Jonny Howson made a triumphant return to Elland Road to nudge Norwich one step closer to the Premier League . An academy product and Leeds ’ youngest captain since Billy Bremner before moving to Carrow Road for £2million in January 2012 , Howson marked his first game back at his old club by making the breakthrough in the 57th minute to keep Alex Neil ’ s side in the automatic promotion places . The 26-year-old had already endured taunts of ‘ cheat ’ from the home fans after winning a first-half penalty when he was bundled over by current Leeds skipper Liam Cooper . Jonny Howson ( 8 ) refuses to celebrate after putting Norwich ahead early in the second half . The midfielder smashed home to put his side in control and continue their automatic promotion charge . Graham Dorrans hammered his spot-kick against the underside of the ball and then wasted another opportunity moments later , although he made amends with Norwich ’ s second goal in injury-time . Howson struck when Nathan Redmond poked the ball across to him just inside the box , guiding it with the outside of his right foot beyond a despairing Marco Silvestri and inside the far post . If his celebration was a little muted , the same could not be said for Neil and his staff on the touchline as they sensed a fifth straight win . Graham Dorrans ( right ) sealed the tie with a late goal and made up for his late penalty miss . Leeds XI : Silvestri 6 ; Wootton 6 , Bamba 6.5 , Cooper 5.5 , Byram 6 ( Montenegro 85 ) ; Ngoyi 6 ; Taylor 5 ( Antenucci 71 , 6 ) , Murphy 6 , Mowatt 7 , Berardi 6 ; Sharp 7 . Subs : Taylor , Bellusci , Morison , Sloth , Phillips . Norwich XI : Ruddy 7 ; Olsson 6.5 , Bassong 6.5 , Martin 6 , Whittaker 6 ; Tettey 6 ; Redmond 7 ( Hooper 86 ) , Howson 8 , Dorrans 6 , Hoolahan 6 ( E Bennett 80 ) ; Jerome 6.5 . Subs : Rudd , Grabban , R Bennett , O ’ Neil , Odjidja-Ofoe . Scorers : Howson 57 , Dorrans 90+1 . Booked : Olsson , Tettey , Whittaker , Dorrans . Referee : Michael Jones 6 . Star man : Jonny Howson . ‘ I think every passing game now is a massive moment , ’ said the Norwich boss . ‘ I told the players at half-time that we had three-and-a-half games left . The next 45 minutes could be the turning point of the season to get us over the line or it could cost us . ‘ Jonny is a model professional . I know Leeds mean a lot to him but ultimately he ’ s done his job tonight ( Tuesday ) . ’ It still needed a magnificent block by Russell Martin to deny Scott Wootton and John Ruddy ’ s flying save from Alex Mowatt to preserve Norwich ’ s lead before Dorrans made sure of victory , burying his shot from 15 yards after a fine run and cutback from Cameron Jerome . Leeds head coach Neil Redfearn said : ‘ The ball was a yard out of play so it ’ s a bit harsh on us. ’ With Norwich , Bournemouth and Middlesbrough all winning , the pressure is now on Watford to do the same when they visit Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night . It also raises the stakes even higher when Norwich entertain Middlesbrough at Carrow Road on Friday battling for a £120m ticket to the top-flight . Dorrans ( centre ) smashed a first half penalty against the crossbar but later spared his blushes . Luke Murphy ( left ) attempts to tackle Nathan Redmond during the first half in the Championship clash . ‘ Each game gets bigger and bigger , and for us and Middlesbrough , it won ’ t get much bigger than this game on Friday night , ’ said Neil , who kept his players in the north to prepare for this game after they snatched an injury-time winner at Bolton on Saturday . ‘ My mindset before the game is that we do our job , we don ’ t pay attention to others . With all three of us winning tonight , Watford have got a job to do tomorrow but that ’ s for them to worry about . ‘ We ’ ve worked so hard to get here . It ’ s not easy . The games are coming thick and fast , and mentally it ’ s tough . But we ’ re well up for the challenge , this is what you ’ re in football for . ‘ Looking at Bolton and Leeds , on paper , they were two extremely difficult games and the fact we ’ ve managed to pick up six points says a huge amount about the character in the squad. ’ Murphy fires a free-kick into the Norwich wall as Leeds lost their fourth game in five in the Championship .
Jonny Howson scored against his old club but refused to celebrate . Norwich missed a first half penalty when it smashed the crossbar but made up for it by sealing the tie late on at Elland Road . Graham Dorrans are closing in on automatic promotion to the Premier League . Leeds have lost four out of their last five games in the Championship .