That unlikely development rested heavily on arbitration and the murmuring of lawyers, but it was also dependent on Leeds United avoiding the result which befell them at the Galpharm Stadium last night.

The courtroom deliberations were beginning today, but the power of legal submissions should not blind Leeds from their day job. Gary McAllister has kept the subject of arbitration at arm's length, and with good reason.

When United's row with the Football League is over, the assistance he has gained from it has a high chance of being minimal.

Promotion will not be forthcoming on Saturday, but the guarantee of a play-off position remains on offer.

The saving grace of last night's loss to Huddersfield Town was that it coincided with Walsall's defeat to Bristol Rovers, protecting the status quo around sixth place and conserving United's four-point lead over the club beneath them in League One.

Walsall will not anticipate a scenario where Leeds pass up their advantage, and last night's results were of more significance to Richard Money, Walsall's manager, than to McAllister.

They reiterated why points on the board count for more than games in hand, and why league position increases in importance as the season winds down.

A defeat at the Galpharm Stadium could have damaged Leeds irreparably.
As it is, the loss has probably delayed the inevitable. It was well for McAllister that their no-show in Huddersfield came at the end of a richly rewarding period.

He remarked last month that his team's potential might be most apparent against the clubs in their immediate vicinity in League One, and the last eight games have accentuated his view.

Victorious over Doncaster Rovers, Carlisle United and Walsall, but unable to handle Cheltenham Town, Port Vale or Huddersfield.

It is not a trend that their manager can easily explain except, perhaps, to argue that his players can deliver when it counts.

If that is true then the play-offs should be United's forte, but they will not reach the Championship with performances like last night's.
The game at the Galpharm Stadium was a typical derby insofar as much of the match was ordinary in the extreme.

Local rivalries are notorious for promising more than they can deliver, and the 64th meeting between Leeds and Huddersfield was not a classic.

Disjointed and unimaginative, it required the appearance of Paul Taylor's red card twice before half-time to bring a crackle to a fire which was on the verge of disappearing in a wisp of smoke after half-an-hour.

Jonathan Douglas was first to depart in the 39th minute on the back of two cautions, the first issued for a cynical trip on Michael Collins and the second shown for a more innocuous foul on Jon Worthington.

The Huddersfield midfielder ran across Douglas as he sprinted to collect a pass on the right wing, and their legs became tangled in a way which seemed to be Worthington's fault as much as Douglas'.

Taylor sent United's captain from the field nonetheless but took only six minutes to bring parity to the numbers by ordering Worthington to trace Douglas' footsteps.

The 24-year-old had already been booked for dissent when he clattered into Casper Ankergren at the end of a swift Huddersfield attack in the 45th minute.

Lubomir Michalik confronted Worthington inside Ankergren's box, and a clash of heads saw the latter punished with a red card. If Taylor's first dismissal was harsh then his second was also.

The assessor's report about a referee who appeared unsuited to a demanding atmosphere will not make pleasant reading.

Taylor should carry a portion of the blame for United's defeat, largely because Douglas' questionable dismissal robbed Leeds of a player who had protected their defence without breaking sweat in the first half, but the referee's involvement was not solely responsible for the way in which both teams trundled aimlessly through the first half.

An early chance for Chris Brandon aside, which the striker pulled beyond Ankergren's right-hand post, the opening 45 minutes revolved entirely around Taylor's red card, and though Gerry Murphy, Huddersfield's caretaker, argued that the dismissals had ruined the game, it seemed more accurate to say that the loss of Douglas and Worthington provided the space in midfield which had been non-existent before half-time.

The speed with which the game opened up was displayed in the 51st minute by the flowing counter-attack which ended with the outstanding Michael Collins shaking Ankergren's crossbar from the edge of the box.

The midfielder's chance was generated by a goalline clearance from Nathan Clarke, who protected Huddersfield's goal by flicking Frazer Richardson's cross towards the corner flag, and the swift flow of possession across 80 yards of the field presented Collins with a chance which the frame of the goal kept out.

With Douglas estranged from the contest, McAllister relied on a three-man midfield, and United's lack of width was a permanent problem.
Of more effect, however, was the absence of telling pace up front during an open half which was tailor-made for Jermaine Beckford.

Unable to recover from an ankle injury, Beckford made way for Tresor Kandol last night, and the temporary suspension of his partnership with Dougie Freedman had a profound effect.

United's clearest opportunity did not arrive until the third minute of injury-time, when Matt Glennon's low block knocked away Freedman's shot, but of greater consequence was their attack on 63 minutes which came to nothing but ought to have finished with Kandol tapping the ball into Huddersfield's net.

Freedman played Bradley Johnson in behind Huddersfield's defence with a short pass, and as the midfielder tore towards one side of the box, Kandol broke away into space at the other.

A measured cross would have given Kandol the chance to slip a header past Glennon, but Johnson's heavy delivery cleared the striker by several yards and left Huddersfield goalkeeper untroubled.

Thirteen minutes later, a point that McAllister might have settled for – and which his surprising substitution of Jonathan Howson seemed designed to secure – faded away.

Collins broke from midfield and drew Frazer Richardson out of position, giving substitute Joe Skarz space to cross.

The ball arced over United's defenders and found the lurking Andy Holdsworth, whose header across Ankergren struck the inside of the post and rebounded over the line.

Glennon took it upon himself to defend Huddersfield's lead by parrying a shot from Andrew Hughes and anticipating Freedman's goalbound shot at the very end of the game, preventing a goal which would have disguised the undeniable disparity between the teams.

Are Huddersfield a more accomplished team than Leeds?

McAllister would say not and the league table would also, displaying as it does a difference of 10 points between the clubs.

But at the Galpharm Stadium, Huddersfield were undoubtedly superior.
Any given punch on any given night, as a professional boxer would say.

That, as United know well, is why the play-offs are such a dangerous prospect.