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LEEDS UNITED: Derby stunner for tired Whites
Leeds United 1 Huddersfield Town 2 Local derbies are notoriously unpredictable, but the defeat suffered by Leeds United on Saturday was more than a continuation of that long-running trend.
United fell to a Huddersfield Town team who chose their outing at Elland Road to raise themselves from mediocrity. And a game which had the potential to humiliate the Terriers has charged the club instead with valuable inspiration.
As Huddersfield's caretaker manager, Gerry Murphy, said afterwards – admittedly with the benefit of hindsight – the timing was perfect for a club who lost their manager a fortnight ago and were treading water in League One.
For those same reasons, Leeds might have been convinced that Town were there for the taking but the ill health of their West Yorkshire opponents is far from terminal.
Huddersfield did at Elland Road what countless clubs do when a derby fixture arrives – ignore their form, forget their problems and manufacture a result which is scarcely on the cards before kick-off and was seriously unlikely after their concession of the opening goal in the fourth minute.
It is United's prerogative to view their defeat in those terms – a result which, when viewed alongside to the clubs' respective league position, makes little sense – but Gary McAllister could not argue the outcome was inexplicable.
Leeds controlled much of the match and had the situation in hand after a composed performance before half-time, but they were beaten because of two fundamental concerns about their squad – namely, a defence that concedes too often and an attack which can dominate games week after week but has lost the knack of scoring goals at will.
United allowed Huddersfield to equalise Robert Snodgrass' fourth-minute strike inside the first minute of the second half and the scrappy goal gave the game a complexion and a scoreline which Town found more agreeable.
Murphy's players made hard work of containing McAllister's midfield before the interval, but Joe Skarz's finish in the 46th minute galvanised Huddersfield and gave them a point to protect.
Moreover, it gave them the scent of victory which visibly improved their body language, and their biggest success was in shifting Fabian Delph to the periphery of the game.
Delph controlled the contest in the first period with his strong running and telling use of the ball, brushing off a number of attempts to physically intimidate him.
But having been given the run-around for 45 minutes, Ian Craney and Jim Goodwin finally subdued a tired-looking Delph and prompted his substitution on 76 minutes.
Goodwin, in particular, enjoyed an excellent second 45 minutes.
When Michael Collins concluded that half and the match by hooking home an overhead kick three minutes into injury-time, Huddersfield made the most of the type of celebratory moment they have experienced infrequently.
McAllister's only reaction was to ask how Collins had been able to beat Casper Ankergren in a box flooded with Leeds players.
In defence of United's manager, the club's defeat should never have come to pass.
Even after Skarz stabbed his volley past Ankergren, Jermaine Beckford forced a one-handed save from Matt Glennon and Luciano Becchio drove a header against the crossbar from a position where he ought to have scored. It was a centre-forward's chance for a player of that ilk and Becchio's miss proved costly.
The same story was produced by United's recent draw with Northampton Town – a result that presented them with an FA Cup replay at Sixfields tonight which McAllister could do without – and their defeat to Derby County in the Carling Cup.
Both results owed much to misfortune, notably shots which struck a post instead of finding the net, but McAllister has stated himself that United's attack is not as precise or consistent as it could be.
Strangely for a club in possession of two strikers with 10 or more goals on their records, Leeds have scored four times in their last five fixtures.
It is an issue which seems likely to resolve itself given the quality of attacking players on offer to United's boss, though opinion was divided on the formation employed on Saturday which left Becchio as a lone striker, but McAllister is struggling to bring improvement to his defence.
That area of his team was culpable for the two goals conceded at Derby and it could not be said that either of Huddersfield's strikes were the end product of sparkling attacking play.
Yet it was Murphy's backline which gifted Leeds the opening goal with less than five minutes on the clock.
Becchio drifted to the left wing to collect a pass which did not seem to pose Town a problem, but the Argentinian's dangerous cross fell between Skarz and Andy Butler two yards from their own goalline.
The defenders dithered and Snodgrass stretched out a foot to tap it over the line.
Snodgrass' goal was his third of the season, and his performance was another extension of the positive form he has shown since finding a way back into United's starting line-up.
The Scottish striker was inventive with the ball at his feet and disruptive to Huddersfield without it, and he was one player in McAllister's squad who looked full of energy on an afternoon when others seemed jaded.
Saturday’s derby was United’s third game in eight days, with another to come this evening.
Snodgrass almost increased Leeds’ advantage when he curled an ambitious chip onto the roof of Glennon’s net, and a second goal before half-time would have finished Huddersfield and left them prone to a repeat of their 4-0 defeat at Elland Road last season.
Before the interval, Town striker Gary Roberts drove a free-kick narrowly over Ankergren’s bar and Keigan Parker did likewise with a shot from inside the box, but their first attack at the start of the second period yielded an equaliser.
Parker made room for himself on the right wing and aimed a cross towards the penalty spot and Ankergren’s failure to claim the ball sent it bouncing towards Skarz who held his nerve to score.
The goal quietened the majority of a crowd of 32,028 – the highest League One attendance of the season and only 1,000 short of the Football League’s biggest – but United’s response came quickly.
Ben Parker saw a shot cleared off the line by Andy Butler after the left-back’s run took him past several players, then Glennon palmed away a goal-bound strike from Jermaine Beckford, nine minutes after the forward entered the fray as a substitute.
Huddersfield’s keeper was beaten two minutes later when Becchio rose to nod Snodgrass’ cross against the frame of the goal, but United succumbed in the third minute of added-time to a goal created by their former player, Danny Cadamarteri.
Cadamarteri gained possession on the right-hand side of midfield with only Paul Telfer for company, and the winger took advantage of his superior pace to find space to deliver a cross which Collins flicked acrobatically into the net.
Smash-and-grab was the most apt description for a win which Huddersfield will treasure like the crown jewels.
phil.hay@ypn.co.uk
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Weather for Leeds
Sunday 12 February 2012
Today
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Temperature: 0 C to 5 C
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