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Patrick Bamford has now scored eight goals this season for Middlesbrough

Patrick Bamford scored the first hat-trick of his career as Middlesbrough comfortably beat Leeds to climb to sixth in the Championship table.

The forward, 24, flicked home Stewart Downing's cross to put Boro in front.

He then ran onto Adama Traore's through ball to slot the second under visiting keeper Felix Wiedwald.

Leeds created little in attack and Bamford added his third from inside the penalty area after a shot from Traore was blocked into his path.

The victory lifted Tony Pulis' side into the play-off places, displacing Sheffield United by virtue of a superior goal difference, while Leeds remain 11th, six points outside the top six.

Having tasted victory for the first time as Leeds head coach when they beat Brentford 1-0 last Saturday, Paul Heckingbottom named an unchanged starting XI as they looked to build further momentum.

But after Bamford scored twice in five first-half minutes, Boro were in control, with Traore in particular causing major problems for the Leeds defence.

It took until the 86th minute for substitute Caleb Ekuban to produce the first shot on target by the visitors, which was saved by Darren Randolph.

By then, Bamford had snuffed out any chance of a comeback by slotting home his third goal, and he now has six in three games after scoring only once in his previous 22 appearances.