Roofe completes stunning Leeds comeback to send Whites top at Christmas and stun Aston Villa
Aston Villa flew out of the blocks with two goals inside 12 minutes but crumbled in the second in a thriller in the Midlands
Sponsored by
KEMAR ROOFE scored a last gasp winner to complete a superb second half comeback and send Leeds top at Christmas.
The forward smashed home a 94th minute strike as Villa blew a two-goal lead in a Christmas cracker at Villa Park.
The home side threatened to run riot against their fellow promotion hopefuls with two goals in the opening 12 minutes.
But Jack Clarke's first senior goal and Pontus Jansson's header five minutes later brought Leeds back into the contest.
The comeback was complete when Roofe capitalised on Ahmed Elmohamady's error to send the travelling fans delirious.
Leeds went into the clash knowing a win would lift them above Norwich into top spot.
But it was Villa who flew out of the blocks and took just five minutes to open the scoring through Tammy Abraham.
The ball fell kindly to the on-loan Chelsea striker who rifled a first time shot into the net following John McGinn's run into the box.
Leeds were struggling to contain a rampant home side who have been revitalised since Dean Smith's appointment and they had a mountain to climb seven minutes later.
Jonathan Kodjia did brilliantly to lay the ball into the path of Conor Hourihane who opened his body and curled a sumptuous left footed strike into the bottom corner from 20-yards.
Leeds were then denied what appeared to be a clear penalty when Alan Hutton man-handled Jansson to the ground.
Alioski then whistled a strike just wide on the stroke of half-time to end a thrilling opening 45 minutes.
Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa must have given his side some harsh words at half-time because they came out looking like a side gunning for automatic promotion.
He introduced 18-year-old Clarke into proceedings and the Englishman took just 10 minutes to open his senior account with a wonderful strike.
most read in football
Picking the ball up on the left, question marks will be raised over Elmohamady again when he allowed him to cut inside and bury a strike into the corner.
Just moments later and the two sides were level when Pablo Hernandez's wicked corner was directed into the net by Jansson.
Leeds then looked the likeliest to snatch the points but both teams weren't willing to go home with a point.
The drama was complete with seconds to go when Elmohamady's shocking header landed into the path of Roofe to score his eleventh of the season.