Plymouth 1

Leeds United 2

Robbie Blake continued his resurgence under Dennis Wise's management as Leeds climbed out of the bottom three for the first time since the end of October.

The win at Plymouth was United's first away triumph since Wise took charge and the importance of Blake's third-minute goal, turned in from Eddie Lewis's cut-back, cannot be over emphasised.

It gave Leeds the self-belief they so badly needed after losing their last five away matches and Wise was quick to praise the striker, who now leads the team's scoring list with six goals despite making only eight starts this season.

Blake has scored five goals in six games since Wise took charge and the manager said: "Robbie has been fantastic.

"We are getting him fit. In the last 20 minutes he was getting a bit tired so I took him off. He has worked very hard and deserves the goals he is scoring."

Before Wise arrived, Blake had made just two Championship starts and two in the Carling Cup and his confidence was on the wane.

Now, as he prepares to face his old club Burnley at Turf Moor tomorrow night, the forward is thriving on the faith Wise is showing in his ability and Blake is one of the first names the new boss pencils in on the team-sheet.

Despite the hard work done on the training pitch to shore up the defence after the 3-0 home defeat against Southampton, United conceded a soft equaliser.

Matt Heath needlessly conceded a free-kick for a push and, when goalkeeper Graham Stack missed an attempted punched clearance, Belgrade-born Bojan Djordjic headed in from six yards.

United's winner arrived when Ian Moore found Lewis, who used the outside of his left foot to score - and it was Lewis who headed off the line after another mistake by Stack.

Blake's departure saw Tresor Kandol leave the bench for his debut and the on-loan Barnet striker impressed by holding the ball up well and making some determined challenges.

There was also a surprise appearance by winger Seb Carole, who substituted for Moore despite chairman Ken Bates' revelation in his programme notes for the Southampton game that the Frenchman was set to leave the club.

"Seb wants to be part of the club and has got his mind right now" said Wise, suggesting there may be a future for Carole at Elland Road after all.

Ugo Ehiogu, who was signed on loan from Middlesbrough on Thursday, missed out on a debut as he remained behind at Leeds for treatment to a slight injury.

Wise said: "Ugo has to get fully fit. He has been out for a long time but we needed to bring him in because we have a busy Christmas period coming up.

"He had played just 90 minutes and 60 minutes for Middlesbrough's reserves this season so I thought it wasn't the time to stick him in, though he is almost there."

United had strong claims to a penalty rejected and Wise complained: "It was a definite penalty when Ian Westlake was fouled. If not, why wasn't he shown a card?"

David Healy and Geoff Horsfield were left on the bench at Plymouth and that is likely to be their fate again tomorrow night as Leeds look to build on their win in the south-west.

Westlake's fifth booking of the season means the midfielder misses Saturday's home derby against Barnsley.