MARCHING on together? Not quite. Leeds United’s push for promotion might be firmly back on track, with Daniel Farke’s side back in the top two with two more games to play, but Middlesbrough’s dream of making the play-offs is now officially over after a chaotic night at the Riverside.

In truth, scrambling into the top six has looked a long shot for a while now, but the final nail in the coffin came courtesy of the kind of slipshod defending that has been Boro’s Achilles heel for much of the campaign.

In attack, the Teessiders went toe-to-toe with a Leeds side that are still challenging for the title, with Isaiah Jones and Emmanuel Latte Lath both scoring before the break, and Latte Lath adding another goal with four minutes left. Defensively, however, they were ripped apart repeatedly as a brace from Crysencio Summerville and further goals from Patrick Bamford and Wilfried Gnonto condemned them to defeat.

Yes, a couple of dubious offside calls went against Michael Carrick’s side. But while other teams have looked to contain an increasingly-edgy Leeds in recent weeks, Boro’s attempt to take on their opponents at their own free-flowing attacking game backfired. It was entertaining, but ultimately unsuccessful.

The action was relentless, the pace unremitting. Just seven minutes had gone when the deadlock was broken, with Jones celebrating last week’s new contract in style.

Luke Thomas, restored to the left-back berth after Lukas Engel was ruled out because of personal issues, was the instigator of the goal, harrying Gnonto close to the touchline and winning the ball off the Italian winger.

Thomas fed Finn Azaz, he released Latte Lath through the middle, and while the striker was denied by a perfectly-timed sliding challenge from Joe Rodon, the ball broke kindly for Jones, who gleefully swept home.

A perfect start. But it was not to last long. Thomas was not the only Boro full-back restored to the starting line-up, with Anfernee Dijksteel handed a first start since late December in place of Luke Ayling, who was forced to sit out against his permanent employers.

There was always the risk that Dijksteel would be rusty on his return, and it certainly looked that way six minutes after Boro’s opener as he chased Georginio Rutter into the left of the area and bundled his opponent over in an ill-advised attempt to get to the ball.

Bamford looked like he was set to take the penalty, but the former Boro striker handed the ball to Summerville, who drilled his spot-kick into the bottom left-hand corner.

Bamford was another player returning to the starting side, having been dropped to the bench for Leeds’ previous game against Blackburn, and while a lack of goals has been a problem for the 30-year-old all season, he seemed happy enough to hand over penalty duties to his team-mate. Perhaps he knew that he would not have to wait much longer to get on the scoresheet anyway.

If Leeds’ opening goal was a soft one for Boro to concede, then the visitors’ second, which came just 18 minutes in, was even worse. No one closed down Junior Firpo as he crossed from the left, but even then, the full-back’s delivery into the middle was hopeful at best.

Matt Clarke and Seny Dieng watched it drop between them though, and with Thomas appealing for an offside decision that was never going to be forthcoming, Bamford could hardly believe his luck as he bundled home from inside the six-yard box.

Not, however, that the first-half scoring was finished there. With the game flowing from one end to the other with little in the way of defensive shape or structure in either line-up, Boro levelled on the half-hour mark.

Again, their aggressive pressing was key, with Lewis O’Brien winning the ball back from a Leeds throw-in. Azaz rolled a square pass to Latte Lath, and after shuffling the ball onto his right foot just outside the area, the Ivorian cracked a fierce finish past Ilan Meslier. It was Latte Lath’s eighth goal in the last ten matches, a tally that makes it hard not to wonder what last summer’s signing from Atalanta might have been capable of had he been able to avoid injury in the first two-thirds of the season.

Boro’s ability to cause problems in attack was commendable given the quality of the opposition – their defending, however, repeatedly left a lot to be desired. The reverse fixture at Elland Road in early December had been just as open, and as was the case then, the half-time interval arrived last night with Leeds 3-2 ahead.

The visitors’ third goal came courtesy of another attack down their left, with Dijksteel caught ball-watching as Summerville slipped a pass behind him. In fairness to the Boro full-back, Gnonto looked to be offside as he galloped towards goal, but with the flag staying down, the winger fired a slick finish past a helpless Dieng. After all the weekend’s controversy in the Premier League, Boro could have done with an intervention from VAR.

Instead, Leeds were back in front, and while Boro played some slick passing football at the start of the second half, with Azaz and O’Brien dictating play, the home side’s vulnerabilities at the back meant the visitors always looked capable of extending their advantage.

Sure enough, with Dijksteel once again going walkabout on the hour mark, Leeds scored a fourth. Firpo slipped a pass into the gaping gap where Boro’s right-back should have been, and after turning neatly, Summerville bent a brilliant finish into the bottom corner.

That was still not that, though, with Boro making it 4-3 with four minutes left. Leeds’ defence switched off from a hopeful ball forward, and an alert Latte Lath looped a header over a stranded Meslier.