Second-half goals by David Norris and Steve Morison lifted the pressure on Leeds manager Neil Warnock and denied Paul Ince a winning start to life in charge of Blackpool.
It was Leeds' first league win in four games, reviving hopes of a top-six spot in the npower Championship, but Blackpool's hopes are fading.
Ince said: "It would have been nice to start with a win but this time last week I was sitting in my lounge or walking the dog in the garden, so it's good to be back in football."
He added: "Paddy Kenny made two or three outstanding saves for them and in the second half we had chances which didn't quite fall for us. I was disappointed with the goals we conceded, but we played some good stuff at times.
"We are not organised or structured at this moment, you can see that. We have a match on Saturday, then a free week when we can get the lads out on the training pitch and get a few things sorted out. The most important thing is to reach 50 points, so let's get back to winning and take things from there."
Leeds spent most of the first half knocking at the door and being refused entry. Yet the saves of the match came from Kenny to deny Ludo Sylvestre and Matt Phillips. Gary Taylor-Fletcher followed up Phillips' effort by netting from an acute angle but a flag was raised for offside.
Leeds' breakthrough arrived in the 57th minute when Ross McCormack's corner cannoned out to Norris, whose low 18-yard shot sped just inside the left post.
Six minutes later Blackpool paid for poor defending. Sam Byram's cross was headed on by Norris to Blackpool's former Leeds defender Stephen Crainey. He tried to find Alex Baptiste with a square pass but the ball ran to unmarked Leeds striker Morison, who finished for his first goal since joining from Norwich.
Warnock said: "I couldn't pick a star. They were all nine or 10 out of 10. We started on the front foot and limited them to just a couple of opportunities, which would have been cruel if they'd gone in. Paddy made a couple of great saves and I couldn't see him being beaten.
"If you brought another manager in I couldn't see him getting more out of those players than you saw. They played with a freedom that they haven't shown for a while, so we go to Blackburn on Saturday in a lot better spirit."
Source: PA
