Saturday’s fixtures saw all three West Yorkshire sides go undefeated, with wins for Huddersfield Town and Leeds United, and a draw for Bradford City.
Leeds United won 2-1 away at Yeovil on Saturday, with the windy conditions playing a huge part in their victory. Ishmael Miller opened the scoring after half an hour, but missed the chance to double the home side’s lead when he missed a penalty. Leeds United fought back in the second half, with the conditions in their favour. Ross McCormack scored just a minute after half-time, after a clearance from Yeovil keeper Marek Stech was blown back towards goal, into the path of Leeds captain McCormack. Their second, and ultimately the winning goal, came when Stephen Warnock lofted a free-kick into the area from 40 yards out, and the wind took the ball, lifting it over Stech, to give Leeds a 2-1 win.
Huddersfield beat Wigan Athletic 2-1 at home on Saturday, with Adam Clayton grabbing the winner 5 minutes from the final whistle. The return of James Vaughan seemed to galvanise the Terriers, with Huddersfield dominating the first half. Wigan came close to breaking the deadlock in the second half, when Marc-Antoine Fortune’s shot hit the bar, and Martin Waghorn went close on a couple of occasions. It was Huddersfield who were to win the game, though, when Clayton’s 20-yard strike beat Ali Al-Habsi at his near post.
Bradford City couldn’t find a winner in an entertaining 3-3 home draw against Crewe Alexandra. Uche Ikpeazu’s early strike gave the visitors the lead, in what was a slightly lacklustre first half. The second half was completely different, however. Ikpeazu scored his second of the game to give Crewe a 2-0 lead, before Bradford striker James Hanson netted from Aaron McLean’s cross just before the hour mark. Two minutes later, Bradford were level, through skipper Gary Jones, whose 25-yard piledriver was simply too powerful for Crewe keeper Ben Garratt. The visitors hit back, however, when Mathias Pogba’s inch-perfect strike flew into the top corner, twelve minutes from time. Jones, and City, were not to be defeated, though, and a similar strike from Jones gave City a point.
Tuesday night’s games saw all three West Yorkshire sides lose, however.
Leeds United could not win a third consecutive game, losing 1-0 away at Brighton and Hove Albion. Brighton dominated possession, but it was a game of few clear-cut chances. Brighton grabbed a winner in the 64th minute, when Kazenga Lua-Lua crossed the ball in for Leonardo Ulloa, who slotted it past Leeds keeper Paddy Kenny. Defeat for Leeds leaves them 11th in the Championship table, but just 5 points behind the play-off places.
Huddersfield Town lost at home to promotion contenders Nottingham Forest 3-0. In an even first half, both sides had chances to score, with Andy Reid’s free-kick going just wide for the visitors, before Nahki Wells was denied by a superb Jack Hobbs block. It was the away side who took the lead with just less than 30 minutes to play, when Danny Fox’s cross was met by Jamie Paterson, who headed the ball home. Paterson scored again in the 82nd minute, with a fantastic finish, after a dribble which saw him beat several Town players. Darius Henderson finished off the scoring in the 88th minute, to continue Forest’s unbeaten run, and to leave Huddersfield 14th in the Championship.
Bradford City’s poor run of form continued with a disappointing 1-0 defeat away at Carlisle. Lee Miller scored an acrobatic overhead kick 14 minutes into the game, to give the home side the lead, and that’s how the game finished. Aaron McLean had chances to score for the Bantams, but his finishing let him down, and defeat for Bradford means that they have not won in the last 14 league games, and now sit 5 points above the relegation places, in 13th spot.
