Leeds United moved into the top four of the Premiership and made it a miserable 48th birthday for Leicester City manager Martin O'Neill, as their extra class helped them secure victory at Filbert Street last night.
Goals from the impressive youngsters Harry Kewell and Alan Smith enabled David O'Leary's side to leapfrog over the free-falling Aston Villa and avenge their last gasp League Cup reversal earlier in the season.
But while the picture looks rosy for Leeds, the warning bells are ringing for O'Neill's side who are being sucked dangerously close to the relegation area.
They launched a late rally in which the sharp-looking Tony Cottee deservedly scored the 199th league goal of his career.
But it was too little, too late, and the cold reality is that Leicester have taken only three points from seven games and failed to win in the Premiership since St Stephen's Day.
Only some last ditch saves from Leicester goalkeeper Kasey Keller kept them in the hunt before they staged a typical late rally.
Leeds can look forward to setting their sights on challenging for a Champions' League place available for finishing in the top three if they maintain their current form.
They were quick to impose their authority on the game, knocking the ball around with great confidence, and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink should have put them ahead in the 16th minute, but Keller blocked his shot with his legs. However, they took the lead with a well-executed goal from Kewell in the 24th minute.
He was the first to react to Hasselbaink's excellent cross, nipping in front of Rob Savage at the near post to tuck a low, first-time shot into the opposite corner of the net. And the same player should have made it 2-0 but again Keller came to the home side's rescue by blocking his shot.
Leeds then had strong penalty appeals turned down after a lastditch tackle by Andrew Impey on Willem Korsten.
However, all was forgotten in the 61st minute when they doubled their lead courtesy of Alan Smith and held on despite Cottee's late strike.
David O'Leary reacted to the win by insisting they could play much better. O'Leary said he was pleased with the points and the push up the table but went crazy in the dressing-room at half-time.
He said: "I think we can play a lot better and I know I set high standards. They do marvellously well for me, but I thought we made it very hard work, particularly in the second half.
"The goal we gave away was a poor goal to bring them back into the game, and really, we shouldn't have been hanging on.
"We dominated the first half. I thought we should have scored more goals. I thought we could have worked harder as well, for all that we passed it, but I'm delighted with the three points."
LEICESTER: Keller, Ullathorne, Elliott, Kaamark, Guppy, Impey (Gunnlaugsson 66), Izzet, Lennon, Savage, Cottee, Heskey (Marshall 46). Subs not used: Arphexad, Taggart, Zagorakis. Booked: Savage, Ullathorne, Gunnlaugsson. Goals: Cottee 76.
LEEDS: Martyn, Harte, Radebe, Wetherall, Haaland, Korsten, Kewell, Hopkin, Bowyer, Hasselbaink (Ribeiro 90), Smith. Subs not used: Wijnhard, Halle, Robinson, Jones. Booked: Smith, Harte. Goals: Kewell 24, Smith 60.
Referee: G Barber (Pyrford).