Lee Erwin and Luke Murphy were on target as our Under-21s came from behind to claim their first win of the season on Monday evening, beating Sheffield United 2-1 at Elland Road.

A mixture of youth and experience was fielded for the second outing of the new campaign, with first-team squad members Murphy, Erwin, Lewis Cook and Casper Sloth all handed starts in front of a several-hundred-strong crowd.

Leeds were controlling possession in the early stages and had the game’s first sight of goal after just 10 minutes, Chris Dawson seeing his powerful, first-time strike acrobatically tipped onto the crossbar by Blades ‘keeper George Willis.

Dawson then teed up Erwin to smash over the bar from a free-kick on the edge of the area, before Charlie Horton was equal to the visitors’ first attempt of the evening as he held Jamie McDonagh’s low strike.

Leeds were the ones seeing more of the ball and looking most likely to open the scoring, with Erwin again threatening after racing onto Cook’s perfectly-weighted through ball, only to fire over from a tight angle inside the area.

Murphy, continuing his recovery from  a knee injury, blasted wide from range with a speculative attempt, while another smart stop from Willis denied Erwin’s drilled effort from inside the area.

Arguably the best chance of the opening 45 minutes came at the opposite end, though, as McDonagh drifted into the area, evading several challenges before poking wide under pressure from Horton. The American goalkeeper then spread himself to block McDonagh on the stroke of half-time as it remained goalless at the break.

It was the Blades who eventually managed to break the deadlock within just two minutes of the second period getting underway, Jake Wright bursting through the middle before slotting beyond Horton with a simple finish.

But the lead lasted a matter of four minutes as Erwin picked out the bottom corner with a classy finish from inside the area to equalise after bringing the ball under his close control.

And Leeds, with momentum on their side, went ahead three minutes later through Murphy, sending a stunning long-range strike beyond the helpless Willis as it whistled into the top corner.

McDonagh crashed a header against Horton’s bar after being found by Banton’s cross from deep, while substitute Eoghan Stokes stooped to head a Lewie Coyle cross wide.

Chances continued to be exchanged as Horton thwarted CJ Hamilton with his legs after racing through on goal with the game heading into stoppage-time, but Murphy's strike proved to be the winner at Elland Road. 

Under-21s team: Horton, Coyle (c), Skelton, Denton, Purver, Cook, Murphy, Sloth, Dawson (Stokes 79), Erwin, Parkin (Mulhern 90). Subs. Grimes, Pearce, Lyman.