NEIL Redfearn did his chances of landing the vacant Leeds United job no harm at all by giving his Academy kids top billing against his former club Wanderers.

Handed temporary reins for a third time at Elland Road after Dave Hockaday’s sacking on Thursday night, Redfearn blooded the likes of Lewis Cook and Alex Mowatt in his starting line-up from his academy set-up.

They were two of the leading lights in a hard-working win that saw the former Burnden Park midfielder’s odds of landing the job full-time slashed overnight.

“To be honest, I haven’t really put it in my mind at all,” Redfearn told Leeds TV.

“I had the meeting with the president on Thursday and he said he’d like me to look after the team for him, and I said I would.

“I have got a big job on at the Academy because there has been a lot of change but we’re getting the kids through and we were able to showcase a few against Bolton.

“They are just the tip of the iceberg.

“I’m a servant of the club, I work for the club and I’m helping out.”

Redfearn graduated into the Bolton first team under John McGovern in the early 1980s alongside Warren Joyce, Steve Thompson and Simon Farnworth.

After making 41 appearances for the Whites he embarked on one of football’s longest playing careers, taking in more than 1,000 first team games, 790 of which were in the Football League.

The 49-year-old coach admitted to fortune playing its part in Saturday’s game, particularly as Wanderers laid siege to the Leeds goal in the second half without getting on the scoresheet.

But Redfearn thinks Leeds earned a break on the day.

“I thought we played some good stuff, especially in the first half. We were hanging on a little bit at the end.

“We rode our luck a little bit and perhaps need to learn how to finish games off.

“But I thought we earned a little bit of luck because we worked hard, had strikers tracking back and it’s good to see.”