in the final third and we executed our chances well. The players have been working really hard on that. We started slowly in the second half but we grew into it and I thought we took control after our second went in. We could have taken a few more of our chances and put the game to bed.

“As a coach I’m really happy with the clean sheet. The defensive side of things isn’t as fashionable but we want a foundation to build on and that starts with the back line. It’s a long, hard season. Being top of the table means nothing to me yet. There’s so many more games ahead of us.

“We have so many new players with lots of new identities and talents. We have a brand new team – only eight or nine weeks old and the lads have done incredibly well so far.”