Leeds United 1   Huddersfield Town 2

Leeds made a great start to the game, and during the first half we looked like we would go on to win the game quite easily, but Huddersfield took full advantage of a couple of sloppy bits of defending to go home with all three points.

Gary Mc.Allister decided to stick with the same eleven who began the match at Derby on Tuesday night, surprisingly keeping Beckford on the bench even though our main striker was supposedly back to fitness. This left Becchio playing as a lone striker, with the two specialist wingers operating down the flanks.

Leeds made the perfect start to the game, going in front inside the first three minutes. Becchio combined well with Parker down the left, and sent over a cross from right on the touchline. A defender failed to deal with the ball at the far post and Snodgrass was on hand to bundle it over the line.

Leeds continued to enjoy the bulk of the possession for the rest of the half, but without causing the Huddersfield defence too much alarm. Becchio was isolated too often as a lone striker, and although Snodgrass was having another fine game down the right, Robinson seemed to be running out of puff down the left. Time to get some weight off young man! So while the midfield were passing the ball around in pretty patterns, they never seemed to have any options in front of them to be able to make a killer pass.

Still, at half time we thought this was only going to go one way, and that sooner or later we were bound to get a second goal to kill them off. How wrong we were. Only a minute after the re-start, Huddersfield were back on level terms, courtesy of a some absolute chaos at the heart of the Leeds defence.

Cademateri cut past Parker into the box, Lubo failed to deal with the cross, and when Casper palmed the ball out, the ball was knocked into path of Skarz, who hammered it into the net from twelve yards. The Huddersfield fans went wild, or at least those who had bothered to make the 20 mile trip. It’s amazing they couldn’t sell all their tickets for their cup final, although it could be something to do with the ‘category A’ £27 prices.

But even after this setback we still managed to put Huddersfield under pressure, with Parker having a shot cleared off the line, and then Macca brought Beckford on the 62^nd. minute (for Kilkenny) to give us a bit more of a cutting edge. The big man was quickly into action and forced Glennon into a decent save, but it was Becchio who had the chance that should have won the game. Unfortortunately when the ball came to him only three yards out, the Argentinian could only head it up against the bar.

We continued to press in search of a winner, with Frazer having a shot blocked and Robinson curling one just past the post, but as the game went into injury time it seemed to be just drifting towards a 1-1 draw. But that was until the defence switched off once more and allowed Huddersfield to snatch a dramatic winner with virtually the last kick of the game.

Telfer gave the ball away with a sloppy clearance, giving Cademateri the chance to run at Paker down their right. He got past our full-back on the edge of the box, and pulled the ball back to Michael Collins, who found space to knock the ball past Casper, despite two defenders being in close attendance. 

So where do we go from here? It’s no good dominating the opposition and failing to get the result, as we now find ourselves down in sixth place, three points away from an automatic promotion place. The defence is the weakest link, with Lubo failing to dominate in the way such a big man should, Telfer starting to look a bit past it, and Parker frequently caught out of position. Is it Staunton’s job to sort out the defence.

At the other end of the field, Beckford should be an automatic choice to start, with Robinson restricted to substitute appearances until he’s got himself a little bit fitter. There is plenty of the season left for us to catch up with the leaders, but Macca has to get things right sooner rather than later.

Photo: Action Images

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