Fowler double lifts Leeds

Fowler opens his account for Leeds

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Leeds 3-2 Everton

Robbie Fowler scored his first goals in a Leeds shirt as the Yorkshire club lifted some of the gloom that has settled over Elland Road.

The £11m signing broke his duck on 26 minutes and then doubled his tally with 20 minutes left as David O'Leary's team moved up to third in the Premiership table.

  Key incidents

18 mins: Viduka heads home opener

26 mins: Fowler breaks his Leeds duck

70 mins: Fowler doubles his tally

86 mins: Moore reduces deficit

90 mins: Weir adds a second for Everton

Mark Viduka opened the scoring for Leeds, who were watched by Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate.

Bowyer, put up for sale on Tuesday after refusing to pay a fine, was given plenty of vocal support by the home crowd, some of whom held banners up urging the club not to let him leave.

Leeds went into the game looking to atone for their late lapse against Leicester and came close to breaking the deadlock on 13 minutes, when Viduka headed an Ian Harte corner over the bar.

The Australian international didn't miss the target five minutes later, heading home Gary Kelly's cross for his eighth goal of the season.

Lee now knows the crowd don't want him to go... we also showed him tonight what he will be missing if he decides he still wants to leave

Leeds boss
David O'Leary

But the moment Leeds fans had waited for came on 26 minutes, when Fowler shrugged off the attentions of two defenders to rifle home a right-foot shot from 18 yards.

Everton had already lost Mark Pembridge in the first half - and they suffered another blow at the start of the second when Alessandro Pistone was stretchered off with an ankle problem.

It got worse for the visitors on 70 minutes, when Fowler grabbed his second of the game.

David Batty's shot was deflected into the path of the former Liverpool striker - and he made no mistake from close range.

Substitute Joe-Max Moore reduced the deficit on 84 minutes when he volleyed home Steve Watson's right-wing cross.

Then David Weir set pulses racing on the Leeds bench by heading home Idan Tal's corner in injury time.

Fowler is mobbed by his delighted team-mates

But Leeds held on for victory to move within a point of both Liverpool and leaders Newcastle.

Everton boss Walter Smith said: "From the start Leeds looked the more likely team to score and when they went 3-0 up their play deserved that.

"There were spells in the game that if we had had more belief in ourselves then we might have caused them more problems than we did.

"When we got our first I'm disappointed we didn't push on because having seen them concede two late goals against Leicester on Sunday then we might have had a little bit of a chance.

"But I cannot complain about the result because Leeds were the far better side overall."

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Leeds: Martyn, Mills, Ferdinand, Matteo, Harte, Kelly, Batty, Johnson, Kewell, Viduka, Fowler. Subs: Keane, Robinson, Wilcox, Bakke, Duberry.

Everton: Simonsen, Watson, Weir, Unsworth, Pistone, Gemmill, Alexandersson, Xavier, Naysmith, Radzinski, Pembridge. Subs: Gerrard, Blomqvist, Tal, Gascoigne, Moore.

Referee: P Jones (Loughborough).