Burnley 2, Leeds United 3

Bring on leaders Queens Park Rangers. That’s the cry from Leeds fans eagerly anticipating the visit of Neil Warnock’s men to Elland Road next Saturday.

Luciano Becchio proved his value yet again by sparking another United recovery at Turf Moor as Simon Grayson’s climbers moved into fourth place to make it eight matches unbeaten.

Burnley surrendered a two-goal interval lead, Becchio creating a goal for Max Gradel and then sliding in for an equaliser before captain Jonny Howson’s shot from just outside the penalty area provided the winner.

Becchio, whose contract talks are still on-going, was a hat-trick hero against Bristol City last month and scored two late goals to beat Crystal Palace on December 4. His latest strike took his tally to 12 for the season and Leeds are doing all they can to hold on to the prolific Argentinian.

Grayson said: “This was a big result for us, although all we have done is extend our unbeaten run to eight games and closed the gap on one or two teams. We have a good momentum going and we will see where it takes us.

“We will go into the game against QPR in high spirits. In the second half we did the basics much better and put the opposition under more pressure but we didn’t work hard enough in the first half.”

United had to change their defence as a thigh strain ruled out central defender Andy O’Brien for the first time since his arrival on loan from Bolton at the end of October – and he was badly missed.

Neill Collins replaced the former Bantam, while Paul Connolly returned after suspension at right back, Andrew Hughes dropping to the bench.

The reshuffled defence looked distinctly vulnerable and unchanged Burnley punished slackness twice in a ten-minute spell during the first half.

Leeds goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel dived to turn a 27th-minute shot from Clarets top scorer Chris Iwelumo round a post but, from the resulting corner, Andre Bikey’s header was blocked and full back Brian Easton was allowed to get the final touch in a goalmouth scramble.

Collins headed narrowly wide for United but more poor defending led to Burnley’s second goal. Alex Bruce should have cleared a long ball from former Leeds defender Clarke Carlisle but Jay Rodriguez nipped in to punish the United player’s hesitancy.

Gradel failed to take early chances created by Robert Snodgrass but Burnley were much the better side in the first half, with Leon Cort particularly impressive.

It needed an early goal in the second spell to give Leeds hope and Gradel provided it in the 52nd minute. Connolly and Snodgrass made inroads down the right, Snodgrass crossed and when Becchio headed the ball into Gradel’s path, the Ivory Coast player fired into the bottom corner for his fourth goal in eight games.

Iwelumo should have extended Burnley’s lead but, faced with a free header six yards out, he somehow missed the target – and it proved costly as Becchio equalised on 66 minutes. Connolly’s cross was perfectly delivered for Becchio to slide in for his sixth goal in five matches.

Johnson shot wide from ten yards two minutes later and Burnley had an even bigger let-off when Snodgrass, who was a handful throughout, rattled the bar after Howson found him with a superb cross-field pass.

United’s winner arrived in the 85th minute, Howson setting off on a long run before unleashing an unstoppable 20-yard shot into the bottom corner.

Leeds’ discipline deserted them at times and there were bookings for Collins, Howson and Bradley Johnson, the latter being lucky to escape a second booking when he tugged at Dean Mears’ shirt.

Both sides had late scares, United substitute Ross McCormack having a shot well saved, Burnley substitute Steve Thompson failing with a simple header and Schmeichel pulling off a splendid injury-time save.

Burnley boss Brian Laws said: “I am angry because we stopped doing the things we had been doing, put ourselves under pressure and then started going gung-ho.

“It’s not acceptable because we were in a winnable position and this has happened too many times this year.”