Ross McCormack was once again the star of the show for Leeds United this weekend, but the region’s other two sides, Huddersfield Town and Bradford City, didn’t fare so well.
McCormack scored 4 goals in Leeds United’s 4-2 win at Charlton Athletic. After two pitch inspections, referee Keith Stroud moved the kick-off back to 3.30pm, with the pitch being waterlogged. The poor conditions didn’t stop McCormack from taking his season tally to 11 goals, however, with two goals before half-time, and two goals after half-time sealing an impressive performance for the Scot, who was omitted from the Scotland international squad this week. Charlton manager Chris Powell claimed that “McCormack was the difference in the end between two well-matched teams”, with the Scot’s outstanding performance leading Leeds manager Brian McDermott to say “Is he good enough for the Premier League? Absolutely.” With that win, United now sit 8th in the Championship table, just a point behind Reading, who occupy the last play-off spot.
As for Huddersfield Town, they suffered a 3-1 defeat at home to Birmingham City, with Kyle Bartley’s double proving to be the deciding factor. Bartley was actually sent off after scoring his second goal, for over-celebrating, having previously been booked for a bad challenge. Town, however, couldn’t make the numerical advantage count, and defeat leaves them 15th in the Championship. After last week’s defeat at Wigan, Mark Robins was clearly unimpressed, stating that “We gifted them two goals… It was just a bad day at the office.”
Another manager who was visibly angry with his side’s performance this weekend was Bradford City’s Phil Parkinson. Bradford suffered a 3-0 defeat away at Yorkshire rivals Rotherham United in the first round of the FA Cup on Saturday, and Parkinson was angry at the attitude and performance of his team, saying “It was a performance I haven’t seen in a long time from a Bradford City team… I feel we have let the supporters down today (Saturday), the players have let me down and they have let the staff down.” Bradford went behind from an early Kieran Agard goal, but looked to have equalised just minutes later, before James Hanson’s effort was ruled out for what appeared to be a seemingly innocuous foul. Alex Revell scored in the 62nd minute, before Agard scored again 10 minutes later to put the tie beyond the Bantams. One positive note for City was the senior debut of Oliver McBurnie. McBurnie, who has been in impressive form for the youth team, replaced Nahki Wells with 10 minutes to go, in what was a big occasion for the youngster.
