Leicester City handled the pressure of Leeds and Ipswich’s dropped points “fantastically” well to extend their lead at the top of the Championship.

City watched the second-placed Tractor Boys and third-placed Whites draw at home over the weekend, giving them the opportunity to profit with victory over Birmingham on Monday night. They responded with a 3-2 win that moves them three points clear at the top of and increases their cushion inside the automatic promotion places to 13 points.

Manager Enzo Maresca said that whatever the results over the weekend, his side would have been under pressure, but he said they handled it as he wanted. City now have 18 wins, as many as last season’s losing play-off finalists Coventry earned in the whole of the campaign.

“I’m very happy,” Maresca said after the victory at St Andrew’s. “Leeds played before us, Southampton played before us, Ipswich played before us. If they win, we have the pressure that we need to win. If they drop points, we have the pressure that we can make the big gap.

“It’s never easy. The way they handle the pressure was fantastic. We are happy because 13 points is 13 points. But I need to repeat, we are still in December and there are many games to play.”

City took the lead in the first 10 minutes through Stephy Mavididi and then after being pegged back, they stormed ahead again with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall scoring. Both goals were counter-attacks during a breathless first 20 minutes, a period of the game Maresca wasn’t happy with because of the lack of control his side had.

He said: “I think we struggled for the first 15 or 20 minutes, then we were completely in control of the game, creating chances, maintaining the ball. At the end, when you don’t take the chances, the opponent is there waiting. They scored the second goal. But after the second goal, I really liked the way the team behaved all together. Very happy.”