Leeds United pounded Lokomotiv Moscow 4-1 in the Uefa Cup to set a new club record of 10 consecutive wins.

Lee Bowyer claimed two first half goals at Elland Road, with Harry Kewell and Alan Smith scoring after the interval to give David O'Leary's men a near-unassailable position for the away leg.

Moscow rarely threatened throughout the match and despite some powerful long-range shots and the scorching free-kicks of Dmitri Loskov, keeper Nigel Martyn was largely untroubled.

The Premiership leaders, by contrast, looked aggressive and attacked convincingly from the outset, causing panic in the visitors' ranks with a mixture of well-taken crosses and deft passing.

Bowyer bullet

Jonathan Woodgate squandered an early chance from a corner, with Lokomotiv's keeper Nigamtoulline lucky to save his miscued shot off the line.

Michael Bridges threatened again on 24 minutes with some superb footwork on the edge of the area, only to send the ball inches wide of the left post with the keeper beaten.

Leeds finally opened the scoring three minutes later as Kewell was jostled on the deep left edge of the area for a free kick just inches from the back line.

The cross found Steve McPhaill on the right of the box, who fired the ball back in. The prodigious Bowyer connected with the deflection and thumped it through traffic into the back of the net.

Lokomotiv's best chance of the first half came from Arifdoline, who took an innocuous-looking pass 40 yards out, turned and blasted in a swinging, dipping shot that beat Martyn and thumped off the crossbar.

But the visitors looked increasingly shakey as the half progressed, struggling at set pieces and rarely looking comfortable in defence as Lucas Radebe took everything in the air.

Overhead strike

Leeds' second came moments before the interval, with Bridges successfully fighting to hold up a long through-ball and crossing in for Bowyer, who pulled off an acrobatic diving header to plant the ball in the bottom right corner.

Lokomotiv came out for the second half firing on all cylinders and dominated the opening 10 minutes.

Loskov forced Martyn to make two fantastic saves within a minute of the restart - the first from a blistering free-kick, followed by a fingertip deflection to push the number 10's sliding shot wide.

Then, wholly against the run of play, Leeds struck again. Kewell's cross arrived at the feet of Gary Kelly, who calmly chipped back into the box. The keeper failed to clear and the high-bouncing ball sat up for Alan Smith to score with a spectacular overhead kick.

Lokomotiv were incensed, claiming that Smith's boot connected with a defender's face before the ball, but Wolfgang Stark - lenient by recent refereeing standards - waved play on.

The half descended into a bad-tempered series of inconclusive exchanges for the middle 20 minutes, with few shots falling to either side.

Mark Pougatch reports from Elland Road

Then on 79 minutes it sparked back into life as Loskov pulled one back for Lokomotiv, rifling in a carbon copy of is earlier free-kick to beat Martyn and set the scores at 3-1.

But Leeds hit back almost immediately, taking advantage of yet more indecisive defending by the Russian side.

Substitute Darren Huckerby poached the ball 30 yards out and crossed for Kewell who bought the ball down off his chest and slammed in a shot that skimmed sweetly under the diving keeper.

Team:

Leeds: Martyn, Kelly, Woodgate, Radebe, Harte, Bowyer, Batty, McPhail, Kewell, Smith, Bridges. Subs: Haaland, Hopkin, Huckerby, Mills, Bakke, Jones, Robinson.

Lokomotiv Moscow: Nigamtoulline, Arifdoline, Drozdov, Kharlachev, Lavrik, Chugainov, Smertin, Pashinin, Dznashia, Loskov, Sarkisian. Subs: Hovhannisyan, Solomatin, Maminov, Semenenko, Boulykin, Neretine, Poliakov.