Simon Grayson is glancing anxiously over his shoulder at the teams hoping to shake Leeds out of the top two.

Automatic promotion no longer looks the foregone conclusion it seemed not so long ago and manager Grayson is calling for unity as he strives to steer the ship back on course.

Tuesday night’s 2-1 defeat against Walsall – the first home league reverse in 26 matches – left United with just one win from their last seven League One outings, and the fans were not slow to voice their disapproval.

Grayson was strongly critical of his players’ performance against the Saddlers but said: “We never got too carried away when we were eight or nine points clear at the top and we certainly won’t be getting too down now.

“We must stick together on the football side and hopefully the fans will stick together too and not get too nervous about the situation because it is a long season.

“You can’t go through it playing well and winning every game. We are having a bit of a blip but we are strong enough as a group, we are strong enough as a football club and we have strong fans who will pull us through for sure.”

Grayson added: “I expect the players to dig deep and try to get a good result against Brighton at the weekend.

“If we show the attitude we did against Walsall we won’t get any points from the nine that were available at the start of the present three-match run of home games.

“Teams below us are catching up and we know any team can put together a run like we did at the same stage last year, but we are still second in the league, a few points off the top and a few ahead of Colchester in third place with a game in hand.

“We have given ourselves a chance to build on the first half of the season and we want to see it through. I am positive that we will do that.”

However, Grayson warned: “The players shouldn’t have any complaints if I make changes at the weekend.”

Patrick Kisnorbo is back in training and could return to help shore up the defence against Brighton.