Report: Barnsley 0-1 Huddersfield Town

Huddersfield Town story posted by Sean Makin on 10/11/2012
Jermaine Beckford's third goal in six games since joining Huddersfield Town was enough to give The Terriers all three points against Barnsley in a Yorkshire derby at Oakwell.Report: Barnsley 0-1 Huddersfield Town

In a rather scrappy first half performance by Town one smart bit of play led to the striker, on-loan from Championship rivals Leicester City, powering a header into the net 10 minutes before the break.

The second half was better and Town saw out the game holding on a precarious 1-0 win to send Barnsley to a run of successive defeats and propel The Terriers into the Championship play-off positions.

Simon Church was signed on a months loan from Reading this week and went straight into the starting XI along with Beckford back from injury and Jack Hunt back from a two match suspension in place of Calum Woods, Oliver Norwood and Adam Hammill respectively. All three were on the bench.

Nearly 4,000 Town fans made the short trip down the road to Oakwell and Town were first out of the blocks with Church testing Barnsley goalkeeper Luke Steele with a shot after a neat ball from Beckford.

Barnsley hit back with Tomasz Cywka having a shot blocked by Peter Clarke and Joel Lynch having to clear with his head from a dangerous free-kick from the right by Jacob Mellis after Town 'keeper Alex Smithies had handled the ball outside the area.

Marlon Harewood headed wide from a Mellis corner and the former West Ham striker linked up well with Kelvin Etuhu which led to Harewood hit a long range effort that hardly tested Smithies.

Barnsley were slowly growing in confidence and before Town took the lead they kept the ball better in midfield but their attacks failed to really penetrate with Paul Dixon expertly covering for his centre halves on more than one occasion.

Town weren't keeping the ball as good as they can often pumping the ball long to no avail but when Simon Grayson switched Church from the right wing to up front swapping with Novak that they started playing like they can and sure enough they took the lead on 36 minutes.

Scannell beat two Barnsley players before sending Church down the left flank, from the byline Church crossed to the near post where Beckford was there to pounce with a thumbing header past Steele.

Apparently Church had turned down a loan move to Barnsley this week in favour for Town which rubbed salt in the wounds for the home side.

Barnsley had the last noteworthy chance of the half with Cywka combing with Etuhu only to fire over the bar.

Town started the second half as much as they started the first with a lovely ball from Novak after a one-two with Church led to the Welsh striker forcing Steele into a smart save.

Danny Ward came on for the injured Beckford on 60 minutes and the winger forced Barnsley midfielder Stephen Dawson into a mistake in his own half, gifting the ball to Novak who advanced to the penalty area cut inside two defenders and fired a curling shot that was heading for the bottom corner only to see Steele brilliantly palm it away for a corner.

Barnsley threw on former Tottenham striker Mido on 62 minutes the striker looked massively out of shape and the best he could come up with was a foul by falling on a Town player two minutes after coming on. He was booked for his troubles.

Lynch should have done better from a Ward corner and Dixon drifted inside from the left but his shot with his weaker foot was tame and was easy for the Barnsley goalkeeper.

The best it got for Barnsley was sub Jim O'Brien's dipping long range volley from around 25 yards out but apart from that Barnsley rarely gave Town a scare in the second half.

The three points pushes Town into the play-off positions as both Leicester and Blackburn dropped points and next up for Town is a home clash with Gus Poyet's Brighton and Hove Albion. Don't be surprised is the "hypocrite" word is mentioned during or after the game.

Sean's Star Man - Adam Clayton
In a rich vein of form. Ran the show second half.

Teams:

Barnsley: Steele, Golbourne, Cranie, Foster, Stones, Wiseman, Cywka (O'Brien 68), Mellis, Dawson (Noble-Lazarus 68), Etuhu (Mido 62), Harewood
Subs not used: Alnwick, Hassell, Dagnall, McNulty.

Town: Smithies, Dixon, P. Clarke, Lynch, Hunt, Clayton, Southern, Scannell, Church, Novak (Lee 86), Beckford (Ward 60).
Subs not used: Bennett, Woods, Gerrard, Norwood, Hammill.

Attendance: 12,130
Referee: Mark Haywood.

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