Huddersfield Town 1 Leeds United 1: Terrier spirit shines through as ultra-committed ten-men hosts end Leeds's club record bid — Yorkshire Post 2/3/24

IN the battle of West Yorkshire’s two German managers, the one saying ‘Sehr Gut’ afterwards was Andre Breitenreiter.

By Leon Wobschall

Amid pretty trying circumstances - after playing the whole of the second half with ten men following the silly dismissal of captain Jonathan Hogg Breitenreiter’s Town summoned up tremendous heart and resolve to dig out a precious point which had the spin-off of ending Leeds United’s nine-match winning league run in the process.

That they denied Leeds a club record 10th successive victory provided gloss.

After the bright lights of London in midweek, Leeds were not themselves, plainly, with less than a 72 hour turnaround.

Fortunately, their subs helped them out to prevent a difficult day becoming a very bad one with two combining to set up Patrick’s Bamford leveller midway through the second-half.

It cancelled out a ninth goal of the season from Michal Helik in first-half stoppage time. Minutes later, a second yellow card for Hogg, who should have known better after catching Junior Firpo with an elbow, put the Terriers up against it.

No matter, they did not feel sorry for themselves in a performance of energy, togetherness and pluck. The sort of qualities that Daniel Farke would surely respect.

Farke is no fan of Saturday lunch-time kick-offs. He was certainly no supporter of events in Huddersfield, but Bamford spared some blushes at least.

The hosts got right in the face of Leeds and up close and personal for the vast majority of an intense first half - which got more edgy as it progressed.

Posing danger on the break and certainly from set-pieces, Town had the luxury of a lead at the interval, but unfortunately that was not the only major development before the break.

Helik’s penchant for finding the net again resurfaced in his comeback game, when he netted a rebound in the first minute of nine added-on minutes after Meslier kept out Danny Ward’s header. The number of added-on minutes was testimony to a number of stoppages in the ‘second half’ of the first period.

But that narrative changed three minutes later when Hogg was dismissed for a loose elbow which, while not malicious, was not the smartest move for a captain when he was on a booking for a tough challenge on danger man Cree Summerville.

Two other of Town’s combative players were also on cautions at the break, with Matty Pearson a little fortunate after his studs caught the back of Summerville.

Leeds’ A-listers could not get their A-game together. An intricate early move hinted at trouble for Town with Lee Nicholls denying Summerville, but Town regrouped and protected their goal well.

Town’s only other real scare came deep in stoppage time when Rutter fired wide.

But ahead of the second half, the realisation was that Town would surely have to field a welter of pressure on the resumption if they had any chance of pulling through.

They fielded a fair bit, although probably not what they were expecting.

Their team ethic and prodigious work rate was a positive in that regard. They unsettled Leeds in the first period and steadfastly refused to let them play the game on their terms, which was fair enough.

Further forward, the deliveries of Sorba Thomas caused Leeds a heap of bother.

Ilian Meslier was certainly the busier of the keepers, forced into early work to turn away a fierce strike from Rudoni and keep out a flick from the same player after a deadly inswinging corner from Thomas.

Town - who lost Yuta Nakayama to injury midway through the half with Helik coming on - posed questions to Leeds, with Archie Gray saving the visitors with a covering challenge after Thomas surged clear following Glen Kamara’s error.

Helik then got the glory, but the mood soon changed with Breitenreiter making a sensible change at the break by bringing on an extra defensive midfielder in Alex Matos, with Ward sacrificed.

Leeds had plenty of the ball but Town held firm. They had the first real chance of the half when Pearson headed off target.

The visitors, not as it as they have been, needed more, especially from their gun players.

Farke saw the signs and did not like it. Just after the hour mark, he threw on Joel Piroe, Dan James and Connor Roberts in a triple change.

It worked. James and Roberts soon combined nicely with the latter’s cross gobbled up from close in by Bamford.

Leeds sought to find a way as the corner count racked up. Town dug in.

Rutter headed a good opportunity over while Summerville, who was not having a good day by his standards, then struck the outside of the post after cutting inside from the left.