Jermaine Beckford scored his 16th goal of the season to edge Leeds to within a point of the League One automatic promotion spots with a 1-0 win at Crewe.

The striker made the most of a mistake by Crewe goalkeeper Ben Williams to head the winner in the 36th minute.

Leeds suffered several scares before collecting the points against an Alex side facing a battle to avoid relegation this season.

Williams made a hash of coming for a Peter Sweeney cross and was beaten in the air by Beckford, who placed his header into an empty net.

Crewe's Chris McCready finally beat Casper Ankergren with a header from a Michael O'Connor corner only for the ball to hit the cross bar and that was the home side's final hope of snatching an equaliser.

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