Left-back Dan Harding, who has been left out of England's Under-21 squad, had the consolation of high praise from his manager after Leeds United's 1-0 win at Norwich.

Kevin Blackwell was greatly impressed by the way the former Brighton defender shackled ex-United winger Darren Huckerby at Carrow Road.

Harding, who is holding down his place at Leeds ahead of Stephen Crainey, failed to impress in his early games for his new club but has started to produce the form that prompted Blackwell to sign him.

Rob Hulse's 67th-minute goal gave Leeds their first away win of the season, but Harding's contribution was immense and Blackwell said: "Dan has good pace. He is learning the defensive side of his game and we know he can better it, but he faced a big test against Huckerby and did really well.

"Huckerby can 'murder' opponents and Norwich were trying to use him as their outlet, but Dan showed good tenacity and concentration.

"He has been left out of the England Under-21s but that should not be his main concern. If he keeps improving and plays as well for Leeds United as we know he can, a lot of doors will open for him in the future."

The win and United's fourth successive clean sheet took them into fourth place, two points behind leaders Sheffield United, but the manager refused to get carried away.

"These are early days," he said. "I would like to see us up there around May time. We looked solid, strong and comfortable in the first half and at the end we showed great character when they threw more men forward.

"I still think we can improve by about 20 per cent as the players get to know each other better."

New signing Richard Cresswell left the bench to make his debut and, although midfielder Gylfi Einarsson sustained a suspected fractured hand in a collision with the referee, he is okay to join up with Iceland's squad.

Updated: 10:38 Monday, August 29, 2005