The Whites gave their hopes of another season of Premier League football a shot in the arm by seeing off Watford at Vicarage Road with a 3-0 win.
Raphinha gave Leeds the lead in the 21st minute, before Rodrigo (73rd minute) and Jack Harrison (85th minute) killed off the hosts and secured all three points.
Fellow strugglers Everton beat Manchester United 1-0 in the Premier League’s lunchtime kick-off to close the gap on Leeds, and Phillips admits that the Whites did watch some of the game and were aware they needed a win.
“I think so [that we needed the win]”, Phillips said on LUTV.
“Before the game we were all talking, watching a little bit of the Everton-United game and we knew that Everton had gone 1-0 up.
“So we knew before the game we just had to come out here and play our football, and stick to the game plan which the manager said.
“I think it was quite a scruffy game in the first half but we wore them down in the second half and got our chances in the end.”
Leeds now have a big break before they play again, with their next fixture coming on 25th April against Crystal Palace; Burnley play four times before then, while Everton are in action twice.
