February, by any club’s standards, was extraordinary for Leeds United. The Championship leaders won all five of their league games by an aggregate score of 18-2. More impressively, four of those five opponents are currently in the division’s best nine sides. However, the best statements were saved until last.

Daniel Farke’s outfit virtually knocked Sunderland out of the title race and put their top-two hopes on life support too. Then there was the priceless march stolen on Sheffield United at the top of the league. Those wins generate momentum, but the manner of them is what really injects the rocket fuel.

There has not been a whole lot of jeopardy in this season for a Leeds team that has generally won comfortably or, very rarely, fallen flat in isolated matches that never looked like going their way. Sunderland gave everyone inside Elland Road a taste of it.

United were behind until the 78th minute and the reality of losing had set in. The knock-on effect of a home defeat by a promotion rival did not bear thinking about at a club that does meltdowns like no other. Turning that anxiety into ecstasy across two late goals, the second coming eight seconds from time, was considered the defining moment of the campaign.

Jaws dropped when Leeds then surpassed that feat exactly seven days later. Sheffield United was the tougher assignment. They were the better team, they were at home and Leeds were missing their captain and manager. The equaliser again came as late as the 72nd minute, but the double salvo to win the match across the 89th and 90th minutes, in front of the away end, was mesmerising.

Late goals have been the topic of the past fortnight, but they have become a theme for Farke’s side this season. They have scored 11 league goals in the 89th minute or later this season. According to Opta statistician Jonny Cooper, no other club in England’s top four tiers can match that.

It’s not just on these shores that Leeds have proven particularly dangerous in the latter stages either. Across the Championship and Europe’s top four leagues, only six clubs have generated a higher expected goal (xG) tally, per game, after the 80th minute: Bayern Munich, Wolfsburg, Villarreal, Atletico Madrid, Bournemouth and Stuttgart.

Why have late goals been such a feature of the success at Leeds this season? The players’ fitness levels and the medical department’s outstanding management of injuries have to play a major part. Injuries happen, of course, and there have been some tougher weeks than others, but, generally, Farke has rarely been without a bench incapable of affecting matches.

The German does carry the same reputation as one of his predecessors, Marcelo Bielsa, for run-until-you-die football and a training regimen that carries a zero-tolerance policy on weight targets. Is that unfair? Bielsa’s critics would say he took that approach to extremes that generated wild success but also had an endless injury list.

Players have said Farke is a hard taskmaster on the training ground. He himself has said he prides training performance above many other metrics when it comes to picking his teams. And yet, these late goals show how successful he has been in moulding athletes that can also keep injuries at bay.

Of the late goals that shine a light on those late runs opponents cannot deal with, the build-up to Mateo Joseph making it 2-0 against Sheffield United in October stands out. So too does Wilfried Gnonto’s strike at Swansea City. On that occasion, Leeds turned the ball over and broke at speed up the field in the dying moments to win 4-3.

Brenden Aaronson’s goal at home against Middlesbrough sums it up too. Leeds are killers on the counter and have the legs to execute it until the final seconds. In the below image, you can see Ao Tanaka anticipates the pass from the Middlesbrough back line quicker than Tommy Conway and beats him to the ball.

The visitors are 2-1 down and chasing an equaliser in stoppage time. Naturally, they are committing more men forward and trying riskier passes. Leeds have to be wary of that late threat as they protect their lead, but the movement sprung from Tanaka’s interception is blistering.

Joel Piroe drops into the space to collect Tanaka’s spooned ball, while Daniel James, Aaronson, Manor Solomon and the Japan international make for the penalty box. Piroe shifts the ball out to James in the next phase and the below image shows the ground the Leeds players have made up to beat their opponents to the punch.

After all that, James’s pass is perfect and Tanaka, as we know, has the composure and wherewithal to slot Aaronson in for a tap-in instead of trying a more difficult shot of his own from close range.

The earlier shot map does not show it because it’s an own goal, but one of United’s 11 late strikes came at Deepdale. Jack Whatmough put through his own net as he tried to stop Joseph from levelling the game six yards out. It’s a neat example of Leeds wearing down opponents in matches they have had to chase.

It was proving another frustrating trip to Lancashire and the visitors were on course for a 1-0 loss, but kept probing, kept passing, kept moving the defenders from side to side, and kept flitting around the box for openings. Ultimately, Preston could not hold out any longer. Their concentration gave in and Leeds’ quality showed.

Leeds have eight outfield players to Preston’s 10 in the final third. James gets a yard on Kaine Kesler-Hayden for the low cross. It was similar to a delivery that had worked only a few minutes earlier in giving Patrick Bamford an open goal to aim at. Here, Joseph gets the jump, asks the question of Whatmough and the defender can’t react at such close range to the ball pinging off him.

There is also the simple case of Leeds having better players than virtually every other club in the division, especially when they are coming into a match with fresh legs for the final 20 minutes. Aaronson was a substitute in the opening game of the season, at home to Portsmouth.

The data suggested Leeds should have won that game comfortably, but they were left chasing a 3-2 deficit until the dying minutes. As you can see below, Aaronson collects the ball in a very tight space. The visitors converge on the American and give him very little space to shoot or pass.

And yet, Aaronson shimmied from one side to the other, and back again, with agility that threw his markers off-balance. It was quality and composure that fashioned the opening, but then it needed technique and a steered finish to plant the ball in the bottom corner. United’s superior quality shone through in a clutch moment to salvage a point.

Piroe’s rocket at Bramall Lane on Monday night was another, more recent, example of what the quality in this squad is capable of. Set pieces have also emerged as useful routes at the death for Leeds.

Pascal Struijk and Tanaka’s recent headers against Sunderland and Sheffield United respectively were not direct from corners but from the subsequent breakdown of those set plays. Leeds had bodies in the box and reacted faster to the events that unfolded.

Tanaka’s late backheel against Sheffield Wednesday was also on the back of an initial corner being cleared from the box and then rifled back into the mixer. It was a touch fortuitous, but dripping in quality and instinct.

It is these goals we will look back on in the years to come as defining moments. While Leeds have had plenty of comfortable wins in recent months, the drama of a late goal — something they are thriving at — will stand out in the journey back to the top flight.

(Top photo: George Wood/Getty Images)