Relief for Daniel Farke as Dan James gives Leeds lift-off

Daniel Farke allowed his players to take the applause of the raucous Leeds United support at the final whistle before taking centre stage himself.

The German's customary victory wave celebrations have been too few and far between for some time now.

An awful end to last season saw the Whites blow their automatic promotion hopes before losing to Southampton in the Championship play-off final.

A winless start to the current campaign and seeing his three best players sold this summer added to the sense of doom and gloom around Elland Road. But on Friday night Leeds finally showed some welcome signs of their old selves to run out comfortable victors in this Yorkshire derby.

As the best part of 4,000 fans belted out club's anthem Marching on Together with almost religious zeal, Farke patiently watched his players take the acclaim before striding forward and giving three waves of his arms to signify victory.

Goals either side of half-time from rejuvenated Brenden Aaronson and Dan James were the least Leeds deserved for their superiority. After just a fourth win in their last 15 games in all competitions, Farke could not hide his delight.

The Leeds boss said: 'It was definitely our best performance of the season and the next step forward. On his celebrations, Farke added: 'Normally I leave the spotlight for the players, but it's a habit from my time at Norwich and Leeds fans know this, so it's good to give my appreciation to them.

'If they urge me to do this, I can't say no! We've had some difficult times in the past two weeks with the outgoings and all the rumours. But this was pretty much the perfect away performance — we were brave and dominant.

'We all know how emotional this club is — it's Leeds United.'

Defeat by Southampton at Wembley led to Archie Gray, Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter being sold to Tottenham, West Ham and Brighton respectively for a combined sum of over £100million.

New arrivals have been thin on the ground, but former Manchester United winger Largie Ramazani arrived this week, for an undisclosed fee from La Liga side UD Almeria. Several more new faces are expected before the window closes.

Ramazani will make his bow in next Saturday's home clash with Hull, which Leeds will go into with renewed confidence.

There is plenty of talent still within the Whites' ranks and Aaronson is certainly in that category. He spent last term out on loan at Bundesliga outfit Union Berlin before returning in the summer with a point to prove.

After his late equaliser salvaged a point in the opening-day 3-3 draw with Portsmouth, the American forward showed his class again on Friday night.

The 23-year-old — deployed as a No 10 — rifled home a clinical 24th-minute opener and it was a moment to remember for Leeds' forgotten man.

Wednesday bombarded Leeds with high balls but could find no way through before Aaronson was involved in a superb break which saw Willy Gnonto play in Mateo Joseph, with the ball then falling kindly to Aaronson.

He steadied himself and showed superb composure to rifle home a left-foot shot from 12 yards out.

James narrowly failed to connect with Junior Firpo's cross on the stroke of half-time but he made no mistake three minutes into the second half.

Joseph produced a brilliant pass to send the Wales winger racing beyond the Owls' defence and he deftly lifted the ball over goalkeeper James Beadle.

That sparked wild scenes among the travelling supporters and from there, Leeds did not look back — with the impressive Joseph denied a deserved third by Beadle.

Owls boss Danny Rohl admitted: 'Against Leeds, you have to do a lot of things right and maybe need a bit of luck — but their second goal was too easy. It's difficult to take something when the opponent is so strong. All in all, they controlled the game.'