There have been times in his reign at Elland Road when the accusation has been that Daniel Farke leaves it too late to make his changes. Call it a lack of proactiveness, perhaps, but there are days when the patient approach pays off. After impasse came an instant impact. After the long wait came the speediest goal by a substitute in the Premier League all season.

Leeds’ goal drought was ticking up towards the five-hour mark; with an international break coming up, they were set to go a month without finding the net, and all their manager had done was to swap his left-backs at half-time, and even then only because Gabriel Gudmundsson had a hamstring problem.

After 77 minutes, Farke belatedly summoned Harry Wilson and Noah Okafor. Some 97 seconds later, they combined to clinical effect. From the possibility of a third stalemate of the season, Leeds had the reality of a first victory in almost eight weeks, since the heady night they demolished Newcastle to go third.

Another of the questions surrounding Leeds was if they had enough strength in depth in attack. They had a lone goal contribution from a substitute this season, in Lukas Nmecha’s assist against Brentford; a consequence, some may say, of delaying changes. In an instant, that tally was trebled.

The concern remains that they are over-reliant on Dominic Calvert-Lewin for goals. A winner that did not involve their top scorer helped address that. In its various ways, it was a win and a winner to offer reassurance that Leeds are on the right track.

“You get sent on as a sub at 0-0 and you are just trying to look for that moment,” Wilson said. He laid the ball off for Okafor to drive into the box and power a shot past Antonin Kinsky. They were his second and third touches of the ball. “When it fell to Noah it was a fantastic first touch and finish," Wilson added. A third replacement had played a part, with Melvin Bard, introduced at half-time, taking the throw that Jan Paul van Hecke inadvertently flicked on to Wilson.

There was a significance for the Welshman. It was a first goal involvement in the Premier League for Wilson since his move from Fulham. Leeds had devoted much of their summer spending to bolstering the defence, in the shape of the £40m club record signing of James Trafford and the £35m defender Tarik Muhremovic. Yet it was done with the feeling that they had acquired an attacking talent worth around £25m in Wilson, recruited on a free transfer when his contract at Fulham expired.

After 10 goals and seven assists for Fulham last season, this had been an underwhelming start but Farke felt his best game for his new club had come at Bournemouth last week. It had been hard to leave him out, he said.

But he then found it hard to bring him on. Farke was slow to act partly for tactical reasons, partly for physical. He held Wilson back because he wanted a third central midfielder, in Sean Longstaff. The medical staff had told him that Okafor, who has been struggling with an abductor problem, could only play 15 or 20 minutes. “You must be unbelievably disciplined,” Farke said.

There was another explanation for his delaying tactic. Leeds had been gathering momentum in the second half. In a tale of two Dominics, Calvert-Lewin had been denied by a goal-line clearance from Solanke. Nico Elvedi had headed wide, Ao Tanaka spooned a shot over, Sean Longstaff was denied by Kinsky. Pressure was building.

It was a tale of two right-backs, too. After a lengthy VAR review, Jayden Bogle escaped a red card for catching Mathys Tel’s heel with his studs, causing the Tottenham winger to hobble off, leaving Roberto De Zerbi fearing a "bad injury" and Farke defending his defender. “Jayden Bogle is one of the most fair players in the country,” he said. “I always call him my butterfly, and I can guarantee it was never out of bad intention.” Pedro Porro, too, was spared a sending off, though correctly, already cautioned when he tripped Nmecha. De Zerbi promptly hauled the Spaniard off.

The Italian was honest in his appraisal, blaming his side more than the officials. “Second half, we deserved to lose,” he said. “We lost all the duels and didn't play like we can. The problem is we did not show character, we did not show personality, we did not show courage.”

After winning their previous three games, Spurs did too little to win this. Trafford had given a goal away against Bournemouth last week. He was largely untested by Spurs until injury-time, when he tipped Van Hecke’s header away. That the centre-back is Tottenham’s top scorer in the Premier League is an indictment.

So was their second half. For the first time Spurs were wearing a purple third-choice kit. It was more a case of purple pain than purple reign.