Cardiff City 0-3 Leeds United: Patrick Bamford, Daniel James, Georginio Rutter strike

Patrick Bamford's goal was his third in three games in all competitions

Leeds United impressively brushed aside a meek Cardiff City to keep pace with their rivals for automatic promotion in the Championship.

Leeds had the game effectively wrapped up after half an hour in the Welsh capital as Patrick Bamford scrambled in a scrappy opening goal before Daniel James tapped in a second.

Cardiff goalkeeper Jak Alnwick made several saves to prevent the visitors from adding to their tally, while James struck the bar in the second half and Crysencio Summerville hit a post from his penalty.

Leeds eventually scored a third goal - which was still scant reflection of their vast superiority - as Georginio Rutter applied an emphatic finish to an incisive late counter-attack.

Daniel Farke's side remain fourth in the Championship table, but stay within four points of Southampton in third place.

Cardiff, who were booed off by their fans at the final whistle, slip to 12th, but are still only three points adrift of the play-off spots.

Leeds needed victory to keep pace with the teams above them - and did so with a convincing display.

Farke's men were quick to assert their authority, monopolising possession and barely giving their opponents a whiff of the ball.

Such was Leeds' early dominance that, even after only 13 minutes, there was an air of inevitability about their opening goal.

The visitors carved Cardiff open on the left and Summerville fired a low cross which hit the sliding Bamford, bounced off Junior Firpo and back to Bamford, who poked in despite being sprawled on the ground.

Leeds' second goal came from a similar position, with Cardiff's Manolis Siopis giving possession away to Glen Kamara before Summerville's shot was saved by Alnwick but only as far as James, who tapped in.

Cardiff's keeper kept the score respectable as he denied Bamford and Rutter. But the one-sided nature of the contest prompted a smattering of jeers from the home crowd which became a fully-fledged chorus of boos by the time the half-time whistle blew.

It was hard to blame the Bluebirds' supporters. It is one thing to be outplayed by a better side, quite another to offer such limp resistance in response.

The travelling Leeds fans, meanwhile, were enjoying themselves and almost had a third goal to cheer four minutes into the second half when Summerville's whipped effort dipped just wide.

The Dutchman then had a chance to score from the penalty spot after Rutter was fouled by Mark McGuinness - but hit the base of the post.

It was left to Rutter to finally net the third goal Leeds more than deserved, powering in a firm finish after a swift counter-attack involving James, Summerville and Bamford.

Cardiff manager Erol Bulut:

"Of course we didn't expect to lose the game like that. We know about the strong side of Leeds United but my players today respected the opponent too much.

"We have a quality, better team in front of us but we have to at least show more fighting spirit and try more to score. You can lose a game but you have to fight and today was not that case.

"There were too many individual mistakes. If you make mistakes, quality opponents punish you and we got punished like that."

Leeds manager Daniel Farke:

"For me it was our most mature performance of the whole season. We've had some electrifying home performances and scored many goals but Cardiff is always a tough place to go.

"To be so in control of the game, from the first to the last second and to get a third clean sheet in a row, overall I'm pretty happy.

"We kept them totally quiet in their possession and we dominated the ball and scored three fantastic goals. We should have scored a few more but the win was never in doubt and I was especially pleased with the control."