Tykes suffer after toughest week
LEEDS hung on for a precious Yorkshire derby victory against Barnsley at the end of what had been a turbulent week off the field for both clubs.
Kyle Bartley and the impressive Pablo Hernandez bagged the goals for Leeds either side of the break, with Charlie Taylor’s late own goal offering Barnsley hope.
Leeds hung on, though, following a pulsating, all-action second period.
Boss Garry Monk wore a relieved smile as his side are now 11th in the Championship, behind Barnsley on goal difference.
He said: “I’m delighted for the lads because it was important for us to grind out a result.
“We are getting the results again, and I’ve been really pleased with the defensive effort.
“That’s just two goals conceded in five games now, it gives everyone that extra bit of confidence. We scored from a good set-piece LEEDS UTD 2 Bartley 36, Hernandez 55 BARNSLEY 1 Taylor (og) 70 in the first half, but I had a word with the players at half-time because we really needed to accelerate the game and get on the front foot more.
“We got the second goal at a great time, but then just seemed to relax a bit.At that point we should have smelt blood and gone for the kill, but we managed to ride out the last ten minutes or so and this is a big win for us.”
It had certainly been a testing week for both clubs in the wake of the ongoing Daily Telegraph anti-corruption stings.
Barnsley had lost assistant boss Tommy Wright on Thursday – his replacement Jamie Clapham was alongside Paul Heckingbottom at Elland Road – while Leeds owner Massimo Cellino had also been implicated in the troubling allegations.
Heckingbottom said: “It hasn’t been a nice week for the club, but anything that has gone on certainly hasn’t affected the players.”
Both sides produced an eyecatching opening 45 minutes, with Leeds taking the lead with their first clear-cut chance in the 36th minute.
The Barnsley defence was flatfooted as Leeds skipper Kyle Bartley slid in to power home from close range after charging in to meet Hernandez’s corner.
The visitors had created the bulk of the opportunities up until that point, with Adam Hammill firing straight at Rob Green and right-back Andy Yiadom striking one narrowly wide from distance.
After the breakthrough, Leeds almost doubled their lead when Hernandez forced Adam Davies into an alert stop.
The hosts did grab their crucial second goal ten minutes after the restart, with Hernandez lifting a neat shot over the advancing Adam Davies after he raced on to a Eunan O’Kane through-ball.
Chris Wood almost made it 3-0, before Taylor planted the ball into his own net as he tried to keep out Cole Kpekawa’s cross.
After that the Tykes pushed for a leveller, with Green saving superbly from Conor Hourihane and Pontus Jansson hacking Josh Scowen’s effort away.
Instead Heckingbottom was left reflecting on a third defeat in four matches.
He said: “I actually enjoyed the second half.
“We’re all disappointed with the defeat, but the lads have shown once again that they can compete at this level.
“Leeds are a really strong side and credit to them for the way they’ve been playing a defending recently, but we’ve come close again here. I’m happy that we caused them problems.”