Leeds played well during some spells of this eventful local derby, but we were let down by some poor defending as Huddersfield Town took all three points.

After last week’s emphatic win over Birmingham it was no surprise that Brian McDermott decided to go with the same starting line-up, so we’d soon find out if that game was the turning point of our season or whether that result was down to Birmingham being rubbish. Thankfully there was no Adam Clayton in the Huddersfield line-up.

Right at the start it looked as though we’d carried our good form through into this game. In the first minute Smith broke through, and Smithies did well to get down and turn his fierce shot round the post, but that was only a temporary let-off for the Terriers. Smith got to the corner despite the close attention of two Town defenders and nodded the ball into the corner of the net.

That caused a bit of disturbance in the stand to our left, and it’s quite possible that a Leeds fan in there was thrown out after seeing only two minutes of football. And Huddersfield were behind for only seven minutes, and their opening goal also came from a corner. It was pulled back to Danny Ward outside the box, and he had time to control it before placing a well struck shot past Kenny into the corner of the net.

After that Huddersfield went on to have much the better of the possession for the rest of the half, and forced a number of further corners, which thankfully we managed to cope with. Pearce made an excellent last-ditch block after Holmes had got past a couple of defenders in the box, and Kenny did well to tip a dipping shot from Hammill over the bar.

The half-time entertainment was fairly bizarre. A very plump 1980s Town player that I’d forgotten about waddled on to to be interviewed, and when the Leeds end chanted “you fat b****d” the announcer said “is Paddy Kenny still on the pitch?“ Meanwhile for no obvious reason some people were playing a game of football wearing those big plastic ball things, and they mostly seemed to be bumping into each other and falling over.

Leeds picked up in the second half, and we should have gone back in front on the hour, when a great build-up involving several players was wasted as Murphy could only stab the ball wide. And three minutes later it was the home side who took the lead instead. Hammill got the better of Byram to send over a cross from the Huddersfield left, and Lees rose to meet it but could only divert the ball past Kenny into the net.

And Huddersfield went straight through us again a few minutes later, with Stead taking the ball round Kenny only for his shot to come back off the post. Things were starting to look grim, but the home fans provided some light relief with an hilarious chant of “2-1 in your cup final”. I think you’d have to back to the 1920s to find the last time that Leeds really did regard Huddersfield as our ‘cup final’.

It was time for a change, and McDermott sent his new loan signing Dexter Blackstock into the fray in place of the ineffectual Murphy, and Blacktock wasted no time in his bid to impress the new boss, as he scored the equaliser with his very first touch in a Leeds shirt. Mowatt swung in a free kick from the touchline and Blackstock jumped above the Huddersfield defence to guide the ball into the corner of the net. He looked very keen for the rest of the game and generally I was impressed with his performance.

But just as I thought we could go on to win the game, our poor defending let us down again, as Huddersfield were allowed to grab the winner in the 77th minute. Scammill cut in from the touchline and got past Pearce, and Stead was able to turn and shoot past Kenny despite the presence of several other Leeds defenders.

We kept pressing for a late equaliser, and you could feel the tension mount among the home fans as they were desperate to hold on for a win in their cup final. It didn’t help that the referee was determined not to give us anything. He turned down several possible free kicks for fouls on McCormack and then right at the end he denied us a penalty as Blackstock seemed to be bundled over in the box.

There were four minutes of injury time, but our last chance went when Smith headed just wide in a crowded area from a great cross by Byram. The result means that Huddersfield move above us in the table and we drop back to tenth.

Earlier in the season we were looking solid at the back but lacking the penetration up front to kill teams off, but yesterday it was the reverse. We looked good whenever we went forward, but at times our midfield was over-run and we looked shaky at the back. You could say we were unlucky not to take a point from this game, but McDermott needs to get the balance right before it’s too late to make a run to challenge for the play-offs.

Photo: Action Images

Norwich City Polls