Michael Skubala hailed the professionalism of his Leeds United U21s side after watching them see off Stoke City 4-0 at the LNER Community stadium in York. Mateo Joseph scored a hat-trick on the night, while Sonny Perkins stretched his scoring run to nine straight games for club and country with a first-half effort.
In truth, Leeds had the game won well before half-time with Joseph pouncing twice to give Leeds a comfortable advantage and Perkins was there to poke home a third just before the break. The Whites kept pushing after the break and with just a few minutes remaining on the clock Joseph completed his hat-trick by emphatically lashing Cody Drameh’s pull back home.
It was a straightforward win and one that sees them consolidate their spot at the top of the Premier League 2 Division 2 table. It’s little wonder that Skubala was smiling after the game, then.
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“I thought we dominated start to finish really,” the U21s boss said after the game. “The lads were brilliant in terms of building, being aggressive and being on the front foot, I thought we went after them from minute one and that was the game plan. I’m really pleased with the game.
“We keep going, we want more goals, we want to attack and I’m driving them to keep attacking because they need to have the habit of keeping going and striving to do the right things. In tougher games you need that to win 2-1 or 1-0 so practising that and having the right habits in those moments is important.”
Joseph’s goals saw him regain the top scorer tag within the U21s side, edging beyond Perkins with his eighth of the season. The Spaniard was a joy to watch in York and Skubala believes he is getting the rewards for his efforts and work on the training ground.
“I think Mateo was fantastic tonight,” he added. “He’s come in and out a little bit but he’s been training like a warrior and you can see that in his game.
“I think sometimes you can talk about some other players but Mateo is very humble and very quiet in a way but he’s really working hard, he’s got that energy and desire and we saw that in his goals and his finishing. He’s a threat for any defence.”
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