It was the Black Cats' only shot on target in the entirety of the match, with Ethan Ampadu having been pinged for hand-ball.

Leeds went closest to opening the scoring in a dismal first half when Anton Stach's 25-yard free-kick brought a smart stop from Premier League debutant Melker Ellborg, while Pascal Struijk thought he should have had a penalty when grappling with Luke O'Nien.

The host thought it had gone ahead when Joe Rodon thumped in Stach's teasing free-kick after the break, but he was judged to be offside.

Referee Stuart Attwell then took a trip to the pitch-side monitor when Ampadu handled after Wilson Isidor's shot spooned in the air – Diarra's penalty had just enough to get past Karl Darlow, who will feel he ought to have saved it after getting a full hand to it.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin almost met Dan James' teasing low centre and Jaka Bijol had a couple of late efforts as Leeds sought a leveller, but Sunderland saw out 12 nervy minutes of injury time to reach the 40-point mark.