The hotseat of beleaguered Leeds coach Terry Venables cooled slightly tonight when his under-achieving stars battered Bolton 3-0 away to end a recent run of poor form.
Despite the three points Leeds stay in the bottom five but have now drawn to within two points of Aston Villa following their sixth win of the season, achieved with early goals from Danny Mills and fit-again Robbie Fowler and a clincher from Jason Wilcox.
The win moved the Yorkshire side, knocked out of the UEFA Cup by Spain's Malaga last Thursday, five points clear of the drop zone and the gutsy manner in which it was achieved suggested Venables will win sufficient time to turn the ship round.
Second-bottom Bolton, bidding to close the gap on West Bromwich Albion, the team above them, began the brighter and Augustine Okocha fired wide in the eighth minute before the Nigerian drove a 25-yard freekick off target following an Eirik Bakke foul on Henrik Pedersen.
But Leeds survived the early scares and went in front on 12 minutes when the combative Mills curled a left foot shot in off the underside of the crossbar after playing a neat one-two with Australian forward Harry Kewell.
Mills, having broken his scoring duck for the season, immediately rushed to the Leeds bench to celebrate with Venables, who allowed himself a grin - a collector's item since he took over from David O'Leary in the summer.
Three minutes later Leeds went two goals to the good as Bolton's Finnish keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen allowed a flighted Ian Harte cross from the left bounce up against the crossbar after defender Bruno Ngotty let the ball go over his head.
Kewell headed goalwards only for Jaaskelainen to parry the ball but Fowler, making his first start since a hip injury, poked home the rebound.
Venables elected to leave midfielder Lee Bowyer on the bench after the player was vilified in the media for stamping on a Malaga player in Leeds' UEFA Cup exit.
Bowyer was not missed, however, as Wilcox crashed home the third goal with a venomous strike as he cut in unchallenged from the left flank.