Last Saturday was a successful one for the three West Yorkshire sides, with Leeds United, Huddersfield Town and Bradford City all picking up three points.
Leeds United gained their fourth successive win with a 2-1 victory at home to Middlesborough. In Middlesborough boss Aitor Karanka’s first game in charge, Ross McCormack scored once again to give United the lead after 35 minutes. The visitor’s keeper was sent off just a few minutes later, but Middlesborough equalised through Mustafa Carayol just 7 minutes after half-time. Brian McDermott’s side grabbed a winner, though, with defender Jason Pearce’s header just before the hour mark proving to be the deciding factor, in front of a large crowd of over 30,000 at Elland Road. Following this result, Leeds have moved into the play-off places in the Championship, and their current run of form is very encouraging for the Elland Road faithful.
Huddersfield Town broke their bad spell of form with a 2-1 win away at the struggling Sheffield Wednesday. Martin Paterson’s goal in the 11th minute gave the Terriers a fantastic start, and Adam Clayton’s low shot doubled the lead for the visitors just after the hour mark. Despite a late goal from Sheffield Wednesday loanee Connor Wickham, Huddersfield held on to get just their second win in nine matches. The three points for the Terriers sees them 13th in the Championship, 9 points above the relegation places, and six points behind Leeds, who occupy the last play-off spot.
Bradford City got their first win in seven games on Saturday, with an impressive 3-2 victory at MK Dons. The in-form (and highly in demand, if you believe some of the rumours) Nahki Wells grabbed the opener after 21 minutes, before Patrick Bamford equalised for the home side 15 minutes later. Kyel Reid scored somewhat of a fluke of a goal just before the half-time whistle, with his cross looping into the net, catching the MK Dons keeper off his line. A foul by Nahki Wells led to a MK Dons penalty with 20 minutes to go, which led to the scores being level again, but Jason Kennedy’s first goal for the Bantams with just 5 minutes left on the clock sealed an impressive victory for City.
Tuesday night saw a lacklustre performance, however, with a 1-1 draw at home to the out-of-form Notts County. A very poor first half saw the Bantams lucky to go in only one goal down, before a Mark Yeates goal in the second half secured a point for City. The game ended in a bad-tempered fashion, with County player Marcus Haber sent off for an elbow on Bradford skipper Gary Jones, and Gary Liddle was very fortunate to escape with only a yellow for a high boot on Bradford defender Matthew Bates. Bradford have gained 5 points out of a possible 9, and occupy the last play-off spot.
