Leeds United still confident and will give Scott Parker's Fulham their full attention says 'new boy' Ian Poveda

The youngster, who signed permanently from Manchester City in January, quickly settled into life as one of the group at Thorp Arch.

But he has had to bide his time to make a breakthrough –it is five months since he signed a four-and-a-half-year deal at Elland Road.

So much time and hard work has passed, but all the Under 23s matches, the work he did during lockdown and the murderball sessions eventually paid off with a 13-minute cameo in the latter stages of Leeds’ Championship restart in Wales, behind closed doors.

The result, a bitterly disappointing 2-0 defeat, took all the gloss off the occasion for the winger. But he remained thankful to Marcelo Bielsa for the chance to pull on a Leeds shirt and determined to contribute more to the promotion effort if further opportunities arise.

“Regarding my debut I feel like it was bittersweet,” he said.

“Obviously the result wasn’t the best but I’m really grateful for the opportunity the manager gave me.

“Regarding my performance I feel like I have a lot more to offer.

“I’m excited to keep improving and keep showing what I can do.

“My performance is not something I’m proud of, but I’m learning from it and I know what I can bring to the team.

“I’ll just keep working hard and pushing on.”

And Leeds too, will have to keep pushing on.

A vast improvement, particularly in their final third work, will be required, as well as an eradication of the errors that presented Cardiff with two costly chances, when Fulham visit Elland Road on Saturday.

But no one is feeling sorry for themselves or allowing doubt to creep in, insists Poveda.

“I don’t think our confidence has shattered one bit,” he said.

“Everyone is still working hard, we know what we can do, we just have to go and execute it.”

What they can do, he says, is simply invest everything they have in their preparations for each of the remaining eight fixtures.

The next game is a big one.

The Cottagers sit third in the table, seven points behind the Whites after their own ‘opening day’ defeat by Brentford at the weekend.

Scott Parker’s side will have Leeds’ full attention.

“We’re looking at every game, taking it game by game, we don’t look who we have in four games time, just who the next opposition is,” said Poveda.

“We’re just looking at the next one, we’re going to go in and give 100 per cent and smash it, to come away with three points and a good result.

“That’s what we train for, why we give our all in training, the coaching staff and players.

“That’s our focus right now, we’ve got Fulham next and that’s what we’re going to do, go in and give 100 per cent and smash it.”