Leeds United will go into tomorrow's Champions League draw laughing all the way to the bank. Amid suffocating tension, David O'Leary's admirable young team emerged safe and sound from the Olympiastadion last night to become English football's third representatives on the continent's most demanding arena.

It was far from easy, but in the end the Yorkshire club were deserving victors courtesy of Alan Smith's goal, some backs-to-the-wall defending and the heroics of Nigel Martyn.

Smith's goal, which came within a minute of the start of the second half, was probably the finest moment to date of his short career.

Marco Kurz and Daniel Bierofka got in a terrible tangle trying to clear a long ball from the edge of their penalty area under pressure from Mark Viduka, then Smith nipped in between them, adjusted his feet and steered a smart left-foot shot across Michael Hofmann into the bottom corner of his net.

It was the fourth goal in three games for the talented, if slightly troublesome, 19-year-old and just what his team-mates needed to settle the nerves.

O'Leary's players have nurtured a fine talent for surpassing all expectations - not least their manager's - but this was perhaps the tallest order of them all.

Deprived of seven players, six of them internationals, through injury or suspension, O'Leary's depleted ranks found themselves barricading Nigel Martyn's goal for long, uneasy spells of a muggy night in Bavaria.

With only a 2-1 advantage from the first leg, they had little leeway against a group of 1860 players that showed far more attacking invention inside the first 10 minutes here than they had managed throughout the entire 90 minutes at Elland Road.

It was somewhat paradoxical, therefore, that amid another night of heroics from Martyn, it was Leeds who squandered the best chance of the first half when Mark Viduka intercepted a weak backpass and then fluffed his lines when he was faced by Hofmann.

O'Leary's blood pressure was not helped when Smith, an isolated but willing figure in attack, broke clear and was bundled over by Martin Stranzl inside the penalty area, only for the referee Claus Larsen to rule there had been no infringement.

It was a decision that had O'Leary marauding along the touchline like a Martin O'Neill clone, but in the end the Leeds manager was able to view that - and the other tense moments of this game - with equanimity.

An understandably delighted O'Leary said: "This result is better than the one against Roma in last season's UEFA Cup when we held them to a goalless draw on their patch.

"In fact, I would go so far as to say that, given the circumstances in which we went into this tie, this was the best performance from my players during my time in charge.

"I had to play players out of position. We gave the ball away too much, but that is what happens when you have an entire midfield out."

1860 Munich: Hofmann; Passlack (Winkler 64), Kurz, Stranzl; Cerny, Hassler, Mykland, Borimirov (Bieirle 77), Bierofka (Tyce 74); Agostino, Martin.

Leeds United: Martyn; Mills, Duberry, Woodgate, Harte; Kelly, Radebe, Bowyer, Jones (Evans 74); Viduka, Smith.

Referee: C Larsen (Norway)