Leeds United fans were treated to the Dan James they had hoped to see in the Championship on Friday night as the Whites were held at home to West Bromwich Albion. After seeing their side relegated at the end of last season, supporters welcomed James back from his loan at Fulham with open arms as they prepared themselves for a return to the Championship.

The hope was that the winger , who has spent much of his senior career at the highest level both domestically and internationally, would be too strong for second tier full-backs and would be able to find joy on a weekly basis. Unfortunately, he struggled to live up to those expectations during the club’s first two games back in the Football League.

The Welshman was overshadowed by teammates against Cardiff City in the opener before turning in a frustrating and exasperating performance at St Andrew’s as the club fell to a 1-0 defeat against Birmingham City. Plenty has been going on behind the scenes of course and such uncertainty around the club cannot have helped.

But it didn’t seem to faze him against West Brom as he turned in what was easily his brightest performance in white since his debut campaign with the club. The 25-year-old was Leeds’ brightest in the Baggies tie, appearing to find traction in the side and showing those expectant fans exactly what they always knew he was capable of as he got the better of Darnell Furlong over and over again.

His pace made him a real livewire in West Yorkshire as he not only managed to find space on the field consistently, he regularly popped up in areas in which he could hurt the visitors. He combined well with Sam Byram down the edge, a partnership that seems to have legs, and, especially in the second half, he was the man Leeds looked to in order to provide the opening and spark.

In truth, James should have scored at the start of the second half, putting himself in the perfect position to poke home a Luke Ayling cross at the far post. Rather than putting his name on the scoresheet, though, he failed to organise his feet in time and he couldn’t help but fluff his lines.

He fared better with his second goalscoring opportunity after the break, forcing a wonderful save out of Alex Palmer with a curling effort from the edge of the area. And, with his tail up, he eventually found the end product that he had been lacking by picking out the run of Luke Ayling with a deep but inch perfect cross for the defender to glance home.

It was his first direct Championship goal involvement this season and as he looks to rediscover his best form on a consistent basis it’s certainly something to build off, a notion Farke echoed after the game.

“I think he was excellent today,” Farke said. “He created so many good situations for us and brought us pace into the game.

“I think first of all he needs a bit of rhythm so he had difficult season, he needs a bit of confidence but not just confidence also to work on his game because there are a few topics in his game where he can improve from his positioning also, from his options. We work a lot on him to give him options how he can create chances, how he can assist, how he can score goals he brought himself today in many, many good situations, certainly sometimes the goalkeeper was there with outstanding saves.

“I think the situation the second time he should have scored out of two yards he was perhaps even a bit too surprised, but I liked that he was there not just waiting a bit reluctant on the wing. I also want him to be greedy to go into the box and into the danger area and I think he’s improving at the moment from game to game and if he right now also adds even a few more end products to his game then he can be outstanding for this level, a great, great assist today.