Leeds United 3-0 Huddersfield Town

Mirco Antenucci has scored two goals in two games following his strike for Leeds against Huddersfield

Leeds United continued their impressive form as they cruised past Huddersfield Town to earn a third win in four games under caretaker boss Neil Redfearn.

The hosts, who are expected to appoint Darko Milanic as their new manager, led 2-0 at the break through Rudy Austin's strike and Mirco Antenucci's close-range shot.

Souleymane Doukara made it three from an Austin pass after the re-start.

And Leeds eased to the win despite having Gaetano Berardi sent off.

The defender saw red for a second yellow card with 17 minutes remaining.

But the Terriers, who would have climbed out of the Championship relegation zone if they had taken a point, could not find a way back into a game that ended without them having a single attempt on target.

The home side played with greater fluency and threat from the start and were almost gifted an opening goal when Town left-back Jack Robinson's backpass fell short and goalkeeper Alex Smithies had to race off his line to clear from Casper Sloth.

Former Leeds captain Lee Peltier missed a clear opportunity at the near post at the other end, but the main threat was from Redfearn's men and Austin's rising shot from just inside the 18-yard box gave them a deserved lead.

Jonathan Hogg squandered a glorious opportunity to level, heading wide after great work by Harry Bunn.

And Leeds soon made their local rivals pay. Giuseppe Bellusci chipped the ball against the bar from a pass by Antenucci, who followed up to double the lead in first-half injury time.

Doukara took centre stage after the interval, forcing a desperate block from Smithies and also shooting just wide.

But in between those two attempts, he found the bottom corner from a clever Austin pass.

Berardi's dismissal gave the visitors hope but Leeds were relatively untroubled in the final 21 minutes and moved up to 11th in the table, two points outside the play-off places.

Leeds United caretaker Neil Redfearn: "This squad can threaten the top six. I've told the players the sky is the limit. We were excellent from first whistle to last.

"Antenucci has been outstanding in our last two games. He has such energy and awareness and his finishing was great. He did really well to keep the ball down when it came to him off the bar from Guiseppe Bellusci's shot."

Huddersfield boss Chris Powell: "There is no question of them lacking heart. That will never happen with one of my sides.

"But I need to iron out the basic mistakes we are making and perhaps bring in a couple of new faces. There is work I can do with this squad, which needs freshening up."