Leeds stun Manchester United after Okafor double and Martínez red card for hair-pull

Leeds claimed a precious victory that takes them six points clear of Tottenham whose plight darkens further after Daniel Farke’s men pulled off a first league win at Old Trafford since February 1981 and in the process inflicted a first home defeat for Michael Carrick as Manchester United interim manager.

His team lacked control throughout, a state not aided by Lisandro Martínez’s silly 56th-minute red card for yanking Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s ponytail, and he is now suspended for three matches.

By then two first-half Noah Okafor strikes had Leeds cruising and while the hosts rallied, Casemiro’s header was a consolation only.

Yet if Carrick’s men remain likely to seal Champions League qualification, Leeds motored home cockahoop and if they beat Wolves on Saturday before Spurs play Brighton they may feel out of the relegation dogfight.

Karl Darlow, centre, and Ethan Ampadu, left, revel in a long-awaited Leeds win at Old Trafford. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

At kick-off and three points above 18th-placed Tottenham, Leeds surely began contemplating the draw they achieved in January’s reverse fixture acceptable. Leeds’ previous league win was on 6 February and as they had drawn seven of their last eight away games (losing the other) three points appeared unlikely.

The first half suggested the opposite. After Manuel Ugarte lost the ball near the centre circle Leeds pinged it about, eventually raiding along the left through Gabriel Gudmundsson. The wing-back slid in a cross and Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s point-blank stab was repelled by an alert Senne Lammens.

Far better followed inside five minutes, this time from the Leeds right. Jayden Bogle skipped beyond Luke Shaw and, as Ugarte tracked him, he hit an inviting ball. Leny Yoro – inadvertently – flicked it on to Noah Okafor and he steered home.

Cue the Swiss offering a nonchalant hands-folded celebration, the strike regaled with “marching on together” and “Yorkshire, Yorkshire” by the delighted travelling support.

The hosts were stung – and stunned. A Noussair Mazraoui-Amad Diallo-Bruno Fernandes break took them into Leeds territory. An Amad Diallo pirouette-and-shot forced Karl Darlow to dive to his right to save. Manchester United had found some tempo, the home crowd on this temperate spring evening upping the noise in response.

Carrick plumped for Benjamin Sesko as his No 9, dropping Bryan Mbeumo. At one point he raced through the middle, on to Diallo’s threaded ball. But he hesitated and, when finally unloading, the ball dribbled into Darlow’s gloves.

Bruno Fernandes assisted yet another goal, but even his efforts were not enough to prevent the loss. Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA

This was a contest of transitions that Carrick surely was not enjoying as control is what he craves. The interim manager drafted Ugarte in for a first league start since January, owing to a “small issue” that ruled Kobbie Mainoo out, and the Englishman’s calm head was missed.

Leeds dominated, carrying a serial threat to Manchester, as their second proved. Here, a flurry of activity in the hosts’ area featured Calvin-Lewin losing Bogle’s cross, the ball pinging about, and Brenden Aaronson’s effort being blocked.

Eventually, from range, Okafor netted a second: his long-range shot skimmed off Yoro and beyond Lammens to the goalkeeper’s left moving Carrick to hang his head, make Daniel Farke happy, and the jubilant visiting faithful to repeat: “We are Leeds, we are Leeds”, as they stared at a memorable – and vital – win.

United came to life when, at a corner, Matheus Cunha’s tried his luck from distance, but there was zero pattern to their play; instead a near-franticness that played into Leeds’ muscular and feisty mode. Lisandro Martínez, in for the suspended Harry Maguire, made a goalline stop to keep Ao Tanaka from making it 3-0, and so Leeds wandered off at the break rampant and Manchester United in the mire.

Carrick may have dished out the rollicking he says he does when needed as Sesko thundered in on goal soon after the restart. Shaw’s curving ball down the left took the centre-forward in but Darlow, rushing out, thwarted a sharp connection and Leeds escaped.

Now, disaster for Manchester – plus a touch of farce – as Martínez was sent off by Paul Tierney, the referee reviewing the pitchside monitor and deeming the defender’s grip of Calvert-Lewin’s hair worthy of marching orders.

Lisandro Martínez employs unconventional defensive measures to try to stop Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the second half. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

The mild-mannered Carrick was bemused, Martínez seriously unhappy, and those in red were down to 10 men for the 34 minutes remaining of regulation play. Casemiro moved back to partner Yoro in central defence yet the pair or the rest of the rearguard did nothing to prevent Gudmundsson waltzing through and shooting.

While Lammens’ goal was not in peril, Leeds’ was when Cunha controlled Shaw’s chip and took aim, Darlow flying right to save, in what was still a quasi-basketball affair. Next, a lifeline: Fernandes floated in a cross and Casemiro’s header rippled the net. On came Mbeumo and he and Cunha spurned openings, before Darlow beat away a Sesko header and Casemiro’s effort was cleared off the line, in a breathless finish.