Head coach Neil Redfearn admits his side must learn to grind out wins when not at their best following Saturday’s narrow 1-0 defeat at home to Fulham.

Hugo Rodallega’s close-range finish on the hour was enough for the Cottagers to leave Elland Road with all three points, despite United coming close on a number of occasions.

Alex Mowatt, Sam Byram and Adryan all threatened as the hosts had the clearer sights of goal, but it proved to be a frustrating afternoon for Redfearn’s men, who suffered defeat at home for the first time since October.

"If you look up and down the country, sometimes you can’t always perform as well as you want to do and have a sparkling win where it’s three or four-nil," said Redfearn.

"You want to get over the line and win 1-0. 1-0 would have done on Saturday, it did for them.

"I think that’s the most disappointing thing.

"The performances in general have been good at home but this is a step backwards for us."

Prior to Saturday’s defeat, United had lost just once in eight Championship outings at Elland Road but now occupy 19th in the table following a mixed run of results.

"At home we’ve been performing well and picking points up," said Redfearn. "Away from home we need to sort ourselves out.

"The ideal scenario to really bed things down is to be in a position in the league where you can relax into games and go and play good football.

"We’re still in a position where we’re looking over our shoulders all the time.

"It’s in transition. The previous 10 games with two other coaches reaped six points so you’re always playing catch-up.

"But we’ve got to make sure that we get ourselves right. Saturday was way off the mark for me."